The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-04-22
GOVERNMENT HAS MICROBE OF
EVERY KNOWN DISEASE.
Uncle Sans Health Service. TO fre'
vent Typhoid Fever. The bau
Cold Germ. Interest in
Panama Fever.

Cold Germ. Interest in
Panama Fever.
One of the most important gov
eminent institutions at Washington
is a microbe factory. 1t belongs u
the war department, and makes
business of turning out germs or al
Kinds of diseases in quantities, breed
inc them in glass tubes, and feeding
them upon specially-prepared jelly
foods. writes Rene Bache.
The establishment in question
which is under the charge OF Dr.
william Gray, is one of the princl-
nal laboratories of Uncle Sam
health service. Whenever ne"
and interesting 'pathogenic' NIL
crobe turns up-such as the long
Souqht germ of the deadly Panama
feyer. which was discovered recently
it undergoes painstaking examlna-
ton at the factory. 1t is bred on
scientific principles in specially
constructed incubator, provided Win
every luxury of diet that its FANCY
demands, and even furnished with
living prey in the shape OF monkeys
rabbits or guinea pigs in order thaC
g. NAV have a chance to show exactly !
how it accomplishes its deadly WORK |
The results obtained are well
worth the trouble expended. For
when a disease micrObe has been sat-
isfactorily identified, and its life MS
tory fully studied, means whereWlth
to fight it are easily found. For one
thing, various poisons are tried upon
II and the one that seems most dead
Nv is likely to prove, for obvious
reasons, the most effective medicine
for the malady when given in judi
cious doses to a person attacked by
it.
There is, however, an entirely new
idea which is soon to be applied in
our army, not for the treatment, but
for the prevention of typhoid-that
deadly disease which declmates
troops so frightfully in the field. 1t
has already proved very successful
In Germany. Batches of typhoid
germs. artificially bred on gelatine,
are subjected to a temperature OF
14O degrees Fahrenheit for one hour,
thereby killing them, and their dead
substance is employed thereupon as
a vaccine" being introduced by in
pculation into the veins of the sol
der. Though the microbes them
selves are no more their poison re-
tains an activity which, when utll-
zed in the manner described, gives
immunity against the dreaded NAL
ady.
The capacity of the laboratory in
is sufficient to turn out,
to other work, as many
billions of typhoid germs as might be
required, when thus employed, to
Taccinate the entire population of the
United States There are, however,
many other diseases which seem to
be amenable to treatment by this
novel process, the microbe, when
heir vitality has been destroyed by
heat for utilization as a preventive
vaccine"
The Bad Cold Germ.
One of the most difficult germs
to identify is that of the only-too-
familiar complaint known as the bad
cold-the cold which affects most
the throat and nasal
passages, and which signifies a very
sickness, all the more
because it engages so
little sympathy. AS matter of fact,
several different kinds of microbes
are concerned in the production of
this special malady-half a dozen of |
which are being fed on bottle food
at the Washington laboratory-and !
has yet been able to find |
out which one of the lot is chiefly |
guilty.
Living under such artificial condi- !
tons as we do we are all of us like
hot-house plants. A slight chill pro-
duces a congestion in the membran-
Gus lining of the breathing passages,
and as a result a local congestion
follows. At once the hostile microbes
always present in numbers in the
nose and throat-get busy. feeding
upon the tissues, and trouble fol-
lows.
Maybe the new vaccine" treat
ment may prove to be of value as a
preventive of grip the next time a