The Mena weekly star., 1922-02-02

hv medical men in all parts of
 the civilized globe and he IS gen
 erallv considered the last ressrt
 sn surgery when all other means
 have failed. His article should
 be read with careful attention.
 Bv CHARLES H. MAYO, M. D.
 Death, altho inevitable to all mul ticellar life, be it plant or animal ! often untimefy from disease. Th efficiency of nations largely depend on a full appreciation of disease as cause of sickness in all types of life and it's control or prevention. Ger many doubled her population in two generations and restored her worn out land by scientific care untll lt' acreage production far excSsdsd oul own. It is generally conceded Una, disease is largely unnecessary, no' only contagious diseases, but also tne common diseases which make inyalius of so many persons. That diseases of plants. grains, trees, animals and persons are due to mierobic action IS becoming generally known. A few persons are mentally so constituted that they refuse to believe that the same agents cause diseases of peo- nIe. It is fortunate indeed that there are more helpful than harmful mi crobes. since higher life could not ex- iaf without the single-celled organ ig,.;s. Many such organisms are used in the arts and sciences, in the making of dyes and fermented pro duets, in the household in the making of bread thru the action of the yeast. he avoidance of them in the preser-
 tion of fruit and vegetables can
 Sl be compared with the methods
 modern aseptic surgery. In each
 bic inch of soil there are millions of
 scteria, acting as chemical soil sol- snts for plant root absorption. Some .Arieties fix the nitrogen of the air for the nourishment of plants, for example, alfalfa; Henry Ford plans to obtain practically the same results at Muscle Shoals by electricity fixing the nitrogen of the air.
 The Eternal Struggle.
 In recognition of the fact that all higher life is struggling against the destroying agents which have an equal desire to live, we spray and fumigate plants and orchards to de- stroy insects, moulds and destructive germs, or to maintain temperature for food, such as milk, which prevents the growth of deleterious microbes The farmer sprays his potato vines, cleans his seed grain, and treats it to prevent mould, rust and smut, as a result of research work on agricul- ture Such studies have also shown that wheat rust is carried thru the winter on a barberry shrub, that bo- tulism, deadly poisor and product of bacterial action, develops in badly preserved olives as we'll as in other foods. Such microbes kill, if eaten, and cause the disease Timber neck in chickens, altho they are often car ried in the intestines of hogs with out apparent harm.
 Great economic losses occur from diseases of domestic animals, .such as contagious pneumonia, hemorrhagic scpticemia, and black-leg. Vaccina- tion has proved very effective in cases of blackleg, and the use of vaccine and serum prevent hog cholera if employed before the disease super yeEes.
 Tuberculosis is great destroyer of cattle, hogs and chickens, and the state agricultural departments are doing a great deal to eradicate the disense. Infected milk is a frequent cause of tuberculosis of the lymph glands of the necks of children as wei as of intestinal tuberculosis, which leads to prolonged ill-health and handicaps them early in life. Our larger cities compel the inspection of cows for tuberculosis, or the pastuer- izatlon of milk to protect children against milk-horne diseases. Many epidetaics of contagious sore throats and typhoid have been traced of con- taminated milk. Man is subject to esanders conveyed from diseased horses, and toactinomycosis and car huncles from diseased COWS.
 Why French Failed.
 Within a few decades the world has recognized certain carriers of disease such as the mosquito in disseminat- ing yellow fever and malaria. The lack of this knowledge led to failure by the French to build the Panama canal General Gorgas gave the world q great medical masterpiece of Tgienic control by converting the sstilential canal zone to one of the
 althlest places in the world.
 The research investigations made me years ago by Tickets and Wild
 n Mexico revealed that typhus .ayer Is carried by the body louSe. Tickets died by typhus during the in- yestigation. We now know that the disease is also carried by the Central American woodtiek, and the common bedbug, if such save access to indi- viduals with the disease. Spotted fever in man is due to the bite of the Rocky Mountain tick. The cattle fever in Texas, carried by the tick, is overcome by dipping the animals and the selection of certain breedings more immune to the disease. An ex- ample of disease of trees is found in the chestnuts which have been killed turnout large areas of our country by injury to the paper bark of the trees. Slight variations in the chemistry or taste of the substance give immun- isys for example, the Japanese chest nut Is free from the disease.
 Disease Preyentable.
 Attention is called to few of the varieties of disease in the living cells of plants. animals and man in order to emphasize the fact that they are all so much alike; that the diseases of man are as preventsble as are those of plants in the best managed green- houses and gardens and of animals ca vel managed farms, and that the economic gain is far greater. The
 )piieation of scientific knowledge in
 war prevented death from s.efanus