RAPID GROWTH OF BACTERIA 



will divide in two ; and so repeat indefinitely. It has 

 been calculated that from a single cell within eight 

 hours over sixteen million new cells are formed. 

 Such growth can, of course, take place only at the 

 expense of the nourishing fluid. The most favorable 

 temperature for them is from 95 to 99 degrees F. 

 When we consider that this is the normal tempera- 

 ture of the blood, and that it contains all the elements 

 required for their development, it is easy to under- 

 stand why they should so rapidly develop therein, 

 and what serious interferences with the vital processes 

 must necessarily follow. Their excessive minuteness 

 gives them access to every part of the system, whither 

 they are carried with the blood. It can thus be seen why 

 the Comma Bacillus the cause of Asiatic Cholera 

 should so rapidly cause death. The wonder is, why 

 do not all die whom the disease attacks ? The air 

 we inhale and the water we drink usually contain 

 hundreds and thousands of the spores of bacteria, or 

 bacteria themselves, many of which are destructive to 

 health or life. A single one of them is sufficient to 

 produce thousands of their kind within a few hours. 

 Life in the higher organisms would be scarcely 

 possible were it not that a constant battle is waged 

 against them in the blood itself. 



Besides the red globules that are the main active 

 constituents of the blood, and upon whose living 



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