30 



act of liviug is full of possible dangers, — in the air we breathe, 

 the water we drink, the food we eat, and all the incidents con- 

 nected with our daily lives. The germ of fever or other contagion 

 may enter our systems through food, drink or air ; the dog may go 

 mad ; the bull may gore us ; the railroad train may be derailed ; 

 our horse may run away, or the wagon break ; the mowing machine 

 may upset and injure us ; lightning may strike, or the engine blow 

 up ; electric wires may bring sudden death ; and the grade cross- 

 ing may menace our existence. Wherever we go and whatever we 

 do, possibilities of danger to life are on every hand. The truth 

 of this is seen not only in the experience and obsei'vation of every 

 person, but in the news items which the daily papers bring to us 

 each morning and evening. And yet the danger which exists 

 exists chiefly in the aggregate. The personal chances of injury 

 are very slight. The proportion of people injured to all of the 

 human race is small ; our individual chance of immunity from 

 accident is large. 



But there is one marked difference between the dangers from 

 physical accident and the danger from disease germs. Surg. -Gen. 

 Alfred H. Holt of Cambridge read a lecture before the State Board 

 of Agriculture in Springfield in 1887. It was my duty to report 

 that lecture, which 1 did by interviewing Dr. Holt at his home in 

 Cambridge, and preparing an abstract from the manuscript in ad- 

 vance of its delivery. It was an explanation of the germ theory 

 of disease, including typhoid fever, diphtheria, tuberculosis and 

 other diseases, in which he said that this explanation of the origin 

 of many diseases " is more a condition that has been forced upon 

 us by the teachings of the microscope and the laboratory than a 

 theory." After preparing the repoi't, I asked him how it hap- 

 pened, in view of the prevalence of these germs and the ever- 

 present possibility of their getting into our systems, that there was 

 any human race left. His explanation made a strong impression 

 upon me at the time, and has often been recalled during the heated 

 discussions over the possibilities of any germs being conveyed in 

 milk. The doctor explained clearly that health is the natural con- 

 dition of the human race, and that the forces of nature are work- 

 ing for health all of the time. The germs get in their deleterious 

 work chiefly when nature is in some way handicapped, — by weak- 

 ness or other abnormal conditions, — rendering the system favora- 

 ble for their reproduction. Consequently, in the majority of cases 

 the germs do no harm. 



These dangers are so common and the individual risk so slight 

 that we go about our daily duties without fear, maybe carelessly ; 



