14 MICROBES AND HEALTH. 



Bacteriologists claim that germs are the cause of dis- 

 ease. The author denies that claim, and in support of 

 his position wishes first, to consider: 



What is a Germ? 



All material substance is called matter. There are 

 different kinds of matter, animal, mineral, vegetable. 

 ua-eous, etc. All living matter is composed of little 

 particles called cells, built one upon another. 



Although microscopic in size, cells are composed of 

 different elements in the form of a gelatinous substance 

 called protoplasm. Nothing is known regarding the 

 chemistry of a cell, or how it is that the elementary 

 particles are led to assume the form of a cell. Most 

 cells are about eighty per cent water and twenty per 

 cent solid matter. Embedded in the protoplasm of the 

 cell is a small body called the nucleus. The nucleus 

 is the center from which intelligence is directed. 



A cell, any cell, may be compared to a seed. A cell 

 grows, divides and multiplies in favorable surround- 

 ings, a seed does the same. "A cell is the smallest ele- 

 ment of an organized body capable of independent mo- 

 tion." It is the primary element or unit that germin- 

 ates into a thing or being. According to the present 

 teaching, a germ is a vegetable cell, while an animal 

 cell is not a germ, yet a living animal cell is really just 

 as much a germ as a vegetable cell. 



Any cell that is capable of reproduction may be 

 called a germ; the term cannot be confined to those 

 cells or germs which are found in the body during dis- 

 ease, and which take no part in the body structure. 



