Read Ebook: The Journal of Negro History Volume 8 1923 by Various Woodson Carter Godwin Editor

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BACTERIOLOGY IN THE VICTORIAN ERA 1

WHAT WE BREATHE 34

SUNSHINE AND LIFE 65

BACTERIOLOGY AND WATER 93

MILK DANGERS AND REMEDIES 118

BACTERIA AND ICE 149

SOME POISONS AND THEIR PREVENTION 168

BACTERIA IN DAILY LIFE

BACTERIOLOGY IN THE VICTORIAN ERA

When Cagniard Latour communicated the above observations on yeast to the Paris Academy of Sciences on June 12, 1837, the whole scientific world was taken by storm, so great was the novelty, boldness, and originality of the conception that these insignificant particles, hitherto reckoned as of little or no account, should be endowed with functions of such responsibility and importance as suggested by Latour.

At the time when Latour sowed the first seeds of this great gospel of fermentation, started curiously almost simultaneously across the Rhine by Schwann and K?tzing, its greatest subsequent apostle and champion was but a schoolboy, exhibiting nothing more than a schoolboy's truant love of play and distaste for lessons. Louis Pasteur was only a lad of fifteen, buried in a little town in the provinces of France, whose peace of mind was certainly not disturbed, or likely to be, by rumours of any scientific discussion, however momentous, carried on in the great, far-distant metropolis. Yet, some thirty and odd years later, there was not a country in the whole world where Pasteur's name was not known and associated with those classical investigations on fermentation, in the pursuit of which he spent so many years of his life, and which have proved of such incalculable benefit to the world of commerce as well as science.

Thanks to Pasteur, we are no longer in doubt as to the nature of yeast cells; so familiar, in fact, have we become with them, that at the dawn of the twentieth century we are able to select at will those particular varieties for which we have a predilection, and employ those which will produce for us the special flavour we desire in our wines or in our beers.

Large and splendidly-equipped laboratories exist for the express purpose of studying all kinds and descriptions of yeasts, for finding out their characteristic functions, and cultivating them with all the tenderness and care that a modern gardener bestows upon the rarest orchids.

All this is now an old story, but some sixty years ago the great battle had yet to be fought which was to establish once and for all the dependence of fermentation upon life, and vanquish for ever those subtle arguments which so long refused to life any participation in the work of fermentation and other closely allied phenomena.

When, however, Pasteur finally cleared away the d?bris of misconception which had so long concealed from view the vital character of the changes associated with these processes, the bacterial ball, if we may so call it, was set rolling with a will, and information concerning these minute particles of living matter was rapidly gathered up from all directions.

The recognition so long refused to bacteria was now ungrudgingly given, for it was realised at last that, in the words of M. Duclaux, "Whenever and wherever there is decomposition of organic matter, whether it be the case of a weed or an oak, of a worm or a whale, the work is exclusively performed by infinitely small organisms. They are the important, almost the only, agents of universal hygiene; they clear away more quickly than the dogs of Constantinople or the wild beasts of the desert the remains of all that has had life; they protect the living against the dead. They do more; if there are still living beings, if, since the hundreds of centuries the world has been inhabited, life continues, it is to them we owe it."

Fortunately, the provisions made by Nature for the preservation of the bacterial race are of so lavish a description that no fear need be entertained that this useful and indispensable world of life will be wiped out. The fabulous capacity for multiplication possessed by them , the powers of endurance which some of them exhibit in presence of the most trying vicissitudes of heat and cold , the inability of starvation or desiccation to undermine their constitution, combine to render the question of the extinction of bacteria as remote as it is undesirable.

Tempted by the prospects of exploring in this newly-revealed world of life, investigators rushed into the field, and the bacterial fever has been hardly less pronounced in these last years than that rush for a material golden harvest which has characterised so many enterprises in southern latitudes.

