THE GERM THEORY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5649, 19 June 1886, Page 1

THE GERM THEORY.

• { Probably no di-covery in the history of i discovery, haa been franght with more ; beneficial result than that which is popularly known as the germ theory. Kirchner, Schwann, Hemholtz, Koch, Pasteur, Budd, Huxley, Lißter, Sanderson, Carpenter, Tyndall and Baatian have shown us that in the midst of life, indeed, we are in death. Tho air we breathe, the water wo ( ' drink, teems -frith minute organisms termed bacteria— active agents in the work .of putrifaction. Huxley, in his discourse .upon "Dqst and Disease/' proved the i organic origin of the motea floating in London air, which are revealed by their reflecting and scattering the light of a beam of sunshine or electric light. When these motes areb_rntorintercepted,darkne_3isproduced in the beam, the air being then rendered optically pure. Germs, then, are never absent from the conditions of our lives, unless under the appUcation of heat, or, in a minor degree, of filtration. It is obvious, therefore, that it should be our care to keep the air we breathe and the 1 water we drink as free as possible from the contamination of life germs, whose putrescent action is the cause of disease. To do this, it is incumbent npon ua to keep our dwellings and surroundings free from those influences in which ariße the germs of disease. This, however, ia at all times difficult to accomplish; and it is a curious circumstance, not as yet explained by scientific investigation, that disease is by no meanß the Bcoarge only of those who live amidst surroundings of filth and squalor. On the contrary, it is often found that epidemics are most severe in their action among the well-to-do and refined classes of society. The Jews of the Ghetto, and the denizens of Sfc Gilea, were not those who suffered most severely during the periodical epidemics of cholera within the past eighty years. Observing this, it is impossible to escape the eonclusion that the rude force of constitution which enabled those people to resist the influence of disease arose in their comparative purity of blood. Hard fare and hard work are the natural conditions under which sound health is secured, and the physiologic eonclusion is that the germ basis of disease is comparatively harmless in its action npon those whose physical functions and bodily system are sound and healthy. This acknowledged, we are compelled to the conclusion that the first and most important factor in any system of resistance to disease resides in securing purity of blood. That attained, all the organs of the body become healthy, and diseases which strike down the weak and feeble are powerless to harm those who have restored to themselves the conditions of a natural existence. How to accomplish this end is, then, an all-important question. But it is readily answered. Science, while alert to trace the origin of -iaease, is no less ceaseless in hec efforts to discover preventives and curatives. And just as the skilful farmer, by the application of those phosphates which have been exhausted, restores to land weakened by incessant droppings, the elements which have been withdrawn from it, so the chemist supplies those restorative agents which give back to the human system the strength and force which have been wasted. This fact ib beautifully illustrated in Warner's safe core. In Europe and America there are many thousands now alive wbo owe this agreeable circumstance to the nse of this specific, when attacked with typhoid and analogous diseases. The direct influence of thia renowned medicine is npon the blood, which ia restored to ita original purity, and purged from all poisonous and debilitating matter. Thus, in all conditions of malaria, typhoid, scarlet fever, as well as wheu the system is weakened by Bright's disease, ordinary kidney or urinary affections, disorders of the liver and ao forth, a resort to Warner's safe cure is always attended with good results. This is because the blood is purified and fortified by tho assimilation of such restorative agents as nature haa beneficially provided. In view of the prevalence of typhoid in these Colonies at the present time, it is neees-ary to impress upon the publio intelligence the brief facts we have referred to. To be armed against the germs of disease, it is necessary to purify the blood; to do this, it is only needful to do that which we have indicated, and attend to those ordinary hygienic and sanitary rules which suggest themselves to every thoughtful person.