DIRTY BANKNOTES.

Thames Star, 24 December 1921, Page 5

DIRTY BANKNOTES.

AN EXAMINATION. This subject—a constantly recurring one —has its share of publicity, ■and the Health Department has had a considerable amount of correspondence with bank authorities on the question (says the Journal). A bacteriological study of soiled paper money was made by Dr. Warren H. Hilditch, of the Laboratory of Bacteriology and Hygiene at Yale University. His conclusions are extremely reassuring to those who have been led to believe that paper money is a dangerous source of infection. He does not say that it cannot convey disease, but he asserts unreservedly that there is not a ease on record in which the transmission has been proved. ~His experiments were made with 24 of the dirtiest bills he could find. In view of the prevalence of diphtheria and tuberculosis, he made special efforts to discover the germs of those diseases. The results were entirely negative. The guinea-pigs which had been inoculated showed no indication of even temporary illness, while the smeared serum plates revealed no trace of the bacillus diphtheria. All the bacteria discovered were non-virulent. Of that variety there were enough. The number present on the bills ranged from 14,000 to 586,000, with an average for the 24 bills of 142,000. Strangely en6ugh, there seemed to be no connection between the amount of dirt and the number of bacteria present. . The cleanest-looking bill had next to the highest number, while the dirtiest one was comparatively free fromJ them. An examination of the literature on the subject, which .is confessedly scanty, and the results of the bacteriological experiments of others, served to confirm his laboratory conclusion as to the generally harmless character of the. average dirfy bill. Turning from the bacteriological to the human side of the. question, he found the testimony equally strong. * The testimony of the United States Treasurer also"" sustained his view. That official had given the subject careful consideration, and«was emphatic in the statement that the employees in his> department did not contract infectious diseases more frequently than those in other lines of work. The testimony of bank-tellers; who come in contact with much dirty money every day, agreed with that of the Treasurer.