The scientific results of this microbe fever have happily, however, been of a more solid and substantial character than can be said to have followed the more tangible but sordid ventures in South African mines. Vague hypotheses have given place to facts, and bacteria have been brought more and more within the horizon of human knowledge, thanks to the genius and untiring zeal of investigators all over the world.

Museums of bacteria have been established where not only specimens of particular varieties of a permanent character for comparison and reference can be obtained, but living cultivations of hundreds of different micro-organisms are maintained; and only those who have had the charge of bacteria can realise the enormous amount of skilled labour involved in the catering for such a multitude, in which individual likes and dislikes in regard to diet and treatment must, if success is to be secured, be as carefully considered as is necessary in the case of the most delicate and highly pampered patient.

Bacteria, by means of these dep?ts, can, in fact, be bought or exchanged by collectors with as much facility as postage stamps, with the all-important difference that this collecting of bacteria is not a mere mania or speculation, but serves a most useful purpose.

To the busy investigator who cannot afford either the time or space in which to maintain a large bacterial family, it is of immense convenience to be able to obtain at a moment's notice a trustworthy culture, say, of typhoid or tuberculosis, or specimens of obscurer origin from air or water for purposes of investigation. These bacterial cultures are all guaranteed pure, free from contamination or admixture with other and alien micro-organisms, and are strictly what they are represented to be. Although such a declaration is attached to many commodities at the present day with ludicrous incongruity, in the case of micro-organisms such a breach of faith is unknown, and the antecedents of a microbe may be said to be regarded as of as much moment and to be as jealously preserved as is the pedigree of the most ambitious candidate for honours at a cattle or dog show!

Amongst some of the curiosities to be found on the shelves of microbe-museums may be mentioned bacteria which give out light, and thus, like glowworms, reveal themselves in the dark. These light-bacteria were originally discovered in sea-water and on the bodies of sea-fish, and cultures of them have been successfully photographed, the only source of light being that provided by the bacilli themselves. The amount of light emitted by a single bacillus might indeed defy detection by the most sensitive plate procurable, but when gathered together in multitudes, the magnitude of which even eight figures fail to express, these phosphorescent bacteria enable the dial of a watch to be easily read in the dark, whilst photographs of the face of a watch taken in such bacterial light have been so successful that the time at which the photograph was taken could be distinctly seen.

Of bacteria it may indeed truly be said, as has Maeterlinck of the labours of bees--"though it be here the infinitely little that without apparent hope adds itself to the infinitely little, though our eye with its limited vision look and see nothing, their work, halting neither by day nor by night, will advance with incredible quickness!"

Mention may perhaps appropriately be made here of the highly interesting fact discovered by Professor Percy Frankland, that ordinary bacteria which do not phosphoresce are capable of affecting a photographic film in absolute darkness, and can by this means produce a picture of themselves. If, however, a transparent piece of glass is placed between the bacteria and the film no photograph results, showing that glass interferes with their activity in this respect. The author points out that as this action upon the photographic film does not take place through glass, it is in all probability due to the evolution by the bacteria of certain volatile chemical substances which either directly or indirectly enter into reaction with the sensitive film. Similar phenomena have been discovered in regard to many metals as well as organic substances, but this is the first observation which has been recorded of the action of living structures on sensitive films in the dark.

We have already referred to the important services which Pasteur has rendered by distinguishing between different varieties of yeast, and separating them out according to their functions and properties--pioneer work which has been followed up by and borne such splendid fruit in the hands of the renowned Danish investigator, Emil Christian Hansen of Copenhagen. This work of isolating out individual varieties of micro-organisms has been not only pursued with the energy familiar to all in the case of bacteria associated with disease, but has been pursued in various other, though perhaps less well known, directions.

A great deal of activity has lately been exhibited in so-called dairy bacteriology, and a long list has already been compiled of milk, cheese, and butter microbes; and agricultural authorities, even in this country, are slowly awakening to the fact that, in order to compete on modern lines with foreign dairy produce, dairy schools must be established, where bacteriology is taught, and where instruction is given in the principles of scientific butter and cheese making.

