1891.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 255 



The Living Earth. 



By George Vivan Poore. 



It is plain that all excretion and waste matter should be returned 

 to the earth from which they came, instead of being cast into the 

 river and sea, as in our present way of disposing of the garbage of our 

 large cities. We know that the mould which forms the upper stratum of 

 the ground upon which we live is composed of organic matter and is 

 teeming with life. This black vegetable mould is largely made up of 

 excrement due, in great part, to the unwearying labors of the earth- 

 worm, probably the most important of all the animals inhabiting the 

 soil. 



While the amount of animal life is considerable, it is nothing in com- 

 parison with the richness of the soil in the lower forms of vegetable life, 

 as the saphrophytic fungi. By means of these micro-organisms and 

 others of the same class, oxidation or even reduction is caused in or- 

 ganic matter. The vitrif^dng process may be produced by the bacillo- 

 coccus of Frankland. but lately discovered, alone or to other microbes 

 not as yet isolated. Th'^ mould should form a filter of the most per- 

 fect kind, as is shown by the fact that vegetable life tends to greatly 

 diminish as we go down towards the deeper layers. The tenacitv with 

 which the mould retains water is due to the fact that millions of these 

 vegetable cells absorb the moisture into their interior, and, becoming 

 swollen, form an eftectual barrier to the passage of bacteria. The ques- 

 tion whether or not the bacteria hurtful to mankind are found in the 

 soil is of the greatest importance. As elsewhere, the survival of the 

 fittest holds good, and organisms which flourish in the human body 

 languish and cease to multiply in the soil, which supplies conditions 

 unsuitable for their multiplication or even survival. The coma bacillus 

 of Koch has been much studied, yet it must still be considered as an 

 o2:)en question whether or not this microbe is the cause of cholera. As 

 easily as cultures of this bacillus are prepared, they die when spread 

 upon glass and exposed to the ordinary temperature, hence it is inferred 

 that the transport of living coma bacillus, as in dust, through the air, is 

 impossible. If the coma bacillus come in contact with the saph- 

 rophytes, they are soon overcome either by their nutrient material being 

 used up, or by the production of poisonous products. Multiplication 

 also probably never occurs in pure running water, while they may in- 

 crease in bilge-water, or ever in the water of harbors. The best way, 

 therefore, to get rid of the coma bacillus, as in injecta, is to dry them. 

 and expose the dried mass with the saphrophytes. Now. if the dejecta 

 of a patient suftering from cholera be mixed with water and be taken 

 by means of an impermeable pipe through the surface to a mineral sub- 

 surface where there is no sun to dry or saphrophvtes to destroy the 

 microbe, the danger of their getting into our drinking water is great. 

 This living mould of the surface and dead earth of the subsoil have not 

 been sufficiently well distinguished between. Our only efficient 

 scavenger is in the living mould, which should be kept in a healthy con- 

 dition by means of an early return to the soil of all organic matter. If 

 these facts are applied to the prevention cf the pollution of our water 

 supply, it will be seen that while the present panacea for all sanitary 



