Sanitaey Reform. 473 



little growths, and just what are animal and what are veg- 

 etable is, perhaps, not very well known, and, for our pur- 

 pose, it does not matter. 



Some of the minute organisms are called bacteria, and, 

 for convenience, we will use that term in speaking of them. 

 We will remember that some of these are so small that it 

 takes thousands, or even millions, to form a mass large 

 enough to be seen by the unassisted eye ; and, that we 

 may not lose sight of the fact that numbers can make 

 up for size, I will give a few instances illustrating the 

 importance of these minute and seemingly insignificant 

 things. 



If we examine the underside of the leaves of a bar- 

 berry bush, next summer, we may be able to see little yel- 

 lowish mould or what looks like that. Now if a few grains 

 of this happen to be conveyed to a field of wheat, the 

 straw, in a few hours, becomes covered with what the 

 farmer calls rust, and all hopes of a harvest are destroyed 

 by this something, so small as to need magnifying hun- 

 dreds of times to become visible. 



Again, we read of the destruction of the grape vines, 

 and here we find that our little enemies have been at 

 work. 



Yet, again, the silk worm sickens and dies, and again 

 the glass shows us the cause. 



The story comes to us that a whole nation is in danger 

 of starvation by reason of the failure of the potato crop ; 

 and, again, we have but a further illustration of the not 

 only interesting, but terrible importance of these micro- 

 scopic growths. 



