Show USELESS FEAR FEAR OF j sA BAC BACTERIA TERI Authority Says Say People Are Allowing Themselves to Be Needlessly Wor Wore I w tied fled Over the Subject To 10 timid Individuals a recent artele art arU ele cle le In the Journal nal al of ot the American Medical association on Bacteria on Paper Money Muncy and Books may bring comfort The The- Sun has endeavored to present only the most reliable scientific aspect aspect as- as of ot the subject of germ diseases dl tases because the usual hast hasty 1 generalizations ions of science and baseless bb eess asser- asser assertions ions which continually appear appeal print In-print under inder the till guise of scientific authority sooner or later Inter redound to the discredit discredit dis- dis credit of real progress An unwarranted unwar- unwar ranted anted sa skepticism Is aroused and und the distrust of oC an obvious misstatement unconsciously becomes magnified into it Ii i r reactionary indifference to the bettor better contributions of ot scientific men The championship of half or 01 conjectured truths ruths Ine Inevitably acts In the course of time line as ns a barrier to the ver very objects which are sought in public reforms for tor or In the end truth alwa always s 's prevails Some years rears ago ngo the Sun called attention at at- to the erroneous Idea that tuberculosis tuberculosis tu tu- tu may be contracted by persons persons per- per sons ons using the telephone mouthpiece which has hos been used by many others We Ve showed slowed that the postmaster general gener- gener al 1 of Great Britain had the mouthpieces mouthpieces mouth- mouth pieces on the telephone under his control con con- rol examined with the he result of no disease germs being discovered upon them The Journal comments upon the popular opinion of ot ofa u a i few years ears ago that the handling of toll soiled oiled d paper money was extremely dangerous dan dan- lS erO on account of the bacteria that mn nay may adhere to It It The fact is that bank ank tellers do not share this aversion nor lor do the they present plesent evidence of exceptional exceptional ex- ex lIa liability to infectious dis dis- ases eases It has been positively ascertained ascertained ascer- ascer and published in the Popular r Science Monthly that paper money constitutes constitutes con- con an an unimportant factor in the transmission of disease While clean paper money satisfies our OUI esthetic sense ense It has not been proved that soiled oiled money Is likely to become a n medium medium me me- diun of disease transmission With regard to books It Is the custom custom cus- cus tom om to disinfect them when soiled b by exposure to sunlight and air but It Is Isa Isi isa a i fact that the hygienic laboratory of ot Johns Hopkins has not found germs erms of diphtheria for instance on books comIn com com- In lag ng from hom homps s in which children had been suffering from this disease The fact act is that the majority of bacteria found on books are the same as those found In atmospheric air all and that the colon bacterium which is frequently found on the hands of schoolchildren has las rarely been found on the books they hey handle There Is really no material ma- ma risk involved In the reissue of books recently read by consumptives unless inless the books are ore obviously ob soiled and even then the risks are very slight Since however bacteria like Uke the typhoid and diphtheria organism have been Jeen occasionally discovered on artificially arti artl- Infected books there may be good reason for subjecting all alt returned books to direct sunlight before redis- redis Practically the danger from soiled money noney and books is no more obvious than the the danger from the mouthpiece of the telephone New New York Sun |