36 THE MICROSCOPE. Mar. 



all. He who goes through life casting his uncleanly 

 product into halls, cars, shops, etc., himself will breathe 

 in some other kind which some other careless person has 

 thrown off in disregard of all human rights. 



Typhoid and Cholera germs pass from the bowels of 

 the sick with these diseases and in most cases of infec- 

 tion the germs have got into rivers, wells and drinking 

 water. All this can be prevented if the discharges are 

 disinfected with carbolic acid or burned. 



Persons who die of diphtheria contain the germs and 

 their bodies may taint the soil. In Normandy, such a 

 body was exhumed after 23 years had elapsed, those 

 who dug up the body and afterwards some other people 

 were taken sick. A perfect epidemic of diphtheria re- 

 sulted. This is why cremation is so strongly advocated 

 by some people. 



Milk from tuberculous cows is infected and there is no 

 safety except in boiling the milk. The boiling point of 

 heat kills the germs. If water is suspected it also should 

 be boiled before using in food or as drink. 



Health officers have found that there are at present 

 five of these diseases which are very destructive when 

 neglected but which yield readily to the means of con- 

 trol now known. These five are consumption, diphthe- 

 ria, pneumonia, typhoid fever and scarlet fever. Dr. 

 Gamber of the Michigan Board of Health has given the 

 following synojjsis of these five bacilli. 



The bacillus of tuberculosis is the principal factor in 

 the disease so commonly known as consumption, and is 

 the cause of more deaths in the State of Michigan than 

 any other single disease. Their shape is in the form of 

 rods with rounded ends ; average length, 1-10,000 of an 

 inch ; diameter, 1-100,000 of an inch. The bacilli are 

 said to have an enduring form, and it has been demon- 

 strated by experiment that it retains its vitality in desic- 

 cated sputum for several months. A susceptible individ- 



