CO^'TROL OF BACTERIAL DISEASES '238 



idea.i Ignoranco aside, there is no more reason for allowing 

 ourselves to l)e ])itten In* bacteria than by rattU'snakes. 

 About two people die from snake venom annually in the 

 rniti'd States; 20,000 die yearly in India from snake l)ite, 

 because cobras are accorded superstitious protection. A\'e 

 religiouslv preserve our bacteria, with the lilth hi which they 

 thrive and the Hies that distribute them; the Hindus, their 

 relatively harmless snakes. 



A few of the more familiar germs, with ihe disease and 

 death they are causing, are presented in the table on page 2^34. 

 When we all know how to kill and avoid these bacteria, as 

 well as we know how to deal with rattlesnakes, we may be 

 as free from them as we are from the smdvcs. All must 

 know and each must do his })art, for one ignorant i)erson 

 can scatter bacteria by the million from Maine to California. 



The table is hy no means cuniplete. In the lu-xt c-ha})ter we sliall 

 study a siiuihir list of diseases caused by parasites of aninud origin. 

 There is another list, known to be infections, — smallpox, yellow 

 lever, scarlet fever, measles, spotted fever, and footrand-mouth disease, 

 — the specific causes of which have battled all attenii)ts to discover. 

 Still another class of ailments, noninfectious, chronic and organic, — 

 of the heart and arteries, brain and kidneys, — of heavy and increasing 

 fatality, may have to do with organs weakened by parasitic attack. 

 Finally, we have no statistics of tlie number (»f the wounded, the 

 weakened or crii)})led, an<I the number of minor ailments, very numer- 

 ous and of constant occurrence, that ini]iose their burdens of sheer 

 iiiiserv — the millions of cases of rheumatism, tonsillitis, boils, felons, 

 carious teeth and toothache, indigestions, diarrheas and dysenteries, 

 and "colds," luost wret('he<l of all, ]>rol)ably not less than 2(»0,000,(MI0 

 of them a year. A\'hen we a<ld to all tliis the bacterial diseases of 

 aniuuils (hog and fowl choi'-ras, bovine. a\iau, and other tuberculoses 

 and ]>neumonias. white diarrhea of chicd^s and foul brood of bees, 



1 "Neither regularity of life nor bodily strength was any preservation 

 against it. The strong anil the weak were equally struck down ; and death 

 spared not those of whom care was taken, any more than the poor, desti- 

 tute of all help." (The fleas of that time bit all alike.) — fJ \-«^rKT. "Tlie 

 Black Death." p. 12 



