The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1915-10-28
THE MAGN|FY|NG GLASS
AND PUBLIC HEALTH
CRUDE INVENTION HAS ACCOM-
PLIsHED WONDERS IN pRIv-
ING OUT DISEASE.

GreaL Things nave small beginnings
A spectacle maker Jan Leippersheim
Iby name. living in Holland. invented a
Crude magnifying glass in 1903. An
ton Won Leuwenhoek, born in Delft,
this day 1882, improved this clumsy
toy and evolved compound micro
Scope which has become the most val
liable sanitary tool yet devised by man.
That first microscope was as far re-
moved from the high powered instru-
ment of today as is the modern Amer
lean from the original caveman. Yet
by this faulty means, Leuwenhoek,
naturalist, physician and botanlst, dis
covered certain minute bodies which
he called little animals" He made
drawings of these and today we know
them for those useful friends and ma
llignant enemies of man-bacteria.
The Unseen Life.
! We spend our days surrounded by
another world, a living world Of
countless billions, invisible to the nak-
ed eye, silent, tireless. destroying the
living. consuming the dead, useful in
the sciences and arts, yet often fol-
lowed by train of sickness, suffering
and death. A curious paradox this,
lyet bacteria are at once the greatest
friends and the fiercest foes of every
living thing. Not animals, as Leuw-
enhoek thought, but vegetables, bac-
terra consist of two classes, those
which prey on living things and those
which reduce to their original miner
ais, fluids and gases every dead thing
which they attack. They are of var
ious shapes, round like marbles or
straight like little sticks. They grow
in clusters, chains and In pairs. They
are ubiquitous. The dusty air, the
earth and It's waters, the interior of
animals and plants all contain them.
They cause the fermentation of foods,
they make cheese. they produce dis
eases and some of them when killed
and injected into an animal protect 1t
against the very disease which they
would have produced If living. Many
of them live as harmless creatures In
the body Of an animal for years, only
to kill their host when the opportunity
presents. Their study has given birth
to a science. bacteriology, one Of the
foundation stones of public health.
Food for Bacteria.
Their mere presence does not neces-
sarily produce disease Recalling the
parable of the sower, some bacteria
fall by the wayside, some fall upon
stony places, and some fall in good
ground and bring forth the fruit Of
suffering, perhaps of death. A normal,
temperate life, free alike from the
gluttony Of idleness or overwork, the
sound mind in the sound body,
cheerful, normal environment, these
form the stony places in which bac-
terra take no root. The depraved APP
petites of mind and body, the dark |
and sordid atmosphere of penury, the |
nerve racking and strength undermin-
ing trades, these prepare the good
ground.
Cleanliness and Health.
The great weapon against bacteria
Is cleanliness. The mastery over pre-
mature death lies to great measure
in our own hands. Clean persons
clean cities, clean workshops and clean
lives are the makers of public health
The United States public health ser.
vice and other sanitary bodies OF this
country are gradually bringing these
acts home to the general public In
mis- way cleanliness is becoming more
and the span of life in Amer
ca is gradually being heightened. All
II which is largely due to the micro.
cope.