616 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



gives form and existence to the body. The plants increase in number, 

 are nuiltii)lit'd l)y direct division. So rapidly does this progress go on that 

 one bacillus growing in a suitable medium will in eight hours produce 

 nearly seventeen million. The single bacillus of consumption taken into 

 the respiratory track could, in a person of low vitality, nearly .accomplish 

 this, and in so-called ([uick consumption produces death in an incredil>ly 

 short time. In tlu> ordinary condition Itactcria are comparatively easily 

 killed, especially wlicn growing in mediums adapted to their best develop- 

 ment. Many forms have the power of forming spores; that is, 

 the wall becomes thicker and contents darker and shiny. This form Is 

 able to withstand much more heat and exposure. Some forms will even 

 endure 284 degrees of dry heat for three hours, or 212 degrees for sixteen 

 hours; a few forms will withstand 275 degrees live steam for five minutes. 

 Some will live in a corrosive sublimate solution, and some will live in a 

 5 per cent. carl)olic acid solution for 40 days, and yet we often trust to 

 the smell of the cork of the bottle containing this substance to drive 

 dangerous bacteria from our dwellings. 



Bacteria, like other forms of plants, vary much in their requirements. 

 All require moisture for their growth. Many produce colors. In most 

 cases development is retarded by sunlight, and it is God's best germi- 

 cidal agent, and will in three and one-half hours accomplish what ordi- 

 nary solutions of mercuric chloride, man's efficient destroyer, can bring 

 about in three days. Why do we not, then, malie use of sunlight in 

 every part of our homes and schoolrooms? Let us open our windows and 

 doors and destroy our worst foes, even at the expense of a little tapestry. 



Bacteria gi-oAVS best in a temperature of GO to 90 degrees. The major- 

 ity of bacteria produce no serious disturbance in the human body, and 

 it seems almost certain that a feAv harmless forms are absolutely essen- 

 tial in certain organs to insure the proper performance of their normal 

 functions. For the few that are harmful it may be said that their injuri- 

 ous effects are due to the production of poisonous and non-poisonous 

 fluids. These are disseminated through the system very readily by the 

 circulation of blood and reach every vital organ, working injury and dis- 

 solution. There is no other way of accounting for the very numerous 

 and marked manifestations of siich diseases as loclijaw, often producing 

 death, when the introduction of this bacillus may be confined to a few 

 plants on a rusty nail causing at the point of the breaking of the skin 

 little local disturbances and often but a trifling inflammation. No inven- 

 tion of modern times can produce such distribution for the small bulk 

 employed. The action in the body is like snake venom— quick, far reach- 

 ing, deadly. The list of deadly and loathsome diseases caused by bacteria 

 is long, and includes among many others, tuberculosis, leprosy, glanders, 

 anthrax, diphtheria, typhoid fever and Asiatic cholera. Added to this are 

 several that, while the bacillus is not known, there can be little question 

 but that it exists as a producer of well known symptoms; such are small- 

 pox, chickenpox, measles, mumps, whooping-cough and hydrophobia, 



