The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-26
somRrHrNa Apour ernn..

SOMETHING ABOUT GERMS.
 We are sometimes led to wonder how any human beings lived on earth be- fore they learned that there were such things as germs. Either there were no such things. or else 1t was a case where ignorance was bliss. Come to think of it. though. we believe the evoiutionists hold that the germs came hrst--some of them. at all events, though there may not have been any of the varieties that are causing so much trouble to humanity these days. It is dificuit to conceive that there were no hurtful microbes in the early periods of humanity. for evidently there were coalitions existing thou sands of years ago that would produce them just as now.
 That brings us back to wonder If 1t is true that Where ignorance Is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise" If human beings did not know that such dan gerous pests existed did they live be- cause of that ignorance? They evil dentiy had not the means of detecting them that scientists now have, nor did they have the same means of sup pressing or destroying them. even if they had been aware of their exist ence. Epidemics like cholera and the plague carried of multitudes. but with those exceptions 1t seems that the peo- pie just kept on living because of their lack of germ knowledge. Not knowing of their existence they did not suffer from them.
 That may not be sound reasoning, but we can't help it. Tn our day the scientific world is fairly loaded down with germ knowledge. but people keep on dying. Are the things fiercer or more numerous or what about 1t? We know that the doctors have settled the fact. apparently beyond the possibility of doubt, that almost any disease from which humanity suffers is caused and prcpa gated by germs. and we know that they have also established the means through which most of these germs are transmitted from a diseased to a healthy person, thus spreading the disease.
 All these points seem to be estab- iished beyond reasonable doubt. but do not some of those who write and talk about 1t rather overdo the business? When we are told how many germs are resting on the proboscis of a mosquito, or the number that may be carried about by one robust rat; when they tell us that if a common housefly steps On your buttered. bat tArcake he will leave just so many microbes for you to swallow: all this looks like getting the thing down rather fine
 And there are germs on. in or about everything, So that we poor laymen never know when we are in peril. If we touch anything 1t may be COW cred with them. lying in wait and seeking whom they may devour. and ready to make dash for our tender est spot. If we swallow anything that has not been thoroughly sterilized. or something of the kind, 1t may be load cd and carry with itsa swarm of murderous microbes to play ducks and drakes with our internal economy. If we take a long breath. in the house or on the streets. we may draw in enough Of them to stock a ZOO. Even kiss some of them tell us. may be an osculatory form of suicide-but that's a delicate subject.
 For all this. we know that the germ the y of disease is now so generally accepted, and so we'll established that there is no room to doubt the fact and with this comes the constantly increasing knowledge of the best meth ods of dealing with what Is now not q mere theory but q fact. That there Is yet much to discover and much to learn is a fact that the doctors tn em- selves will admit. but medical science Is tireless. ambitious and persevering, and. as a general proposition, it Is self sacrificing. Whatever is possible for human research and human pa tience will be accomplished in due time beyond a doubt. Medical men will yet learn what are the germs of all diseases and. let us hope, how to deal with them.
 And all this brings us back to the original proposition: How did any body live before they knew that there were germs?
 THE SOUTH AND IMMIGRATION.