| Show DOES MONEY CARRY DISEASE many vill v ill doubtless remember the campaign against infected money car ried on for some time by mr A cressy morrison Morr lson of chicago and will re call the article quoted in ia these pales pages a year or more ago in which warren W nil Ifil ditch of 0 yale claimed to have demonstrated that transmission ol of dis ease by money was extremely unlike 13 mr I 1 Morr fEon now returns to t the attack in an article in the popular science monthly new york in which lie ho asserts that mr experiments are inconclusive the latest reports of the united states treasury department show mr morrison Morr lson also states that the cleria clean money agitation has been bearing fruit in a greater volumn of soiled notes sent in for redemption mr conclusion was based on a bacteriological study of twenty four of the dirtiest bills he could rind find mr morrison casts doubt ou on this evidence as follows defore before tile the knowledge of cholera transmission by water it would have been considered a scientific contribution to tile the subject to have demonstrated tile the absence of cholera germs in twenty four samples of water taken at random some ot of which perhaps wore mere dirty but today to day we know that the bacteriological study of water for evidence of cholera will nill usually demonstrate tile avenue of infection only when and where is prevalent similarly Simil aily it would be a matter of the greatest surprise if tile the examinations of twenty four or many note moie samples ot of water or food tor for typhoid germs revealed their presence even if the water or food was dirty and offensive feli sive likewise the most diligent search of twenty four or more mos oulton for malaria or yellow fever would in all probability fall fail to show a single malaria plasmodium or yet yel low fever bacillus in the same way hundreds of rat fleas might be caught and made to bite guinea pigs or rats without the production of bubonic plague in a single instance do any of these negative observations disprove or discredit in the least degree our present views on the origin of the various diseases whose avenues of infection we have mentioned when the facts of the transmission tran of cholera and typhoid by drink ing water were discovered it was not by the demonstration of the corresponding germs in water nater dirty or otherwise which was taken at random indeed these demonstrations were the last and most difficult steps in the whole hole chain of evidence and were only successfully directed to water known to have been closely associated socia ted with epidemic outbreaks ot of the disease by what reasoning then may we expect any more ready demonstration of infected money and why should not the same outside evidence of the possibility of infection guide us its in fit tile the selection of money samples to be examined it Is pai desirable mr morrison points out to discover the transmitting media of the more common but no less fatal organisms such as the germs of colds grippe diphtheria pneumonia and tuberculosis probably the avenues of 0 transmission are limited and it is therefore difficult to demonstrate the exact part that any particular avenue plays examinations of drinking water for the ac germs of cholera or typhoid is laborious so that bacteriologists ra r ther look for indirect evidence of pollution such as the presence ot of tle the colon bacillus which signifies contain human or animal waste it is desir desirable able it seems scorns to the writer critel I 1 to apply precisely the same principles to money ile he goes on mr Illi ditch has demonstrated that the average number of bacteria in each ot of twenty one bills was while by lar far tile the most common forms present presen t were the varieties of the staphylococcus their constant presence on money is certainly of greater significance than merely indicating the exposure to the bacterial contamination of the air they clearly indicate that the money has been contaminated by handling and without regard to the virulence or the danger of infection to which these particular organisms themselves expose those who receive the money they establish beyond question tile the most fundamental and significant fact for scientific demonstration viz that money Is a medium of 0 bacterial communication 1 muni cation irom from one individual to another ins from the contributions contribution of 0 mr 1111 ditch it appears that the handling 1 of money infects it from the observations ions S of dr park it appears that tile the germs germs of diphtheria and tuberculosis 11 may ay live on bills infected by these germs for several days or longer longcr it ii seems but a step then to the final demonstration of the actual trans mission of these and similar diseases by money in circulation and to th prevention of such spread of disease I 1 hy by the proper measures to eradicate such stich possibilities in a circular letter sent oat to the press pi ess sir mr morrison makes the following statements derived from a recent united states treasury report regarding the redemption of paper money 1 I find that there has been a rapid in increase creage in the redemption of united states currency at the united states treasury the number of certificates redeemed during 0 the fiscal year 1908 was face value of in 1909 the number was face value of an increase of per cent for 1909 over 1908 for the first quarter of the fiscal 1910 the number of pieces redeemed was which is an increase indrea se of over the similar quarter of 1909 showing that per cent cen t was redeemed as compared with the previous year the national bank notes which you will understand form an additional currency the previous figures being given tor for united states currency show a remarkable increase in redemption the amount received flee dempt lorf by the treasury was which exceeded b by y tb the largest elargest sum ever presented ea for redemption in any year tile the redemptions ons were per cent of the average amount 0 of the notes outstanding stal liling during the year which was i the total number of notes redeemed was separate bank notes 11 while some of this increased redemption demp tion in both notes may be attributed to the increased use rise ot of currency llie percentage redeemed largely ex creeds the percentage of increased ci cui ii rency so that it can be truthfully said that the movement for clean money Is beating fruit as shown by the treasury record which is absolutely tile the barometer ot of the movement literary ary digest I 1 |
