HOUSEHOLD BACTERIOLOGY 



Health 



Theories 

 of Vital 



Resistance 



Leucocyte 



stomach and may not mix with the acid juices, con- 

 sequently it is an especially dangerous medium of in- 

 fection. 



Health means the prevention in all possible ways of 

 any chance of attack from the insidious disease germ, 

 but it means as well the observance of all other laws 

 that tend toward the maximum efficiency of the body 

 and mind, so that if the enemy gains admittance it may 

 be routed or its attack made futile. 



Much has been done along the lines of investiga- 

 tion, yet much of these processes of resistance remain 

 to be proved. A few words concerning the theories 

 put forth by investigators may show our indebtedness 

 to them and increase our own sense of responsibility 

 toward the preservation or return of health. 



Among the red cells which give the familiar color 

 to good, rich blood are other cells known as the white 

 globules or leucocytes. They are very much like the 

 amoeba, the lowest animal known, in that they have 

 the power of independent motion. They are some- 

 times called "phagocytes," or "wandering cells," be- 

 cause they pass here and there throughout the body, 

 wherever they will. Fig. 44. Their office seems to be 

 a protective one, for they act like the police of a city 

 in protecting the body from bacterial invaders. They 

 are also called "eating cells," for when one finds a bac- 

 terium it proceeds to wrap itself about the little plant 

 cell, to poison, if not to kill it ; then, loaded with the 

 dead bodies of its victims, it makes its way to some 

 part of the body where the load may be disgorged. 



