Germ 

 Germs 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



280 



that arises from this husbandry? As sure- 

 ly as a thistle rises from a thistle seed, 

 as surely as the fig comes from the fig, the 

 grape from the grape, the thorn from the 

 thorn, so surely does the typhoid virus in- 

 crease and multiply into typhoid fever, the 

 scarlatina virus into scarlatina, the small- 

 pox virus into smallpox. What is the con- 

 clusion that suggests itself here? It is this: 

 That the thing which we vaguely call a 

 virus is to all intents and purposes a seed. 

 Excluding the notion of vitality, in the 

 whole range of chemical science you cannot 

 point to an action which illustrates this 

 perfect parallelism with the phenomena of 

 life this demonstrated power of self-mul- 

 tiplication and reproduction. The germ 

 theory alone accounts for the phenomena. 

 TYNDALL Floating Matter of the Air, essay 

 1, p. 41. (A., 1895.) 



1363. GERM-DESTROYERS WhiteCor- 

 puscles or Leucocytes The Wise Provi- 

 dence of the Creator High Purpose Found 

 for Supposedly Useless Organ. Quite re- 

 cently it has been proved that the white 

 corpuscles of the blood, whose function was 

 previously unknown, are really independent 

 living organisms. They are produced in 

 large numbers by the spleen, an organ which 

 has long been a puzzle to physiologists, but 

 whose function and importance to the or- 

 ganism seem to be now made clear. They 

 are much smaller and less numerous than 

 the red blood-globules; they move about 

 quite independently; and they behave in 

 a manner which shows that they are closely 

 allied to, if not identical with, the ameba) 

 found abundantly in stagnant water, and 

 which form such interesting microscopic ob- 

 jects. These minute animal organisms, 

 which inhabit not only our blood-vessels, 

 but all the tissues of the body, have an im- 

 portant function to perform on which our 

 very lives depend. This function is, to de- 

 vour and destroy the bacteria or germs of 

 disease which may gain an entrance to our 

 blood or tissues, and which, when their in- 

 crease is unchecked, produce various dis- 

 orders and even death. Under the higher 

 powers of the microscope the leucocytes, as 

 they are termed, can be observed continually 

 moving about, and on coming in contact 

 with any of these bacteria or their germs, 

 or other hurtful substances, they send out 

 pseudopodia from their protoplasm which 

 envelops the germ and soon causes it to dis- 

 appear; but they also appear sometimes to 

 produce a secretion which is injurious to the 

 bacteria, and so destroys them, and these 

 may perhaps be distinct organisms. WAL- 

 LACE The Wonderful Century, ch. 14, p. 145. 

 (D. M. & Co., 1899.) 



1 364. GERM - THEORY Micro-organ- 

 isms in the Air Treatment of Wounds. 

 Schwann was one of the first to point out 

 that when a decoction of meat is effectually 

 screened from the air, or supplied solely 

 with calcined air, putrefaction does not set 



in. Helmholtz and Pasteur confirmed this, 

 but it may be said with some truth that 

 Schwann originated the germ- theory, and 

 Lister applied it in the treatment of wounds. 

 Lister believed that if he could surround 

 wounds with filtered air the results would 

 be as good as if they were shut off from 

 the air altogether. NEWMAN Bacteria, ch. 

 3, p. 101. (G. P. P., 1899.) 



1 365. GERM, WONDERFUL DEVELOP- 

 MENT OF The Unseen Artist. " Strange 

 possibilities," he [Huxley] says, " lie dor- 

 mant in that semifluid globule. Let a mod- 

 erate supply of warmth reach its watery 

 cradle and the plastic matter undergoes 

 changes so rapid and yet so steady and pur- 

 pose-like in their succession that one can 

 only compare them to those operated by a 

 skilled modeler upon a formless lump of 

 clay. As with an invisible trowel the mass 

 is divided and subdivided into smaller and 

 smaller portions, until it is reduced to an 

 aggregation of granules not too large to 

 build withal the finest fabrics of the nascent 

 organism. And then it is as if a delicate 

 finger traced out the line to be occupied by 

 the spinal column, and molded the contour 

 of the body; pinching up the head at one 

 end, the tail at the other, and fashioning 

 flank and limb into due proportions in so 

 artistic a way that, after watching the 

 process hour by hour, one is almost involun- 

 tarily possessed by the notion that some 

 more subtle aid to vision than an achro- 

 matic would show the hidden artist, with 

 his plan before him, striving with skilful 

 manipulation to perfect his work." DRUM- 

 MONO Natural Laic in the Spiritual World, 

 essay 8, p. 260. (H. Al.) 



1366. GERMS DESTROYED BY DIS- 

 CONTINUOUS BOILING Softening Period 

 Seized for Each Kind Theory Proved by 

 Experiment The Test of Prevision. An 

 infusion infected with the most powerfully 

 resistant germs, but otherwise protected 

 against the floating matters of the air, is 

 gradually raised to its boiling-point. Such 

 germs as have reached the soft and plastic 

 state immediately preceding their develop- 

 ment into bacteria are thus destroyed. The 

 infusion is then put aside in a warm room 

 for ten or twelve hours. If for twenty-four, 

 we might have the liquid charged with well- 

 developed bacteria. To anticipate this, at 

 the end of ten or twelve hours we raise the 

 infusion a second time to the boiling-tem- 

 perature, which, as before, destroys all 

 germs then approaching their point of final 

 development. The infusion is again put 

 aside for ten or twelve hours, and the proc- 

 ess of heating is repeated. We thus kill the 

 germs in the order of their resistance, and 

 finally kill the last of them. No infusion 

 can withstand this process if it be repeated 

 a sufficient number of times. Artichoke, cu- 

 cumber, and turnip infusions, which had 

 proved specially obstinate when infected 

 with the germs of desiccated hay, were com- 



