New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-25
wv THAT a pity" signs DR.. David J
" Nv John Davis, "some of the

m" HAT pity, signs Dr. DaVld
Nv John Davis, "some of the
energy, time and money spent
!, the Great War could not be spent in
combating the deadly micrObe!"
And yet, for all the process seems incl
dental, the Great War is doing its i'm
nortant bit toward devising new means
whereby disease may be grappled with.
m an article which appears in the Novem-
hsr number of "The Scientific Monthly
DR.. Davis, who is professor of pathology
and bacteriology at the University of Hi
nOis, says:
~The relation of bacteriology and war is a
,sejprocal one While the study of bacteria
has more fundamentally affected the success
and the methods Of procedure in military
campaigns. in turn there is presented to the
bacteriologist for solution many new prob
isms Of Yital interest TO the science. Not
only are new fields for investigation opened
NJ BY the war. but military organization
furnishes opportunities for observation and
confirmation of existing data on a scale and
under conditions not usually possible in
civil life.
During war the destruction of life by
disease producing germs often, indeed usu-
ally in the past, has far exceeded the de-
struction Of life by bullets. We have only
10 point 10 the Spanish-American War, less
than twenty years ago, to appreciate the
truth Of this statement We may naturally
anticipate therefore, that in the present
world war the role that these minute Great
ures play will be one of first Importance
"War, and especially the present war, in
wolves the congregating and minghng OF
great bodies of men, frequently from distant
nsrts of the world. This means the trans
portstion Of human and animal parasites
along with the hosts. This transportation of
parasitic varieties of animal or plant life we
have long known to be a dangerous process.
As examples, we may mention the Mexican
cotton boil weevil, the gypsy moth and
the foot and mouth virus.
"The ravages of disease germs in the army
may not be the most serious phase of this
problem The return of the troops to their
homes-of the wounded during the war, and
the entire army after the war-must lead to
q more general infection of the civil popula-
ton with the various diseases that commonly
follow the military camps"
After discussing many of the affections
which attack soldiers especially (trench
fever, infectious jaundce, trench nephritis,
typhoid fever, Asiatic cholera, wound in
fections, tetanus, etc., DR.. Davis goes on
to say:
"The education of not only medical men
but of the common soldier in military hy-
giene will in itself be a great stimulus to
the science Of bacteriology, since military
hygiene is so largely based on bacteriologic
principles. The instruction now given to the
soldiers by lectures and in other ways will
make them more intelligent about such mat
tsrs in general and no doubt will result in
an increased interest in this subject by the
common people.
"The value derived from the physical ex-
animation, the military training, the careful
supervision exercised in the army over the
general health and hygienic environment Of
the soldiers will be of first Importance in
raising the resistance of the men to the in
yasion of bacteria of various kinds. The
proper control of liquor in itself will accom-