Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
January,  1914.  j 
Books  as  a  Source  -  of  Disease. 
15 
upon  such  sensitive  units  of  protoplasm  as  bacteria ;  it  has  recently 
been  proven  that  one  great  reason  why  modification  occurs  in  pure 
artificial  culture  is  that  the  species  has  been  isolated  from  amongst 
its  colleagues  and  doomed  to  a  separate  existence.  One  of  the  most 
abstruse  problems  in  the  immediate  future  of  the  science  of  bacteri- 
ology is  to  learn  what  intrinsic  characters  there  are  in  species  or 
individuals  which  act  as  a  basis  for  the  association  of  organisms  for 
a  specific  purpose.  Some  bacteria  appear  to  be  unable  to  perform 
their  regular  function  without  the  aid  of  others.  An  example  of 
such  association  is  well  illustrated  in  the  case  of  tetanus,  for  it  has 
been  shown  that  if  the  bacilli  and  spores  of  tetanus  alone  obtain  en- 
trance to  a  wound,  the  disease  may  not  follow  the  same  course  as 
when  with  the  specific  organism  of  lactic  acid  bacilli,  or  the  common 
organisms  of  suppuration  or  putrefaction  also  gain  entrance.  Again, 
the  virulence  of  other'bacteria  is  also  increased  by  means  of  associa- 
tion. The  bacilli  coli  is  an  example,  for,  in  conjunction  with  other 
organisms,  this  bacilli,  although  normally  present  in  health  in  the 
alimentary  canal,  is  able  to  set  up  acute  intestinal  irritation,  and 
various  changes  in  the  body  of  an  inflammatory  nature." 
Among  the  higher  forms  of  life  we  have,  in  a  few  hundred  of 
years,  recognized  natural  changes,  or  often  brought  the  change  about 
by  artificial  selection.  Now  if  a  change,  quite  noticeable,  can  be 
made  during  a  period  of  years,  in  forms  which  do  not  produce  more 
than  one  or  two  generations  a  year,  what  changes  are  able  to  take 
place,  in  forms  capable  of  producing  a  new  generation  every  twenty 
or  thirty  minutes,  and  these  changes  invisible  to  us? 
Another  source  of  failure  to  obtain  positive  results  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  conclusions  are  generally  arrived  at  from  twenty-four 
hour  tests ;  and,  if  there  is  no  result  within  that  period,  the  experi- 
ment is  marked  negative  and  the  material  destroyed. 
Very  little  information  of  value,  to  help  in  deciding  whether  or 
not  books  act  as  carriers,  was  received  from  the  various  Boards  of 
Health  of  the  United  States.  A  circular  letter  requesting  a  list  of 
cases,  the  source  of  which  was  traced  to  books  and  papers,  was 
sent  to  the  Boards  of  Health  of  each  State  and  forty-one  cities. 
Answers  were  received  from  only  ten  States  and  nineteen  cities, 
about  30  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  letters  sent. 
With  these  replies  no  cases  were  given,  although  some  of  the 
officials  stated  it  to  be  their  belief  that  diseases  were  contracted 
through  contact  with  books,  while  others  ridiculed  such  a  possibility. 
