SOILED PAPER MONEY 159 



none gave any indication of even temporary illness. Inoculations of 

 pure cultures of staphylococci, as well as of Bacillus verosis (which 

 was at first suspected of being Bacillus diphtheria;) also gave negative 

 results. 



From the observations that I have made, it would seem that the 

 bacteria present on paper money are non-vinttent and the forms most 

 common are the air forms. Could the loss of virulence be due to dry- 

 ing, the bills having a peculiar dry feeling, no matter how moist the 

 air ; or is there some antiseptic action in the ink used for the printing 

 of the bills ? I have not taken up the question as to why the bacteria 

 found on money are without virulence, but have confined this study 

 to a careful search for pathogenic forms that might be present on the 

 bills. 



The literature on this subject is exceedingly scanty. I have been 

 unable to find any report upon any good scientific work done along this 

 line. Inquiry at the Congressional Library at Washington revealed 

 only four articles — one in Spanish, one in German and two in English, 

 while inquiry among a number of scientific men failed to give me any 

 further assistance with the literature upon the subject of the trans- 

 mission of infectious diseases through paper money. 



That the interest in dirty money, or desire for clean money, is not 

 of recent origin is shown in an article by Dr. Otto Miiller, 1 which 

 appeared in 1879. He suggests that money is one means of transmit- 

 ting the infectious diseases, and although it is extremely difficult to 

 prove an actual case, it certainly offers possibilities. He lays par- 

 ticular emphasis upon the pernicious habit of giving coins to children 

 to play with, especially when they are sick; and also the habit of keep- 

 ing money under bed pillows, or in commodes or closets where linen 

 or food is kept. 



Drs. Acosta and Eossi 2 reported in a Havana journal the results 

 of bacteriological examinations of bank notes made by them. They 

 examined two bills that had been in circulation for some time and 

 found them loaded with germs of various kinds and degrees of malig- 

 nancy. Cultures were made from the scrapings of the notes and these 

 were injected into the peritoneal cavity of rats and guinea-pigs, most 

 of which died within twenty-four hours, the post-mortem examinations 

 showing signs of peritonitis and congestion of the liver and kidneys. 

 They did not identify any of those germs having " various degrees of 

 malignancy." The fact that the animals died within twenty-four 

 hours indicates that death was not due to the action of any one or more 

 pathogenic forms that might have been present, but rather to the great 

 numbers of bacteria suddenly thrown into the peritoneal cavity. 



*"Das Geld, ein Krankheitsvermittler," Monatsblatt f. Offentliche Oesund- 

 heitspflege, 1879, No. 2, p. 173. 



2 Medical Record, August 27, 1892. 



