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;
stroyed by drying; if we throw it out into dry soil it per-
ishes, while others may be dried up for years and will grow
again. Take the vaccine virus ; simply dip a point of ivory
or bone into the pus from the vaccine pustule and lay that
away, let it dry, and apply that to a wound in a person suscep-
tible to smallpox and it will convey to them the vaccine dis-
ease; it will live a long time in the dry state. A number of
years ago I was called to ferret out the cause of a case of
smallpox which seemed to have sprung up de novo. A young
girl in the country suddenly came down with smallpox ; she
had lived there thirteen months; there had been no case of
smallpox in the country round anywhere; she had not been
out of the neighborhood. This history was obtained She had
:
lived in St. Louis before she came to that place, and her
sister, older than herself, had died of smallpox. When she
moved to the place in the country she had brought a trunk,
and in the bottom of it had been packed one of her sister's
dresses, which had never been disturbed until a couple of
weeks before her illness, when she took it out and put it on.
She contracted smallpox from that dress. This gives you
some idea of the dangers of infection and how it may occur
in the most unlooked-for places.
A moderately high temperahire is necessary ^ to the grozvth
of niicro-organisnis—a summer temperature. There are some
varieties of micro-organisms that are destroyed by low tem-
peratures ; the micro-organisms of yellow fever are de-
stroyed by low temperatures, consequently yellow fever does
not flourish north .of the frost Hue, or if it spreads north of
the frost line in summer it will be killed out by the winter
temperature. But very many of the micro-organisms are not
injured by freezing; they may be frozen up hard all winter
and when they thaw out in the spring they will grow just
as if nothing had happened, as is the case with many of our
higher plants, while others of our higher plants 'and some
micro-organisms are destroyed by freezing. The spores of
micro-organisms or the seeds of plants seem not to be de-
stroyed by freezing, and those that reproduce by spores will
not- be killed out by winter, even if the growing plants are
killed. Very high temperatures destroy the growing plants
i6o degrees, or more, will generally destroy the growing
plants. Some micro-organisms, particularly parasitic micro-
52
stroyed by drying; if we throw it out into dry soil it per-
ishes, while others may be dried up for years and will grow
again. Take the vaccine virus ; simply dip a point of ivory
or bone into the pus from the vaccine pustule and lay that
away, let it dry, and apply that to a wound in a person suscep-
tible to smallpox and it will convey to them the vaccine dis-
ease; it will live a long time in the dry state. A number of
years ago I was called to ferret out the cause of a case of
smallpox which seemed to have sprung up de novo. A young
girl in the country suddenly came down with smallpox ; she
had lived there thirteen months; there had been no case of
smallpox in the country round anywhere; she had not been
out of the neighborhood. This history was obtained She had
:
lived in St. Louis before she came to that place, and her
sister, older than herself, had died of smallpox. When she
moved to the place in the country she had brought a trunk,
and in the bottom of it had been packed one of her sister's
dresses, which had never been disturbed until a couple of
weeks before her illness, when she took it out and put it on.
She contracted smallpox from that dress. This gives you
some idea of the dangers of infection and how it may occur
in the most unlooked-for places.
A moderately high temperahire is necessary ^ to the grozvth
of niicro-organisnis—a summer temperature. There are some
varieties of micro-organisms that are destroyed by low tem-
peratures ; the micro-organisms of yellow fever are de-
stroyed by low temperatures, consequently yellow fever does
not flourish north .of the frost Hue, or if it spreads north of
the frost line in summer it will be killed out by the winter
temperature. But very many of the micro-organisms are not
injured by freezing; they may be frozen up hard all winter
and when they thaw out in the spring they will grow just
as if nothing had happened, as is the case with many of our
higher plants, while others of our higher plants 'and some
micro-organisms are destroyed by freezing. The spores of
micro-organisms or the seeds of plants seem not to be de-
stroyed by freezing, and those that reproduce by spores will
not- be killed out by winter, even if the growing plants are
killed. Very high temperatures destroy the growing plants
i6o degrees, or more, will generally destroy the growing
plants. Some micro-organisms, particularly parasitic micro-
52
