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Show COMMON SENSE ON THE MICROBE QUESTION. A good many people will have read the remarks lately mode on the microbe mi-crobe question by Dr. Alvah H. Doty, health officer of the port of New York, with a sense of lively satisfaction satisfac-tion and some feeling of relief. Their tenor was that the maleflcient Influence Influ-ence and activity of the omnipresent microbe ns an agent for the destruc- tion of health and life had been absurdly ab-surdly exaggerated aud that If people would think less and worry less upon this subject It would be a great deal better for them. Dr. Doty expressed the opinion, and It Is an opinion in which many will agree with him. that a large part of the agitation over microbes which has gone on within the past few years Is to the last degree irrational and absurd. ab-surd. People have gone microbe crazy. They have read without clearly clear-ly understanding the medical dissertations disser-tations about the extent to which diseases of all kinds are occasioned by these microscopical organisms which gee into our systems and income in-come perniciously active there, and many of ihc-ni live under a constant apprehension lest their own system be invaded by tdese Invisible enemies ene-mies at sme time when they are momentarily mo-mentarily off their gulrd. And the trouble Is that It Is so dlf- flcult that It Is virtually lmpo6Slblo to maintain a snffklcntly vigilant and effective outlook for these Innumerable Innumer-able and omnipresent invaders of tho human frame. There are microbes everywhere. Nothing that we touch, taste or handle is Immune from their presence, bo we are told, and there is never any telling how soon or at what moment Hny one of us may fall a victim vic-tim lo (heir destructive operations. That is the prevalent idea for which the little knowledge declared by Alexander Alex-ander Pope to be a dangerous thing must be held responsible, and It Is tho gratifying feature of Dr. Drty"s deliverance de-liverance that it tends to dissipate what has become a sort of a national obsession. He says that there is a whole lot of humbug about this microbe mi-crobe business and that the people who lie nwako nights shivering lest a microbe should catch them nre very foolish. How often have we' been told that there was danger In handling n dirty bank .note because so many billions bil-lions of deleterious germs are likely to be distributed over its surface. Probably not man have been deterred deter-red by this warning from handling all the bank' notes that carne their way, and yet it is satisfactory to be assured that they may be handled, microbes and nil, without the slightest slight-est risk. It is the s.ime with other things which have In a like manner been placed under the ban. The chances are that they aie quite innocuous and that the danger which they are supposed sup-posed to present is wholly Imaginary, and it may be set down as a principle of universal application that to bo solicitous about keeping one's health, to be no anxiously apprehensive of tho causes which threaten it, is a serious mistake. This Is one of the respects in which Christian Science has been beneficial and one of tho secrets of the amazing success which has attended attend-ed its propaganda Those who have accepted and are faithful io Its doctrines doc-trines are not constantly thinking about their bodily coudition and fear ing that they may fall sick. They have full faith that thc-ir good heilth will continue and Instead of worrying about eventualities entirely beyond their power to control they take its continuance as a matter of course. 0ur forefathers, knowing nothing about microbes, took no precautions against them, yet they enjoyed as good health as we do and lived as long. Let s set aside hysteria and be guided by the promptings of plain, ordinary common sense. Philadelphia Inquirer. |