94 MICROBES AND HEALTH. 



sent to editors of newspapers and others; by special 

 hektograph items sent from time to time to newspapers 

 throughout the state ; letters, telegrams, telephone mes- 

 sages, etc." According to this, State Boards of Health 

 are permitted to use, free of charge, every known means 

 for conveying thought or speech. 



Is this the reason the public hear so much about 

 germs and germ diseases, and is it the reason people 

 become so frightened whenever a contagious disease 

 enters a community ? 



"These leaflets advertising sheets warn the neigh- 

 bors of a dangerous communicable disease." 



Does not such wholesale advertising create a sense 

 of fear and dread wherever disease enters a commu- 

 nity, and in many cases lower individual resistance and 

 thus render disease more dangerous and fatal ? 



A belief that one is surrounded by germs from which 

 there are no means of escape, and which are liable to 

 bring sickness and death renders the individual more 

 or less helpless and demoralized, and aids materially in 

 the spread of disease, and in many cases may be re- 

 sponsible for a fatal termination. 



In the March, 1900, number of Physician and Surgeon 

 is the following: "When some months ago the report 

 of the terrible deaths of several physicians in Vienna 

 went through the whole civilized world deaths said to 

 be caused by an infection with the pest bacillus, the 

 most deadly microbe yet discovered the question was 

 freely discussed whether such dangerous experiments 

 should be carried on in the laboratory and hospitals, 



