THE BACTERIA SCARE* 
By Mary Hinman Able 
There is a rare form of insanity known to physicians 
in which the patient is forever washing his hands and 
fancying that he is polluted by every contact. A few 
years ago when we were at the beginning of our fight 
against tuberculosis, typhoid fever and other diseases 
that may be carried in various forms of filth, it 
seemed that a mild epidemic of this form of insanity 
would be a blessing to any community, as it would 
insure the clean hands which must be insisted on if 
we are to have clean food. However, when one sees 
the wholesale and often unwarranted application of a 
little knowledge of bacteria to every phase of life one 
is thankful for all the existing sanity and desirous of 
its extension. For in the wake of every reform is 
found the trail of the extremist. The Journal of the 
American Medical Association calls attention in a late 
issue to certain statements in a book entitled Good 
Health and How We Won It, by Mr. Upton Sinclair 
and Mr. Michael Williams. It seems that the writers 
recovered their health by decreasing the amount of 
their food and omitting meat entirely. We do not 
hear as a reason that these gentlemen felt that they 
were approaching middle life when just this change 
in the diet has frequently been recommended by 
physicians, though for reasons unconnected with 
bacteria; they say they have abandoned eating of 
meat because of the great numbers of bacteria that 
it contains, there being, it is claimed, hundreds of 
millions of bacteria in different cuts of beef steak and 
several varieties of sausage. 
* From the Journal of Home Economics. 
162 
