THE CAUSE AND THE CURE OF ALL DISEASE. 3 



ing in twain. (See Plate X., No. 40, bacillus butyricus 

 of rancid butter ; also Plate XVII. , No. 67, bacillus 

 anthracis, showing spores ; and Plate XXL, No. 82, 

 spores and bacillus of cattle disease, which plainly 

 shows how the bacilh develop from the germs or spores, 

 then break in two.) So the work of multiplication 

 ^oes on. Where one microbe existed yesterday there 

 are thousands to-day. To-morrow there will be mil- 

 lions. 



It is meaningless to speak of microbes as a class, as it 

 is to speak of animals as a class. There are probably 

 as many different kinds of microbes as there are differ- 

 ent kinds of animals and plants. They are in the air 

 we breathe ; the water we drink ; in the body itself ; 

 and, in fact, they exist where there are air, heat, and 

 moisture, which are necessary for life. Microbes which 

 do not grow in the human body are harmless. Some 

 are larger than others ; some are one shape, some an- 

 other ; some multiply more rapidly than others, and 

 some feast upon others as large fish feast upon the 

 smaller ones. 



In general, microbes are scavengers. Were it not for 

 them nothing would ever decay, and undoubtedly in 

 time the gases in the air and the chemicals in the soil 

 would be exhausted, because once an element left the 

 soil it would never return. But Nature provided the 

 microbes as the medium of return. They begin work 

 upon an object or body, and immediately fermentation 

 begins. They are the cause, fermentation the result.. 

 Wood begins to decay — that is fermentation. Examine 

 more closely and you will find the microbes in the fer- 

 mentation. In a measure fermentation is the digested 

 food of the microbe. A piece of cheese begins to give 

 out a bad odor ; raw meat soon decays — it is the 

 microbes that have started the fermentation, and the 

 fermentation is the decay. So with every article ima- 

 ginable. 



As long as there is life and the proper conditions exist, 

 microbes cease to work injury. But let weakness come 



