The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1906-01-04
THE POISONOUS KISS.
STARTLING THEORY ADVANCED
BY GERMAN SCIENTIST.
Tells of Terrible Death Lurking in
the Most Innocent Oscillation
Bacteria Found in the
Mouth.
rs the kiss of a pretty woman poison

us the kiss of a pretty woman poison
ous?"
1t is brutal question. and tho answer
thereto. as vouchsafed by Prof w. d.
Miller of the University of Berlin. is
equally brutal. For. declares that
learned savant. the kiss Of beautiful
woman may and does. under certain cir
cumstances. bring a quicker and more
horrible death than the bite of a SER
pent.
Such was the startling. not to say
sensational. announcement made by
Prof. Miller in lecture delivered be-
fore the students of Wesleyan college.
I'm Middletown Conn. the other day.
Prof. Miller is now sojourning in this
country. and is lectrring before vari-
Gus colleges and universities upon the
subject of which he Is acknowledged
abroad to be the greatest exponent
the bacteria of the mouth. Prof. Mil
Ter has made a special study of THIS
particular form of bacteria, and ne
knows whereof he speaks In his lee.
ture Prof Miller recounted remark
able experiment whicn he made upon a
beautiful girl in Berlin. An arrow
| dipped in saliva from her mouth. ne
discovered, would send its victim into
death throes more terrible than one
| dipped in the venom OF an asp or any
other of the deadly reptiles. He told
of more than a dozen experiments he
had thus made upon pigeons guinea
| pigs and dogs, all of which had proved
| fatal
The result of these experiments with
the poisonous saliva of his patients
mouth made him curious to examine
the toxin properties of other mouths,
with the result, as already stated, that
he found a large percentage of mouths
to be similarly death-deallng.
If the word OF Prof Miller is to be
death lurking in the most innocent
kiss. since osculation would seem IN
be !he most likely way that these
| deatn-dealing bacteria could be trans.
mitted from one subject to another.
| AS a precaution he urges that dentists
should use the utmost care in putting
their fingers into the mouths of their
patients. lie also urges fathers and
mothers to see that their children do
not chew their fingers. and suggests
the rdvisability of wearing whte cot
ton mittens the better to protect the
small and tender hands from the dan
gerous bacteria.
Science has for the last decade said
much against the primitive instinct of
kissing. but nothing that has thus far
been said carries quite so much weight
as the utterances of Prof Miller who
by reason Of his fame as a bacteriolo-
gist, is entitled to and receives the
homage Of physicians and scientist
IN two hemspheres. II would be din.
cult. however. to find any New York
physician who would risk his profess
sional popularity sufficiently TO con.
denim the good. old-fashioned habit Of
kissing, nor could any one of them be
found who would be willing to 90 on
recor1 as seriously opposed to kissing.
The kiss of anybody might be poi
sonous." declared Dr. Thomas Oar
lington, president OF the board of
health, but why the kiss of pretty
girl should be especially singled ont
and put under the ban | do not know.
II Prof Miller has heen quoted right
he referred particularly to the kiss of
pretty girl, and that is all nonsense,
to be sure,
Science has for many years recog-
nized the presence of bacteria in the
mouth, which, II they found their way
deep into the tissues. would, and do,
cause poisoning But to be introduced
that deep into the tissues or into the
circulation 1t would be necessary for
the infected person to bite his victim
or her victim, as Prof. Miller chooses
the pronoun. Long before bacteria
were recognized in the human system:
in fact. long before the word had ever
been coined, or the idea conveyed by II
had entered the scientific brain. man
kind had discovered the deadliness that
turks in the bite of the human being.
Hence we have had, as all civilized
races do have, very stringent laws
against the man or woman guilty OF
mayhem. because the crime of may
hem originally referred to the specific
injury to the person caused by his ad-
versafy biting him. an injury which
was so frequently followed by poison
ing end subsequent horrible death
The trainers OF laws Of all nations
have wisely made the crime of may
hem punishable by extraordinarily
long sentences of imprisonment, or,
as in olden times. of severe punish
ment, II not the death penalty"
Was He Busyp
My neighbor thrifty old German,
conducts a nursery, Meeting him on