THE STORY OF THE BACTERIA. 87 



intestinal canal some of the tiny germs, not 

 larger than the motes in the sunbeam, but 

 bearing in them the seeds of disease, or even 

 death. 



Altogether the probabilities are that in the 

 majority of cases the typhoid-fever germs are 

 most frequently carried and consumed in water 

 which has in some way been polluted by 

 human waste containing the typhoid germ. 



It seems quite incredible, when put down in 

 black and white on paper, that responsible and 

 sane persons of ordinary intelligence, knowing 

 that typhoid fever is caused by a living germ, 

 knowing that this is thrown off from the body 

 in the living condition and without being 

 destroyed, is allowed to run through the 

 sewer pipes into the nearest stream or lake, 

 should for an instant consent to have the 

 water of this stream or lake taken from 

 within a short distance of the sewer opening, 

 and often in line of direct current, and 

 distributed in their houses unpurified, and 

 used upon their tables. And yet it would be 

 but the telling of old stories for the writer to 

 cite case after case in which this offence against 