For the identification and separation of the plant-parasites of various kinds we have largely to acknowledge our indebtedness to American investigators, and the encouragement and support which Dr. Erwin Smith, amongst others, has received from the Government of the United States in the prosecution of these researches indicates how great is the public importance attached to them. There are in America alone fifty experiment stations where plant diseases are studied, whilst at a number of the colleges and universities more or less attention is given to the subject. Some idea of the loss occasioned to agriculturists by these plant pests may be formed by a recent announcement that the Department of Agriculture in Queensland was prepared to offer a reward of ?5,000 for the discovery of a means to eradicate the prickly-pear disease. Plant pathology has not yet had a distinct chair allotted to it in any of the great universities, but the subject is of such vast industrial importance, that doubtless before long some seat of learning will do itself the honour to establish one, and so set the example.

A striking instance of the advantages of taking stock, so to speak, of the attributes of bacteria will occur to everyone in the revelation which has followed of their powers to solve one of the most knotty problems of the day--the efficient manipulation of those vast subterranean rivers of sewage which honeycomb every city of the world.

The purification which sewage underwent by passing it through the pores of the soil, or, in other words, by filtration, was recognised about the year 1870, soon after the Rivers Pollution Commissioners had begun to make their classical investigations on the land treatment of sewage; but although the rapid transformation of ammonia into nitrates which followed the passage of the sewage through a few feet of soil was noted, yet the mechanism of this nitrification process remained a mystery until 1877, when two French chemists--MM. Schloesing and Muentz--made the then astounding discovery that this change was dependent upon the vital energies of micro-organisms.

The part played by bacteria in the purification of sewage thus became an established fact, and the later experiments have been devoted to studying the necessary conditions under which the maximum amount of work is obtainable from these novel bacterial labourers.

The work of the ana?robic labourers consists in breaking down the complex organic compounds present in sewage, whilst the completion of the process of purification is left to the a?robic varieties. In the ordinary course of nature both these processes are going on side by side, but it has been found advisable to separate these two different classes of bacteria as far as possible, and allot distinct premises to the ana?robic and a?robic varieties respectively engaged in the purification of sewage, for by so doing experience has shown that the work is not only more expeditiously, but also more efficiently, carried out.

Now the ana?robic bacteria are supplied along with the sewage, and the retention of their services offers practically no difficulty as long as an ample allowance of space and time is given them in which to carry on their labours. The a?robic bacteria, however, besides demanding space and time, insist upon their workshops being well ventilated, and if the supply of fresh air is in any way curtailed they stop work entirely. Hence the ventilation of the a?robic workshops becomes a matter of primary importance if the valuable services of these labourers are to be retained. To ensure a sufficient supply of air being provided, it has been found advisable to have two or more a?robic workshops or bacteria contact beds, and the sewage is passed from one on to a second, and so on, until the purification is complete. Under proper management the sewage should leave the works as an inodorous, almost pellucid liquid, incapable of putrefaction, which may be turned into rivers or other waterways without fear of rousing the wrath of local riparian authorities.

But whilst the commercial side of bacteriology, so to speak, has made such great strides, the purely scientific applications which have been made of the facts it has furnished have by no means lagged behind. Chemists, from Pasteur downwards, have made use repeatedly of special bacteria to perform delicate operations in the laboratory which other methods have either failed to accomplish or have performed in a clumsy and less expeditious manner.

There can be no doubt that, as our knowledge grows from day to day, we shall find more and more how much depends upon the work of individual bacteria, and how much importance attaches to the selection of just those varieties which are of value, and the banishment of those which are detrimental; and thus the many applications which bacteria already admit of render their easy access a matter of increasing consequence, enhancing the value of bacterial institutions such as already exist on the Continent.

