CONCERNING MICROBES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 202, 24 August 1904, Page 9

CONCERNING MICROBES.

(By K. H. BAKEWELL. "U.D.) 2s o. in. It i? euriou* how completely it i-.eems re be. forgotten by the present gpneratioo of pathologists, or, rather, of bacteriologists, that the whole of the. modern theoTy of germ diseases was fully cm theory of germ disea>e* was set fonh more than fifty years ago by Dr. Will:«ai fan-. F. 8.5.. C.8., etc who was medical statistician in the olik-e of the Registrar-General for England and Wales from the institution of the office vmtil the death of mc first Registrar-General, Colonel Graham. ! cannot at this moment lay my hands r.n some old reports of the RegistrarfJeneral. dating back to the early forties, but I have, lying before mc now a, report for the ten years—lS3l-Go—dealing with the cause.- 'of death. The fiut groiq in classified as follows: — gmall-pox Measles, Scarlatina Diphtheria Whooping cough Typhus Cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery Other zvmotie disease such a.s Ery

sfe>i'las. etc. Tiip above formed the group of zymotic diseases. The word zymotic, invented by Dr. Farr. is derived from the Creek word ••'z'umctos," ''fermented 01 leavened," a* dough is by yeast. Dr Win. Farr included in this class all tht diseases now attributed to specific germs, and several of which the germs have not yet been identified. Year after year lip kept on in his annual reports, continually urging the importance of preventing these diseases b\ hygienic measures. The great fault of Dr. Farr a; a sanitary reformer was that he did not. and us a Government officer he dared noT. urge the neee«sir.v for better wages, and so better and ninre abundant food, better clothing, and better lodging. ;ind shorter hours of work. What all the sanitary measure* taken dining the third quarter of )a«t century —and they were very important—could not. do, was done by the improvement of trade, the rise in wages, and the action of the trades unions. Of ernu'sc. he was not a niicroscopist. and did not go hunting bacteria. But ij did belier: lie showed how to Tender th<*m innocuous. To him and to Sir Edwin Chadwick and Sir John fc>imo:i are chiefly due all the improvement in the public health of, England which legislation could effect. The microbes that are found constantly accompanying certain forms of disease are ngeumed to be the true causes of the disease. Thu=. if you lind a particular form of microbe in the stomach and intestines of even , cholera patient, you consider that this microbe the cause of the cholera. This is probably the case in some, diseases, though it by no means follows that because a particular form of a low vegetable growth is found in a particular diseased tissue, that it i> the cause of the.disease in that tissue. llt may be that it is because that diseased tissue is the most suitable soil for the growth of the microbe. This, I consider, to be the case in the so-called bacillus of tubercle. A* I have already set forth my views ou this question in your columns. I need not further labour the point. My conviction remains that the tubercle bacillus has no mor*. to do with causing tuberculosis than the green mould which forms on boots in damp weather has to do with the making of the boot*. z The identification of the different forms of microbes in diseased structures is chiefly by cultivating in or on various substances, such as vegetable decoctions, animal broths, serum, slices of potato, either by plate culture forming colonies, which may be identified to some extent by the naked eyr, and by staining the specimens thus obtained with various colours. Some microbes take one .stain, and some another; the fully developed microbe will often take a stain -which the germ absolutely refuses to have anything to do with, just as we see in human life, the son refusing to partake of the honest industry by which his father earned his living. By a process of repeated cultivation microbes even of the most virulent ' character, gradually become milder and milder, so that the pathogenic effect is diminished with every cultivation. We. see. this well shown in vaccination with calf-lymph, which is nothing but small-pox matter passed through the bodies of cow?. Advantage has been taken of this quality to ir.ocualale persons likely to l>e exposed to i great danger of catching typhoid with I the modified typhoid bacillus, hut it was found by no means a success with, our troops iii South Africa. I see that they are now advertising a poly-typhoid mii opulation, containing several of the prin- ! -ipnl microbes found in the intestines in ' ivphoid fever. 1 should think this would i b'r a very useful method for expectant ' heirs, who found the possessors of pro- ! perty lingering too long in this world. One thing is quite certain, and the reI cent researches of bacteriologists have j con firmed what the experience of e*n- | turies had taught us. either that the ! germs of These diseases are almost umi versally distributed, or that there are some common forms which under ordinary circunrstances of climate, diet, habit of life, are innocuous, but which ijiven certain conditions become viruifeirt, io such « degree in some eases as jto prove fatal to the majority of per- | sons attacked. Sometimes these conditions seem only to be fulfilled when ! po-me species of insect becomes Iheho?T : for the microbe that actually causes the ' disease, as in yellow fever. Malaria of the malignant kind is. according to recent researches. only propagated '■fhrouffh a particular kind of niosquifo. It is alleged That if you destroy all the mosquitoes in a district you will have mo malarial fever. There is great vir- ! tue in an "if.' , but. I may say that few 'men with large experience of malaria (-will have an unlimited faith in this jcioeirine. How does it. acrount for the Scn-es of intensely severe malaria which j attack Europeans visiting certain districts inhabited only by" coloured people who do not sull'er from malaria? 1 have visited localities, ill the West Imli«-s 1 where no whitr ravn could s!ei-p a single 1 nielli without contracting fever, unless ■lie™took rt good dose of quinine before I poh.s to bed and another with his coffee iin the morning. Yet in one such locallivv there would not be more than two i white men in a year sleep in the j place. What were the peculiar niosIquitoo? living on all this time? The innli i« this; We arc just in amueh or a- little danger from microbes la.- our grandfathers, who knew nothing a'oouT thorn. Wn need not hi afraid of any microbes so long as we live soberly. temperately, breathing gtiod air, d.ty and night, taking a proper quantity of exercise, and dressing suitably to the climate. Some people inherit wretched constitutions, and for them additional precautions may be required; but to the

bulk of the inhabitants of a country Hke Sew Zealand I may say, Don t worry Yourselves about, tubercle or any otner Williis; don't eat too much meat or drink too much tea or ak-ohoho drink.-. I keep your bedroom*, workrooms, ana sitting-rooms well ventilated, but sum- ; eiently- warm; and if you are w*" , ", 'don't'wear corset*. I have not Spain 1 to say anyth-mr about anti-toxin Msrmns !land their u«c in the treatment of ais- , ease. There seem« to be falling off n> the enthusiasm formerly shtwn. for this '; method of treareiuent. ' i Tonsonby-road. August 22. 1004.