i6 4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



seems to have been overlooked as the most probable means of trans- 

 mission in this case. 



" Germs on Money, Harmless — Dr. Doty rejects a popular theory 

 as to source of infection " says the New York Times of February 23, 

 1908. Dr. A. H. Doty is the health officer of the port, New York. 

 I inquired of him whether he had been correctly quoted in that article 

 and he replied that it practically expressed his views; in fact, he gave 

 me a detailed account of his views which were given in his original 

 article appearing in the New York Tribune on November 11, 1907, 

 under the headlines, " No Disease on Money — Foolish to Consider It 

 as a Medium of Transmission." Dr. Doty writes : " This heading may 

 be a little misleading as I do not say that it is impossible for money 

 to act as a medium of infection, but that if it does occur, it is only in 

 rare instances, and this question must be settled principally by prac- 

 tical experience." 



The United States treasurer, who has given this subject long and 

 careful consideration, is emphatic in his statement that there is not 

 the slightest evidence to show that the employees in his department 

 contract infectious diseases any oftener than others who are not in this 

 line of work. This also applies to bank tellers and clerks. Peculiarly 

 enough, those who claim that they have made a careful study of this 

 question do not seem to understand that persons whose vocation in- 

 volves the constant handling of money are susceptible to the same out- 

 side influences or exposure that others are, and are therefore equally 

 liable to contract infectious diseases in the ordinary way, and that 

 the handling of money does not render them immune to disease. 



Dr. Park's statement that he found " paper money to be similar to 

 other paper and rags, and capable of carrying living tubercle and 

 diphtheria bacilli for some days or longer," does not mean that money 

 is a frequent medium for the transmission of infectious diseases. 



Dr. Doty has for years made a study of infectious diseases, and 

 especially the medium of their transmission. He has collected reliable 

 statistics from paper manufacturers in this country, and has made a 

 personal investigation of the rag depots of Alexandria, Egypt; yet no 

 evidence has ever been found to show that these rag pickers are more 

 subject to infectious diseases than those not connected with the work. 

 " It is fortunate," he says, " that money constitutes such an unim- 

 portant factor in the transmission of disease, as nothing could be more 

 farcical, from a sanitary point of view, than an attempt to disinfect it, 

 although this has been seriously proposed. It is important that those 

 who have given this subject careful investigation should aid in the 

 education of the public, in order that they may have a proper under- 

 standing of the matter and not be alarmed by sensational literature 

 on the subject." 



I do not claim that my study of twenty-four bills proves con- 