But whilst the easy access of bacteria for experimental and scientific purposes is of great importance to the investigator, their indiscriminate distribution would equally be a source of uneasiness and danger to the community at large. Already sensational fiction has made considerable capital out of the pathogenic microbe, and with the winged aid of penny publications it does not take long for suggestions of such kinds to spread in society and assume practical shape, and whilst the administration of bacterial poisons offers comparatively but little difficulty, their identification would be a far greater problem for experts than that presented by particular chemical poisons. To cope with this danger to the public, specimens of disease-germs from these bacterial dep?ts may not be supplied to applicants unless the latter can prove to the satisfaction of the director that they are connected with responsible public institutions.

In recent times, indeed, one of the most remarkable practical uses to which bacteria have been put is that of poisoning-agents on a large scale, or in other words vermin exterminators; if this new r?le for bacteria becomes extended, as no doubt it will, the law for the sale of noxious drugs and preparations will also doubtless be amended to cover the distribution of bacterial-poisons.

It is highly satisfactory to find that the character of this mouse-bacillus has stood the test of time, for after a period of more than ten years most encouraging reports concerning its efficiency still continue to be received. In one of the latest of these, drawn up by the Director of the Experimental Agricultural Institute in Vienna, we read that in no less than seventy per cent. of the cases in which it was employed it was completely successful in its work of extermination, and it is interesting to note that in a considerable number of these instances it was the domestic mouse against which its energies were directed. The rat has, however, until recently escaped the hand of the bacterial executioner, but his knell has also now been sounded in the announcement that a rat-bacillus has been discovered.

Considering the undesirable notoriety which these rodents have of late obtained in connection with their undoubted culpability in the dissemination of plague, this discovery, if correct, should be warmly welcomed. That there is plenty of work awaiting such a micro-organism may be gathered from the fact that during the outbreak of plague in Sydney the crusade against rats which followed led to the slaughter in one year of over 100,000.

The discoverer of this useful member of the microbial community is Tssatschenko, of the University of St. Petersburg, and in his memoir he states that, whilst highly virulent as regards rats, it is quite harmless to domestic animals of various kinds. Thus cats, dogs, fowls, and pigeons when fed with food infected with the bacillus suffered no ill effects whatever, whilst its administration in large quantities to farm stock, such as horses, oxen, pigs, sheep, geese, and ducks, was also without result; hence its distribution, according to its discoverer, offers no danger to other animals.

This idea of employing bacteria as executioners was not original, for Pasteur had already in 1888 suggested to the Intercolonial Rabbit Commission in Australia that chicken-cholera microbes should be employed for destroying the rabbits, which then, as now, are such a source of difficulty and pecuniary loss to the country. No active measures appear to have been taken, however, to carry out this suggestion, one of the principal objections raised being the undesirability of introducing a disease which was at that time believed to be a stranger to the colony. Recently the idea has been revived by Mr. Pound, the Government bacteriologist at Brisbane, in consequence of his discovery that chicken-cholera, far from not existing in Australia, has infested poultry yards more or less extensively for several years past, although it has only lately been accurately diagnosed as such. This chicken-cholera microbe is particularly well suited for the work in question, inasmuch as, whilst extremely fatal to rabbits, it produces, like Loeffler's bacillus, no ill effect whatever on farm-stock of various kinds, and is perfectly harmless to man, so that its handling by the uninitiated is not attended with any personal danger.

The classical investigations of Pasteur on the attenuation of bacterial viruses such as those of chicken-cholera and anthrax, and his elaboration of a method of vaccination with these weakened viruses whereby the power of the disease over its victim is removed or modified, are too well known to require repetition here. The success which followed Pasteur's researches in this direction led him to undertake that great and difficult task, the prevention of rabies in the human subject--a task well-nigh superhuman in its demands, and one which only he could accomplish in whose life the pregnant words of a modern writer found expression--"il ne suffit pas de poss?der une v?rit?, il faut que la v?rit? nous poss?de." The victory over this disease, which crowned a long life replete with brilliant achievements, has been universally recognised, and numerous institutes have arisen in all quarters of the globe for extending the benefits of this discovery for the relief of suffering humanity. These Pasteur or bacteriological institutes also furnish highly important centres where original research work of various kinds is carried on, and the stimulus which has thus been given to experimental science in the remotest parts of the world cannot be overestimated.

