FORTY BILLION GERMS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8337, 13 April 1889, Page 6

FORTY BILLION GERMS.

In his quiet and cosy library at tt close of a busy day sat a gentleman an his wife, he absorbed in a new booi and she in a newspapsr. Qiickl glancing towards her husband, sh asked, at a certain point in the article : "John, what is the germ theory 1" "The gem theory— well— ye< ; jus look in the encyclopcelia under ' Germ, that will explain it so much beltar thai I can." Accordingly, his wife opened the bool at the word named, and read : Germ Theory of Disease— A theory advanced by the ablest and best investigators and scientists of the times. It supposes the surface of the earth, the air, and water to be inhabited to a greater or less extent with a peculiar growth of the lowest form of fungi — commonly termed bacteria, whose power of reproduction, under favourable conditions, is so great that a single germ will increase to fifteen million in twenty-four hours' time, and uncbeoked in its increase would grow to a mass of eight hundred tons in three days' time, if space and food be furpished. There is no condition under which it can be said fo be absent, unless it be from fire or air filtered through cotton-batting in numerous layers. A single drop of water containing a germ, put into water boiled, filtered, and thus freed from bacteria, will grow mnrky in a day or two from the development of new germs. When it is considered that it requires about forty billion to weigh one grain, some remote idea can be had of the capacity of germ reproduction. Professor John Tyndall, in a late work, elaborately treats of the influence of germs in the propagation of disease, and charges upon this causa the inception and development of very many of the ailments moßt injurious to man. Professor Pasteur, an eminent French savant, has carried his original and beautiful experiments so far, and from them deduced 6uch practical results as, very greatly to diminish the number of cases of authras among sheep and chicken cholera among fowls— provi-ig his theory that these are essentially and actually germ diseases. These germ are carried into the system through the longs, the stomach and possibly the skin, but through the lungs chiefly. Once in the system they begin to develope, poisoning the blood, invading the nerve centres, disturbing tho functional activity of the great organs of the body, and inducing a general impairment of the vital processes. They are the causes of fever, rheumatism, BrigH's disease of the kidneys, pneumonia, blotd poisoning, liver disease, diphtheria, snd many other ailmentß. Lately, Professor Koch, a famous German physician, has proved that consumption of the longs is doe to this cause— the presence of a peculiar germ. When the circulation is bounding, tho nerves elastio and the system all aglow with life and energy, the germs ' seem to develop poorly, if at all. But with weakened nerves, poor digesfon, • or mal-assimilation of food, or a lowering ; of vitality from any cause, a change ! ensues, and in this impoverished and ! weakened fluid the germ finds a genial home, and develops until symptoms of disease are distinctly manifested. This ] is seen in the every-day experience of j all. The healthy man resists the influences around him and does net take j cold, while those whose systems hare ' become weak from any cause readily contract colds. This is on the name . prinoiple as the germ theory. The germs , attack any weakened spot in the body. ; and fixing themselves upon it, begin their propagation. Itis plain, therefore, , that it is only by fortifying tho weak ", portions of the bpdy that the germs o£ ; disease can be resisted and driven from i the eastern. But this has proved almost I an impossibility heretofore, and it ha 3 : been the study of physicians for years how boat to accomplish it. Within the past few years, however, a preparation has been attracting great attention, not only throughout the entire land, but among the medical profession and scientists generally, which is based upon this theory, and it may safely be said no remedy has ever been found which oan so successfully place the system in a condition to resist the germs of disease as Warner's Safe Cure. This Brticle ia unquestionably the best and most efficient that has ever been discovered for this purpoae, and — " John, aay, John, does the encyclopedia advertise Warner's Safe Cure V "I should not wonder, dear, it's a grand remedy, and that pamphlet we received the other day stated that Dr. Qunn, of the United States Medical College, endorsed it. At all events, the wonderful cures il is accomplishing entitle it to be honourably noted among i the great discoveries of the present 1 century." However the facts above stated may be, the truth remains, that the germ theory of disease ia the correct one, and that the great remedy mentioned is the only one which has ever been found that can put the system in n condition to kill these germs before they obtain a bold upon the body, and undermine the life.