The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-08-25
BY DEXTER MARSHALL.

street car straps His editor printed il
and his readers laughed at the odd no.
ton. Then all hands promptly forgot
ali about it. No one had the least idea
that the journalist-jester had come with
in mile OF hitting the mark.
Since then the question Of germ COM
munieation from the diseased to the
healthy. with the street car strap as the
road. has been raised on various pre-
texts at various times. both in the news
papers and out OF them. On one occa-
slon at least. there was a sort Of con
cefted effort to show that the common
or garden" variety Of street car strap
is Just naturally swarming with deadly
germs
In that case possibly the ultimate aim
was to show that some one had invented
a form of strap that would not harbor
germs, and so promote new industry
the manufacture Of self-sterilizing street
car straps.
But nothing came of this disinterested
effort 70 safeguard millions Of strap hang
ers from disease, and TO this day there
never has been any wide publication OF
the easily ascertained facts of the case.
over and over again the most dreadful
possibilities have been limited at in print.
and every time the traction officials have
snOrted al the bare suggestion that a
harmful germ could stick 10 a strap
But neither the traction officials nor the
promulgators of the strap germ theory
ever have gone far enough to settle the
discussion.
Recent analyses made under the direc-
ton Of the New York health depart
ment Of straps taken from surface cars
In the metropolis however. show that
the humorists skit about Death in the
Strap" was not entirely wide Of the mark
and THAI disease germs OF a deadly char
acter sometimes do stick TO the straps
although they were not found In great
numbers.
Ore of the reports OF strap ANALYSIS.
returned by DR.. A W Williams 10 DR..
William H. Park, director Of the labora-
tory maintained by the New York health
department for research work with refer
ence 10 contagious diseases, says that
certain cultures made from a part OF
the strap scrapings developed only
few colonies Of the usual micro-organf-
cation found in the air; molds. yeast.
and cocci." A second culture yielded or
ganisms rather more likely 10 produce
disease in human beings. while in the
third culture "a large spore bearing
bacillus similar 10 B. subtilus"-to use
the technical language of the report
and small. short-chained streptococcus /
were developed" No dIphtheria or teta-
nus germs were found although it seems
has . ,Frrr,r 10
However, the streptococcus. a common |
cause Of blood poisoning. which. as we'll
as the pneumOcoccus. is held responsible |
for pneumonia, is by no means a desira- !
bic thing 70 handle on n street car
strap or to come in contact with In any
way. That the streptOCoCci found were
as harmful as their name looks in print
was discovered by the health department
attaches, who inocUlated two guinea pigs
with cultures from the straps One OF
the little animals was dead in a few
hours. both the large spore- bearing
bacillus and the small streptococcus"
being found in the blood Of the heart
The other guinea pig was made uncom-
Portable by the incubation, bat did not
die
Later analyses Of strap scrapings by
the New York health department showed
fewer germs than the first straps. In
fact. no germs from human beings were
found al all.
Great Victory over Tetanus.
Discussing the result Of the analyses /
DR.. Park said that the germs found. to- /
gether with many others, some Of which 4
are much more deadly than they, are /
floating constantly in the atmosphere Of /
all cities. and that country air is rarely /
altogether free from them, although. OF 1
course much purer.
1T is hardly possible to inhale the
breath in town" Dr. Park continued. /
without taking in germs Of one sort OF /
another, since the dust Of the streets is /
full Of them. Man is immune to most OF /
these germs, since most of them come
from horses. Fortunately, few germs /
originating with one species of animal are /
dangerous 10 individuals Of other species
There are some exceptions TO this. how
ever. Thus the germs Of tetanus flourish /
IN horses. cows, and other animals. and /
also in man. but not so we'll Man is
susceptible also TO the germs Of hydro
phobia-which always originates in some
lower ANIMAL and the germ OF which
never floats in the air; OF anthrax, a dis
ease of cattle; of CHAMBERS. a disease of
horses, and Of tuberculosis, whether COM
municated from human being OF. a
lower animal
Undoubtedly most persons living In
cities breathe in tetanus germs occasion
ally Undoubtedly also the germs some
times pass the altering apparatus OF the
nose and penetrate TO the lungs. where.
so far as known they can do no harm
The deadly work OF the tetanus bacIIlus
the rigor which is known as Iockjaw. fol-
lows the introduction OF the germ into
freshly injured tissue only. Every one is
familiar with the tetanus outbreaks which
have followed the Fourth Of July for so
many years and also the deadly tetanus
development which sometimes follows a
wound in the foot caused by a rusty nail
or something like it.
You have noticed, no doubt that the
science OF preventive medicine scored so |
big victory over tetanus this year In
New York 100 bottles of tetanus anti
toxin were given out by the health de-
partment before the Fourth. and sufferers
rom blank-cartridge wounds were treated
with the antitOXin. So far as I have
heard only one case Of tetanus was de-
Veioped in the entire city The tetanus
anutoxin was perfected by Behring. the
German. and Kitasato. the japanese
scientist. Behring discovered this anti
toxin years before he found the dinb-
iberia antitoXin which has been Of such
great benefit TO mankind. but FOR some
reason the tetanus antitoxin was not
pushed so promptly nor so determinedly
as the other.
Ietanus poison. by the way. IS one of
the deadliest known to science. II Is 6ftv
times as strong as strychnine and twenty