760 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Ferments, and Moulds," says : "Before 

 an infectious disease can be considered 

 due to tlie presence of a specific microbe, 

 it is indispensable to submit it to the 

 test of four rules which have been 

 clearly established by Koch." The mi- 

 crone, bacillus alvei, has been submitted 

 most rigidly to those four rules, by Dr. 

 Watson Cheyne and Frank Cheshire, in 

 the biological laboratory. South Kens- 

 ington, London. A full account of their 

 work on this microbe was placed before 

 the biologists of the world in the col- 

 umns of the "Journal of the Royal 

 Microscopical Society," August, 1885, 

 proving to the satisfaction of all, that 

 bacillus alvei is the cause and not the 

 result of foul brood. 



In passing, I wish to say that Mr. J. 

 A. Green, of Ottawa, Ills., has repeatedly 

 said, " A little bird whispers that bac- 

 teria are not the cause of disease but the 

 result of it." Mr. Green should tell his 

 little feathered friend that it should 

 cease its whisperings, because its state- 

 ment has been proven to be incorrect. 



In the above quotations from Mr. Sim- 

 mins' article, it will be seen that he says, 

 only in other words, that the microbe of 

 foul brood has been produced sponta- 

 neously, and that the same thing may 

 occur again. 



"In 1857, Pouchette denied the pres- 

 ence of living germs in the atmosphere, 

 maintaining that micro-organisms are 

 spontaneously generated. He was at 

 once opposed by Louis Pasteur, who de- 

 nied the possibility of spontaneous gen- 

 eration. He proved that the atmos- 

 phere surrounding us contains innumer- 

 able microbes, and that a few of these, 

 when introduced into a flask, at once 

 produce putrefaction of its contents. 

 By other remarkable experiments Pas- 

 teur ultimately proved that spontaneous 

 generation is a myth, and never takes 

 place under any conditions known to 

 us. " — Nineteenth Century. 



Some years later, in England, Dr. 

 Bastian contended that because living 

 microbes sometimes appeared in his cul- 

 ture fluids, after they had been boiled, 

 therefore life is generated spontaneously. 

 He held that the co-existing bacteria in 

 disease are pathological products, spon- 

 taneously generated in the body after it 

 had been rendered diseased by the real 

 contagium. 



Professor Tyndall undertook to repeat 

 Dr. Bastian's experiments on which the 

 above conclusions were based, using the 

 same material for culture fluids, and the 

 same microbes ; but instead of continu- 

 ous boiling to kill the germs in the cul- 



tures, as practiced by Dr. Bastian, Prof. 

 Tyndall used what he calls discontinu- 

 ous boiling, that is, he boiled the fluids 

 for a minute or two at intervals of a 

 couple of days, and repeated this several 

 times. He found that he could always 

 kill the germs in this way, while on one 

 occasion he boiled a culture for eight 

 hours continuously without destroying 

 the microbes. He also took better^re- 

 cautions than had been taken by Dr. 

 Bastian, to exclude germs from the cul- 

 ture fluids after they had been boiled. 

 The results were that no life afterwards 

 appeared in Prof. Tyudall's culture 

 tubes, and Dr. Bastian's theories were 

 completely demolished. 



One cannot help wondering where Mr. 

 Simmins must have been keeping him- 

 self, while the results of these experi- 

 ments were being made known to the 

 world, and how it is that Mr. Simmins 

 does not seem to know that those who 

 are most competent to judge now agree 

 that there is no life without antecedent 

 life. 



Another exploded theory believed in 

 by Mr. Simmins is, that "all animal life 

 contains infinitesimal and obscure seeds 

 of disease and death which develop into 

 microbes." Healthy blood and tissue 

 have been submitted to every known 

 test, by the most learned and skillful ex- 

 perimenters in the world, in order to 

 find, if possible, evidence of the presence 

 of these microbes, or the seeds from 

 which they develop. The results prove 

 that no such micro-organisms exist. 



Any one who will take the trouble to 

 look through " DeBary on Bacteria," 

 or other recent works on the subject, 

 will readily see that, to use a common 

 phrase, Mr. Simmins has not " kept up 

 with the procession." A " grind " on 

 the matter in hand will not be out of 

 place before he again undertakes to "go 

 for" the " scientific theorists." 



Lindsay, Ont. 



"A Modern Bee-Farm and Its 



Economic Management," is the title of a 

 splendid book on practical bee-culture, by 

 Mr. S. Simmins, of England. It is 5^x8^ 

 inches in size, and contains 270 pages, 

 nicely illustrated, and bound in cloth. It 

 shows " how bees may be cultivated as a 

 means of livelihood; as a health-giving 

 pursuit; and as a source of recreation to 

 the busy man." It also illustrates how 

 profits may be ' ' made certain by growing 

 crops yielding the most honey, having also 

 other uses; and by judgment in breeding a 

 good working strain of bees." Price, post- 

 paid, from this office, $1.00 ; or clubbed with 

 the Bee Journal for one year, for fl.60. 



