The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1921-12-13

~~FeSSbta III 0AOOfI
Plaoue-Added to Drinking Waite,
1t Would Play an Important Par
in the Control of Epidemics-
The discovery Of an ultramierobe
which is a parasite on bacteria, anC
which effects a cure Of such diseases
as dysentery, typhoid fever, hemor-
rhagic septicemia and bubonic plague
has been announced by DR.. f. die
rele of the Pasreur institute of Paris
This powerful, minute organism will
be able to play an important part In
control of epidemics, according to
Doctor d'Herelle. He has been able
to make men, buffaloes and birds re
sistant to various diseases by simply
introducing into them the ultramicrobe
which had become accustomed to
preying upon the particular bacterium
that causes the disease.
All that would be necessary to stop
an epidemic of some disease, typhoid
for instance, would be to pour into the
drinking water supply a very small
mount of the proper strain of the
uitramicrobe, Doctor d'Herelle de-
clares. This would infect all of the
people with the harmless bacteria-dis-
solving ultramicrobe which will pro-
tect them n prevent an epidemic.
The ultramicrobe is ~tasteless and for
all animals inc man it is absolutely
harmless, Doctor d'Herelle has found
by experience
This wonderful parasitic ultrami-
crobe has been named the ''bacterio-
phage" OF bacteria-eater by Doctor
d'Herelle.
Brought to mind by this new dis
cOvery is Dean Swift's o~ften-repeated
quotation:
So naturalists observe a nea
Has smaller heas that on him nrey,
And these have smaller still to bite 'em,
And SO proceed ad innnitum.
Exhaustive Researches.
Before announcing his work on the
bacteriophage. Decor d'Herelle has
nature of this ultramicrobe which
seems to hold the possibilities of revo-
lutiOnizing ideas in medicine and
biology.
Doctor d'Herelle explains the &C
ton Of the bacteriophage as follows:
Take the case Of bacillus ~dysentery.
If a sample of the feces of the patient
is taken, mixed with bouillon, and
then passed through a Chamberlain
filter, all of the microbes visible I'M
der the miscroscope will be retained
in the fine pores Of the porcelain filter
and the filtrate or the liquid that
passes through will be clear, will re
main so indefinitely and is in appear
sterile. Suppose that a case OF
1ysentery is followed during it's
course and that such a fltrate is pre-
pared for each Of the 80 days of the
Illness. If 80 tubes of bouillon cul-
.ures cloudy with d~ysentery bacilli
we're prepared, and If a drop out Of
ZACH of the 80 f~iltrates prepared each
were added to the corresponding
v numbered cultures, the following
would be the result after IL hours in
Tubes l to 6, no change,
Loudly with %dysentery culture; tubes
to 18, perfectly clear; tubes 10 to
cloudy like the first six. A strange
0 10 caused by the adding of the drop
f ~f1ltrate. The bacilli have been dis
o]ved. And at the same time that
his dissolving began to take place the
atient began to get well, and on the
ighteenth day the cure was complete.
he presence of the %dissolving princi-
lie and the cure coincide. This has
cen found to be the case In other +.
even those that are not in
In character. /,
And this principle that appears In I,
le filrrate is thousands Of times more
)werful than the most energetic anti +
,ptic known. A billionth part of a 6
live q tubeful Of d~ysentery baciIli.
nd unlike a chemical, the bacteri- 8
)hages will multiply themselves owe y
Id over again. A mere trace of the .
luid in the tube of dissolved bacillf Il
Ill clear up another tube of culture, Il
i'd if the process is continued a trace +
ON the 999th tube will effectively a
use the solution Of the 1,OOOth cul- :.
re.
But in the dissolved culture Of
ycilli there can be seen no microbes,
en- If the most powerful optical :.
ans are employed. In fact, the '
cteriophages are SO extremely small
at DIR. d'Herelle declares that with
t a doubt no human eye will ever r
able to see them n determine o.
cir form eve with the aid of any OF
strument that may be devised in the
ture. The volume Of a bacteriOphage tt
practically equal to that Of a mole CO
lie OF albumen. 1t is only by dilut- IN
: a culture of ba~cteriophages many, : N
my times, then adding a very small &C
1OuHt to a culture OF bacilli and AZ
the spots where ~dissolving 81
res place. that the number of the
.cteriophage in a given volume could or
determined and that its role in 1t
ture could be discovered. BY this nj
it was found that there are vi
least 2,5OO.O 600 900 bacteriophages ev
+ cubic centimeter. 70
Trained to Fight. ne