THE SECRET OF THE GANGES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7808, 12 September 1903, Page 1

THE SECRET OF THE GANGES.

Tourists who watch the hordes of pifc grims collected 'from all "parts of .India sj bathing ' in the apparently c p«-t_fer6o« waters of the Ganges, and so_aetin.es actf.-^ ally drinking tbe water in the clos^HK proximity to a half -cremated corpse, ~xsaaM SS^SSBL3»94H_i. &&*s&&&*>- ?!**& - of berngTesa. subject to .cholera epidejtnfefc 'than many Lot_-er.fcdi-_n cities,. is not "llwi - greatest plague-spot in the whole ol mm\ Indian Empire!. . ' " ' ■ , BACTEBIA SIB IK THIS BIVXB. ' "*-/* . Possibly, a startling) chemical diacorajfc made within recent years, offers a solution of this mystery. This certainly shows th_|S there is a scientific basis for the univciisql faith — usually called superstition— arno^j Hindoos in the deausing qualities of that Ganges, as well as in its peculiar sanctity. Careful experiments hay* shown that the river possesses extraordinary sad Inez- * plicable antiseptio properties. A Government analyst took water from the main sewer of Benares which contained millions of cholera germs. When emptied into m receptacle of Ganges water, in six hoon they were all dead- He took undenidbly pure water, and!, threw; . a few of these cholera germs in. They propagated and swarmed. These tests were tried re* peatedly, witb the same results. Does this explain tho comparative immunity of | Benares from cholera epidemics on a laxge. | scale in a .city -which seems to offer the most favourable conditions for its pronto gation? A MYSTERY. "Here, indeed, is a mystery," observes Mark Twain, who was one of the first to popularise this theory in his "More Tramps Abroad." "The cleansing proper- | ties of fche river have been- an article of | faith from the beginning of history. How did they find out the water's secret thousands of years ago? Is bacteriology hub m revived science?"