Methods for the prevention of disease have, however, not been confined to the elaboration and employment of modified or weakened bacterial viruses; the subject has been still more recently approached from another and quite different side. This new departure we also originally owe to France, although its practical development has been worked out in Germany.

The aid societies which under these provisions operated in South Carolina may be classified in three groups:

To the non-sectarian societies might be added the London Freedmen's Aid Society and the Michigan Freedmen's Relief Association, although the latter supported only one school and for a short time only. The American Missionary Association, during the war, served as the agency for the Free Will Baptists, Wesleyan Methodists, and Congregationalists, at which time its work was non-sectarian; but as the first two drew out at the close of the war, this association became very largely a congregational agency, establishing churches along with its schools. None of these several agencies confined their attention exclusively to South Carolina, although two of them, the New York and New England societies, did their best work in this State.

The spirit of good will that existed between the Freedmen's Bureau and the societies, however, did not exist among the societies themselves, particularly among the church organizations. For the purpose of bringing about coordination and unity of action from 1863 to 1866, the New York, New England and Pennsylvania societies joined hands with various western societies operating in other States. Each year and oftener these bodies underwent reorganization until in May, 1866, at Cleveland, all non-sectarian societies in all parts of the country united and formed the American Freedmen's Union Commission. To this general body the local societies sustained a relationship of local autonomy. They were now known as the New York, New England, and Pennsylvania "Branches."

In addition to the organization already mentioned, there were attached to each of the branches or local bodies numerous auxiliaries which usually made themselves responsible for some one teacher or group of teachers. In 1867 the New England Society had a total of 187 auxiliaries, 104 in Massachusetts, 75 in Vermont, 6 in New Hampshire, 1 in Connecticut and 1 in Georgia. The strongest New England auxiliary was that at Dorchester, while that of New York was at Yonkers. The London Freedmen's Aid Society with its many branches raised one-half a million of dollars for the cause of the freedmen in America. England reasoned that since America had given so freely toward the Irish famine that it was now her duty and opportunity to return the favor. South Carolina's share in this sum was the support of a school at Greenville and one at St. Helena.

During the war the several church bodies supported the non-sectarian societies, but toward the close of the war they began by degrees to withdraw support and take independent action. To their regular missionary departments was now added this new "Freedmen's Aid Society" and to support it a "Freedmen's Fund." Several of the churches also had their Woman's Home Missionary Society which established and conducted schools in conjunction with the parent organization. The efforts of the Presbyterians, Friends, and Episcopalians were similarly directed in that they established the parochial type of school as an annex to the church. With some exceptions, this policy militated against the progress of their schools. Among all the different classes of societies the American Missionary Association was the best prepared for its work. This association was organized in 1846 and prior to the war had already established schools and missions.

The several groups of societies had elements in common. They were one on the question of the treatment of the Negro, there being scarcely any difference in their purposes as stated in their constitutions. They felt that the National Government was too silent on the principles of freedom and equality and that the State Governments, North as well as South, had laws inimical to the Negro that should be abolished. The two groups differed in personnel, the non-sectarian consisting largely of business men, particularly the New York Society, and the denominational of clergymen. In the selection of teachers the former made no requirements as to church affiliation, whereas the latter usually upheld this principle.

The ultimate aim of the church bodies was usually religious. They endeavored to institute the true principles of Christianity among the blacks, but in order to do this, in order to raise up ministers and Christian leaders among them, schools were necessary. The Baptists in particular emphasized the training of ministers and the reports of their agents in the field always included the number baptized along with the number of schools and students.

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