Micro-organisms : with special reference to the etiology of the infective diseases / by C. Flügge ; translated from the 2nd and thoroughly revised ed. of "Fermente und Mikroparasiten" by W. Watson Cheyne.

  • Carl Flügge
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Micro-organisms : with special reference to the etiology of the infective diseases / by C. Flügge ; translated from the 2nd and thoroughly revised ed. of "Fermente und Mikroparasiten" by W. Watson Cheyne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    farther infection witliout and before coming in contact with the soil. And farther, the preservation of the pathogenic bacteria is certainly not an exclusive property of soil; on the contrary, sufficient preservation can occur in very various substrata, especially when the bacteria in question can readily form spores, as in the case of the anthrax bacilli, or are already spore-bearing when they leave the hodj, as in the case of the typhoid bacilli. Many kinds of soil may perhaps in this respect be of more than average value, and the preservation of the spores in them may be remarkably long and complete. But there are always so many other possible modes of distribution of the pathogenic bacteria that the action or want of action of the soil in their preservation cannot in very many cases exercise any marked influence on the spread of the epidemic. A third question arises, in what way bacteria preserved 3. How do the in the soil can spread to man, and whether a definite bacteria*^ oondition of the soil, varying according to time and place, ^^g^g^^,^/^'^^ has much influence on this spread ? The following man ? modes of transport may come into ])laj in the case of the bacteria of the soil:— 1. Winds, which carry up the dust, and with it the Winds, bacteria, from the most superficial layers of the soil, and transport them through the air. From what has been said above as to the organisms of the air and as to the movement of bacteria within the soil, it is evident that such a detachment of bacteria is only possible in com- pletely dry soil, .ind only from the superficial layers, which arc converted into dust. A thoroughly moist soil does not permit the detachment of bacteria, nor does a soil which possesses a superficial dry layer, but the outer- most surface of which is moistened from time to time by slight rains. 2. The ground water, and the water taken from it for Ground water drinkiog and other purposes. Where there is a thick liiyor of cultivated soil above the ground water this mode of transport cannot come into play; but where the ground water is only separated by thin layers of loose soil from the surface, and where it can ultimately reach the sur- 45