Charlevoix county herald., 1915-10-30
CLEANLINESS NECESSARY
FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
Mastery Over Premature Death
Lies in Our Hands.

evolved a compound microscope which
has become the most valuable sanitary
tool yet devised by man. That first
microscope was far removed from the
high powered instrument of today as is
the modern American from the original
caveman. Yet by this faulty means,
Leuwenhoek, naturalist, physician and
botanist, discovered certain minute
bodies which he called "little animals. I"
He made drawings of these and today
we know them for those useful friends
and malignant enemies of man, bac-
terra.
We spend our days surrounded by
another world, living world of count
less billions, invisible to the naked eye,
silent, tireless, destroying the living,
consuming the dead, useful in the
sciences and arts, yet often followed
by train of sickness, suffering and
death. A curious paradox this, yet
bacteria are at once the greatest friends
and the fiercest foes of every living
thing. Not animals, as Leuwenhoek
thought, but vegetables, bacteria con-
sist of two classes, those which prey on
living things and those which reduce to
their original minerals, fluids and gases,
every dead thing which they attack.
They are OF various 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 its waters, the
interior of animals and plants all con-
tain them. They cause the fermenta-
ton of foods, they make cheese, they
produce disease and some of them
when killed and injected into an animal
protect it 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 science, bacteriology,
one of the foundation stones of public
health.
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, cheer.
full, normal environment, these form
the stony places in which bacteria take
no root. The depraved appetites of
mind and body, the dark and sordid
atmosphere Of penury, the nerve rack
ing and strength undermining trades,
these prepare the good ground.
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 Service
and other sanitary bodies of this coun-
try are gradually bringing these facts
home to the general public. In this
way cleanliness is becoming more gen.
eral, and the span Of life in America is
gradually being heightened All of
which is largely due to the microscope.
Policemen, like the hairs of a man S
head, are numbered.
Anyway, when man accuses his
wife of having married him for his
money he pays tribute to her good
sense.
Beware Of the friendly chap who pats
you on the back. The chances are that
he is trying to jingle the coins in your
pocket.
1t may be better to lead the process
sion than to follow it-unless the leader
happens to be riding in black wagon
with glass windows.
Many woman who doesn't object to
cigar smoke before marriage draws the
line at pipe before the honeymoon has
begun to slump the slumps.
HOW AN ENGINEER KEEPS WELL.
Railroad engineers are more exposed