The Washington times., 1916-01-26
THE TIMES DAILY MI MAGAZINE PA G E
Eighteen Diseases Are
Traced to Ultra Minute
And Invisible Microbes
BY DR.. LEONARD KEENE HIRsHBERG.

method that has at last nailed the
guilty germs to the mast.
In a search for the cause OF the hiSh-
~ contagious cattle disease. known as
the foot-and-mouth infection, Prof.
Loeffler gathered some of the disease
serum. placed II. while warm. in an
earthen cylinder. and by pump forced
the fluid through the unglaZed ware.
He found that the fitrate or clear Dor-
ton would cause foot-and-mouth dis
ease in healthy cattle. Prof. Loefflers
experiment proved that microbes We're
present but so infinitesimally small that
they were far removed from all oossi-
bilitv Of sight. even when every known
means wss brought to the assistance Of
the microscope.
This important discovery cannot be
overestlmated. Eighteen diseases are
known to be caused by these ultra
minute organisms. which have been
brought under control.
There is one germ that causes Dleuro-
pneumonia in cattle, which pinvCs the
case for the prosecution. This parasite
Is just beyond the frontier of dark field
illumination. and 1900 times magnifi-
cation of the microscope.
After the clear. waterV fluid contain
ing these invisible organisms is pump
cd through the filters some of il Is pour
ed into sterliZed serum Celatinc. Ev-
IDENTIFY this serum gelatne suits the
| Dleuro- pneumonia parasite. as candy
does a child. for after several days you
ing like a green bay tree in the gela
tine. This growing colony OF germs.
| individually invisible. have now
! skilled observer easily sees them.
The power of some of these unseen
germs is so great that the one-flfteen-
thouSandth of drop OF the nitrate OF
, 21e per cent solution of the virus OF in
fantile paralysis will cause the diseas Sc
in a very small monkey Even much
| less lymph from diseased cow Will
| cause an epidemic Of foot-and-mouth
| disease in the finest cattle kept in the
most sanitary condition. The blood OF .
| rooster sick with n chicken plague may
be diluted and weakened one million
times with water. and vet produce a
! plague in the finest and strongest OF
| Plymouth Rocks.
There are human affections who's"
! germs are out of the scientists visual
, bounds. Among these are the germs OF
! rabies. or hydrophobla. yellow fever.
dengue fever, typhus-not typhoid. the
con,moner ailment-and infantile pa
ralysis. or poliomyelitis. Fourteen 9TH
ers. infectious among domestic anilna,s
! also occasionally infect man. Only enc
disease with a tilterable virus has been
| discovered in plants. 1t affects the to-
! mato plant. and is called the ''nosiac
| malady."
The parasites Of plcuro- in
cattle lean toward the Vegetable M
crobes. while those of rabies. infanule
| PARALYSIS and Yellow fever act in a
fashion more or less analogous to the
protozoan animalcules of malaria. Like
the latter. yellow fever lives in the
blood of mosquitoes. hence it may be
| finally expected to take its pace in that
group of micro-orCanisms.
Science has already triumpheh suffi-
ciently over the unseen life of the uni
verse TO indicate that many malignant
, tunors are reservoirs of some sort Of
disease germs.
CCopy't 1916. by Newspaper Feature Serytcel