INFECTIOUS GERMS. 257 



are continually suffering from every form of mala- 

 ria, poison, and contagion known to medical men, 

 and certainly they are deserving of sympathy. 

 Personal cleanliness and the strict observance of 

 all hygienic laws are of no avail with thousands in 

 warding off these disturbing agencies ; they are the 

 victims of an organization susceptible to the malign 

 influences of poisons and contagions which lurk 

 constantly in the atmosphere, and even in food and 

 drinks. 



We know but little regarding the exact nature 

 of the germs which are capable of implanting dis- 

 ease in the system. That they have substance and 

 form, no one can doubt. As distinct atoms or par- 

 ticles of matter, they are inconceivably small, and 

 capable of being buoyed up or supported in air, and 

 carried from place to place through its agency. In 

 a barn containing animals suffering from pleuro- 

 pneumonia, or from the epizootic aphtha, we must 

 suppose the atmosphere to be loaded with the infin- 

 itesimal particles. If our eyes could be opened so 

 that we could see the particles as we see snow- 

 flakes in the winter, what a fearful spectacle would 

 be presented ! The disgusting, poisonous atoms 

 would be seen flying in all directions, and resting 

 upon everything; upon the clothing of those in 

 charge of the animals, upon the hay, upon the ma- 

 nure, floors, scaffolds, and upon the backs of any 



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