Evening star., 1912-09-15

DRYING OUT sSSP1NAL CORDS Or
RABBITS.
The cOrds having been removed from
rabbits inO culated with bacilli Of hydro
phobia, are suspended In glass jars to
dry for eight days. Sticks of caustiC
potash i'm bottom of jar absorb mOis-
ture and hasten drying process.
the principle thus established, Chante-
messe and Vidal undertook an experiment
with typhoid germs They inoculated
mice with typhoid germs which had been
killed by heat. with the result that t--ey
rendered the mice immune TO the disease
They tried the experiment upon guinea
pigs and rabbits. 1t proved entirely sue
cessful But it remained for Pfeffer and
kolle to make the first experiment upon
a human subject 1t met with success.
About the same time Sir Almroth Wright.
the originator of the principle, began its
use upon large scale in England. Later
on it was taken up by army surgeons all
over the world
some very interesting experiments along
this line. The use of anti-typhoid vaccine
requires large doses. 1t is usually given
in three doses, the first is JO.00on0 dead
germs, the second and third, one billion
each While Wright deserves credit for
the discovery, the idea may be traced to
Pasteur. who cured chicken cholera by
introduction of chicken cholera germs
into the live animal
Typhoid vaccine is not an absolute pre-
ventive. but greatly lessons the danger of
attacks of typhoid fever and also greatly
modities its, severity should the patient
be attacked after incubation. This vac
cine is made by growing the typhold
germs in the proper media. washing them
in salt solution heating them to kill the
germs counting them to get the proper
doses. then bottlng the doses and la
beling the number of dead germs in each
bottle.
The germ treatment by all three of
the methods mentioned has been tried in
a great many diseases. Six have demon
strated their value either as curatives or
preventives beyond cavil or dispute.
These are first and foremost, dlphthe-
ria antitoxin. which is such triumphant
success that if given in time and in suf-
ficient doses is almost certain cure
Smallpox vaccination. that has saved
so many thousands of lives.
Antitoxin for lockjaw which has con-
verted an almost certainly fatal disease
into a comparatively mild one II the
treatment is administered in time.
Antitoxin for cerebro-spinal meningitis
Treatment for hydrophobia.
Anti-typhoid vaccine.
Others have been used with varying
suits and will probably finally be SO per-
fected as to become practically specifics.
The great PaSteur prophetically express
ed the opinion that the time would come
when all ;,t.m diseases would be eradi-
Gated from the world by bacterioogy.
This time is yet far distant. The sci
enlist of today is working toward that
goal.
AS yet some germs have not been iso-
lated. They are so small that the eye
cannot see them even with the aid of
the most powerful microscopes small
that they cannot be separated by the
finest stone filter. They will pass right
through the filter. No stains have been
discovered for them. 1t is worth while
to explain what stains are.
Every germ is supposed to have some
dye or stain that will color it and not
stain the surrounding substance The
suspected sample is placed on a glass
Slide washed in its proper stain, heated
few minutes to fix the dye. then the
piece of glass is washed off thoroughly.
All the color is washed of except that
which has adhered to this particular
germ and the contrasting color enables
the eye to see him with the aid of the
microscope.
No antitoxin or culture can be pre-