Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-11-07

The layman is usually slow to accept
the work of laboratory experts in their
efforts to solve the problems of pre-
venting and curing diseases. Yet no
class of students in the world makes
more painstaking researches than those
who, with the test tube, Bunsen burner
and the Berkfield filter, seek to learn Sc
crets which have been hidden from hu-
manitS through generations, secrets
which resulted in the deaths of mil
lions Of men.
II the doubling Thomas could take a
trip through a great laboratory for the
study of disease. for instance, one OF
those maintained by the United States
government in Washington, and could
see the infinite pains with which these
scientists work out their theories, there
would be much more ready acceptance
of the conclusions of the scientists. In
fact, the whole attitude of the men In
the laboratory is that mental state well
expressed by the slang phrase. I'm
from Missouri" They always must be
shown" and if an infinite capacity for
taking pains will avail, the laboratory
expert is bound to win.
In one of these laboratories the sci
enlist is able 10 grow bacteria, although
1t may take $4,000 OF them to make
string an inch long, as accurately AMI
as obviously as the truck gardener grows
vegetables, the orchardist fruits, or the
poultry raiser chickens. He knows the
appearance. habits and activities OF his
culture of bacteria as we'll as the farmer
knows his herd of cattle. He knows
just what sort OF food each species or
bacteria needs just as we'll as the farm
er knows what feed" to give his chick
ems, his horses and his pigs. Some
kinds OF bacteria are long like needle,
others are round like a pea, while still
others might be likened to a spiral
spring. Some of them are large ana
others are small. red blood corpus
Gle, in comparison of relative sizes,
would be as big as a capital &C." a ty-
phoid bacillus would resemble a small
Il" and the influenza germ would look
something like a comma. The germ OF
yellow fever is so small that IL can pass
through the finest filter that has yet
been produced in the laboratory. and 20
date has resisted all fforts of the scien-
fist to see 1t. even with the most hign-
powered microscope.
-
Some germs refuse to thrive where
there is any oxygen; others find 1T as
highly essential as the reader finds the
air he breathes- Some of them refuse TO
live except in the body of the victim;
others are able to maintain themselves
for long periods after they leave the an
imal body. Some of them thrive on
bid. others on bouillon, some flourish
like the green bay tree on plain white
potatoes and still others insist on nav
ing blood serum.
The laboratory scientist knows all the
traits, tastes, and needs of his little
germs. and he caters to them as carerar-
ly as a hotel keeper caters to his best
patrons. In the first place, he gives
them at all times a diet which is apso-
lutely germ proof. The dishes OF their
dinner tables are sterilized with the ut
most precaution. They are kept in
rooms where the heat is maintained at
exactly the same temperature as that or
the human body.
Sometimes the germ is cultivated in a
liquid. This allows it freedom to swim
around as IL pleases. At other times it
is cultivated in preparation which has
gelatin or agar, which is product of a
species of sea weed. in 1t. This solidifles
at a certain temperature and at once
serves as a prison and as foodm for the
germ. GefInS mulupiy very raplOly ana
although 1t takes untold thousands of
them to make a spot visible to the naked
eye, in a short time one of these germs
viii become so many thousands that they
appear as little nodules on the plate.
When man looks at forest of pine
trees a great distance away, he may not
be able to distinguish the individual
trees at ALL yet the appearance of the
forest is different from that of an oak
forest and although he is unable to see
a single tree he knows it is a pine for
est. Likewise the bacteriologist. looking
at a culture of bacteria with his naked
eye. is unable to see individual germs but
he knows what species they belong to by
looking at the whole group.
When the bacteriologist prepares a cul-
ture of bacteria for microscopic study. he
either puts a little film of the BACTERIA
laden water on plate and makes what
is called "a smear" or else he mixes it
with paraffin and makes little chunk
of solid material If he takes the latter
process he puts this piece of paraffin into
slicing machine which is capable of