THE MICROSCOPE. 159 



FINAL EFFECTS OF BACTERIA. 



BY J. M. ADAMS. 



AFTER a couple of years cultivation and growth of bacteria, 

 using about one hundred homoeopathic vials, with various ani- 

 mal and vegetable infusions as commonly made, it appears that in 

 all cases the material wrought upon is never left alone till it is fully 

 decomposed as an organic substance and resolved back into its 

 simple constituents. 



Although many kinds of bacteria in many cases assisted each 

 other in the work of disorganization, yet the main work was done 

 by the B. termo, which greatly outnumbered, overpowered and de- 

 stroyed all before it, including other dead, unencysted bacteria, or 

 even its own dead. 



Could an average proportion of bacteria, bacilli, micrococci and 

 spirilla be made, it would stand about as 90:10:10:5; yet these varied 

 very greatly in vegetable infusions, some forms appearing only tran- 

 siently, and of the first named ninety-nine hundreths were B. termo. 

 Some infusions were longer in being changed, as circumstances 

 were more or less favorable; but in all cases, when the work of 

 decomposition was fully finished, only an impalpable gray powder 

 or sediment remained, with a beautifully clear and apparently pure 

 liquid above. 



How this beautifully clear liquid could be obtained from such a 

 putrid mass is a mystery, and, strange to say, both sediment and 

 liquid were free from smell, although some of the vials had been 

 kept tightly corked, except to be examined occasionally. 



This fragmentary experiment goes to show that these organisms 

 properly hold their sphere between the living and the dead, to pre- 

 pare new material out of the old for the immediate demands of new 

 and subsequent organic life. 



Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. 

 When you do a thing, do it with a vim. Do it with your might. 

 Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. 

 Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will 

 accomplish your object. Truly has Emerson said: " Nothing great 

 was ever achieved without enthusiasm." 



