GERMS. 131 



to spread, and is just as dangerous in its effects as 

 the charges that have been made against germs. 

 The difference is, the specific virus can only emanate 

 from a person having the disease, while germs are 

 present in countless numbers at all times and places. 

 If exposed to pure air and sunshine, as in proper 

 ventilation, specific virus will lose its power to pro- 

 duce disease. This is self-evident, otherwise the virus 

 from the first case, beginning with the creation of 

 man, would have remained with ever increasing force, 

 gathering a fresh supply from each succeeding patient, 

 and if there was a man left to write a history of the 

 world he could only chronicle epidemics, disease and 

 death. There would be no time for wars or politics, 

 but plagues, pestilence and famine would fill every 

 page, for every man, woman and child would be ex- 

 posed again and again to each infection, while to-day 

 comparatively few have disease. Even Pasteur, of hy- 

 drophobia fame, is quoted as saying: "That the excit- 

 ing cause of disease can be weakened and destroyed out- 

 side the body by a natural agency, pure air." 



While pure air and sunshine will destroy specific 

 virus, it will not destroy germs. Bacteriologists claim 

 that germs are "attenuated," "destroyed," etc., by fresh 

 air and sunshine. Bacteriologists do not know whether 

 they are or not. Certain conditions may render germs 

 inactive, and later they may be as frisky as ever. This 

 is proven by the extremes of heat and cold which germs 

 can bear without being destroyed. Germs that have 

 been subjected to a heat of 302 degrees F. and a cold of 

 248 degrees F., have afterwards been found to grow vig- 

 orously in favorable surroundings. This is ninety de- 



