THE BACTERIA SCARE* 



BY MARY HINMAN ABLE 



There is a rare form of insanity known to physicians 

 in which the patient is forever washing his hands and 

 fancying that he is polluted by every contact. A few 

 years ago when we were at the beginning of our fight 

 against tuberculosis, typhoid fever and other diseases 

 that may be carried in various forms of filth, it 

 seemed that a mild epidemic of this form of insanity 

 would be a blessing to any community, as it would 

 insure the clean hands which must be insisted on if 

 we are to have clean food. However, when one sees 

 the wholesale and often unwarranted application of a 

 little knowledge of bacteria to every phase of life one 

 is thankful for all the existing sanity and desirous of 

 its extension. For in the wake of every reform is 

 found the trail of the extremist. The Journal of the 

 American Medical Association calls attention in a late 

 issue to certain statements in a book entitled Good 

 Health and How We Won It, by Mr. Upton Sinclair 

 and Mr. Michael Williams. It seems that the writers 

 recovered their health by decreasing the amount of 

 their food and omitting meat entirely. We do not 

 hear as a reason that these gentlemen felt that they 

 were approaching middle life when just this change 

 in the diet has frequently been recommended by 

 physicians, though for reasons unconnected with 

 bacteria; they say they have abandoned eating of 

 meat because of the great numbers of bacteria that 

 it contains, there being, it is claimed, hundreds of 

 millions of bacteria in different cuts of beef steak and 

 several varieties of sausage. 



* From the Journal of Home Economics. 

 163 



