Health 
Theories 
of Vital 
Resistance 
Leucocyte 
88 HOUSEHOLD BACTERIOLOGY 
stomach and may not mix with the acid juices, con¬ 
sequently it is an especially dangerous medium of in¬ 
fection. 
Health means the prevention in all possible ways of 
any chance of attack from the insidious disease germ, 
but it means as well the observance of all other laws 
that tend toward the maximum efficiency of the body 
and mind , so that if the enemy gains admittance it may 
be routed or its attack made futile. 
Much has been done along the lines of investiga¬ 
tion, yet much of these processes of resistance remain 
to be proved. A few words concerning the theories 
put forth by investigators may show our indebtedness 
to them and increase our own sense of responsibility 
toward the preservation or return of health. 
Among the red cells which give the familiar color 
to good, rich blood are other cells known as the white 
globules or leucocytes . They are very much like the 
amoeba, the lowest animal known, in that they have 
the power of independent motion. They are some¬ 
times called “phagocytes,” or “wandering cells,” be¬ 
cause they pass here and there throughout the body, 
wherever they will. Fig. 44. Their office seems to be 
a protective one, for they act like the police of a city 
in protecting the body from bacterial invaders. They 
are also called “eating cells,” for when one finds a bac¬ 
terium it proceeds to wrap itself about the little plant 
cell, to poison, if not to kill it; then, loaded with the 
dead bodies of its victims, it makes its way to some 
part of the body where the load may be disgorged. 
