CHAPTER XII
GERMS
Origin of Germ Theory
The average individual, who thinks of the cause of dis-ease and then associates germs as that cause, probably does not realize that the germ theory of the cause of dis-ease only dates back to about 1880. He does not realize that the man who decided germs cause dis-ease died in 1895. However, it is true that as early as 1675 a Dutch lens-maker published the fact that he had manufactured a lens of such high power that “animalcules” could be seen in water. He also asserted that microörganisms could be found in feces. However, they were associated with dis-ease only in a speculative way; even Aristotle in the second century speculated on microörganisms as the cause of dis-ease, but this was only theory as he could not prove it, having no microscopes with which to study the germs nor any methods of isolating them. It was not until Louis Pasteur began his research work in bacteriology that scientists considered there was proof that germs caused dis-ease, and since that time medical science has gone to the extreme along this line.
The germ theory of dis-ease has gained such favor that great amounts of money and the very best talent have been lent to the investigations. But as time has gone on and the zenith of this doctrine has been reached, we find the theory has been questioned until today even those who were previously advocates of this theory are now doubting or rejecting it. Many questions are being raised concerning dis-ease being the direct result of the introduction of bacteria and germs into the body. It is now maintained by the best authorities, among those who previously asserted that germs were the cause of dis-ease, that dis-ease is the cause of the germs.
Action of Germs a Natural Process
The action of microörganisms, inside as well as outside the body, is a perfectly natural process and one that has been provided in Nature as a part of her general plan. It is a natural method just the same as her method of purifying the air or the self-purification of water or any of her other beneficent processes are natural. Milk will not sour without bacteria. Putrefaction is the result of the activity of the bacteria. Did it ever occur to you that the process of putrefaction is one of Nature’s methods for keeping our environment sanitary? Even this process is obtained only through bacterial action. Bacteria are always present in the intestinal tract and aid in intestinal digestion.
The term is applied to all microscopic organisms, whether vegetable or animal. Vegetable microörganisms are known as bacteria while animal microörganisms are called protozoa.
Bacteria
Bacteria are the simplest form of vegetable life and also the smallest. They vary greatly in size and are grouped in three classes according to their shape: cocci, which are minute spherical cells, bacilli, rod-shaped cells, and spirilla, which have a spiral form.
There are three types of bacteria: the rod or bacillus, the sphere or coccus, and the spiral or spirillum, all so named because of their shape. They divide by what is known as fission, each cell dividing into two and so on. When the conditions are favorable this division may take place as often as every thirty minutes.
They may be produced artificially in a proper culture medium. It is generally supposed by the layman that the bacteria are very hardy little creatures and will develop in the body and cause dis-ease under the least provocation. This, however, is quite erroneous for they are very delicate and their propagation is difficult. The temperature and moisture must be exactly right and they must have just the proper kind of food or they will not multiply. They will live in an environment, sometimes for a great length of time, that is not suitable for propagation.
Diphtheric germs are found in the throat of the average person. These germs, however, will not multiply nor develop until the tissues of the throat are depleted. The tissues then become pathological and form food for the bacteria, but even then they will not develop unless the temperature and moisture are exactly right. Bacteria multiply very rapidly when there is waste material in the tissue of the throat which furnishes food and when the environment is conducive to their development. The tissues weakened by the decrease in the flow of mental impulses are not able to expel the germs and they accumulate, not as the cause of dis-ease, but as a result of dis-ease. The bacteriologist examines a culture from the throat of the patient and because he finds the germs present he says the germs cause the dis-ease, since no other cause is known; strange to say, however, when the patient is adjusted and the tissues become normal it is not necessary to kill the germs. They will starve to death and Innate will excrete them.
Bacteria are found everywhere and in almost everything. In food, water, on the walls and floors, and in the pores of the skin. All life is due to the action of these bacteria. The action of the germs soon produce fermentation and putrefaction of dead animal tissue and of vegetables, thus reducing them into simpler elements which furnish nourishment for plant life. The plants furnish food for animals and man, and thus we have what is known as the food cycle. So we see that vegetation is dependent upon bacterial action for its supply of food. If the bacteria were all destroyed there would soon be an end of food and plant life would die because of starvation. If there was no plant life the animal kingdom would be robbed of its food supply. Thus we see the important function performed by the bacteria.
The so-called dis-ease germs may be found in the healthy body, but that body does not have the dis-ease merely because that germ is present. If, however, there is a subluxation which interferes with the transmission of mental impulses the tissues soon become pathological and proper environment is created for the development of the germ. Then this germ propagates and soon there is a large number present. These germs will, however, disappear as soon as the tissues become normal. In other words, when the incoördination is restored to coördination the germs disappear.
Source of Communication
There are two recognized principal sources of communicable dis-ease common to man, namely, man himself and the lower animals. It is interesting to note that most of the so-called communicable dis-eases are peculiar to man alone. They are not found in the lower animals except as they are communicated by man for experimental purposes. It is true that domesticated animals are more susceptible to dis-ease than wild animals.
From the standpoint of hygiene there must be a distinction made between the source of infection and the media of conveyance. Man and animals are considered the main sources of infection. Environment is regarded a source of infection. It is maintained that water, food, air, and soul form a media for conveyance, but they are not considered sources of infection. Rosenau, one of the leading hygienists, states that “most of the microörganisms causing the communicable dis-eases of man are frail and soon die in our environment, as in the air, soil or water.” Notwithstanding this fact, some still maintain that these frail little germs cause dis-ease.
Modes of Transfer
Hygienists assert that germs are transmitted either by direct or indirect means. The vehicles of transmission may be man himself, animals, or anything that will carry the germs from one person to another. Price says, “The most frequent and demonstrated mode of infection is by direct contact of dis-ease with the healthy, of the persons surrounding the infected one, such as physicians, nurses, etc.”
We must differentiate between the mode of transmission, or, as it is sometimes called, the mode of infection, and the channel of infection. The channel of infection is the passage through which the germs enter the body. In tuberculosis the channel of entrance might be the respiratory tract, through the skin, or by means of the digestive tract, while the mode of infection or mode of transfer might be by such means as milk or sputum.
There are two principal modes of transference: (a) direct or contact infection, (b) indirect infection. Under this second heading would be included carriers or intermediate host. Direct or contact infection is from person to person and may be accomplished through discharges from the nose and mouth or other excretions from the body. There are many dis-eases supposed to be transferred from person to person by direct contact. Such dis-ease as diphtheria, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, syphilis, gonorrhea and skin dis-eases belong in this class. It is also asserted that these same dis-eases may be transmitted from person to person by intermediate agents. For example, typhoid germs may be transmitted in fecal matter into the water supply and ingested into the body. The gonococci may be deposited upon fomites, such as bedding, and transferred to other individuals. From a chiropractic standpoint these incoördinations will be produced only when there is interference with transmission of mental impulses, preventing intellectual adaptation taking place in the body.
Indirect infection is accomplished from person to person through such means as water, food, air and soil. It is claimed by medical hygienists that dis-eases may be transferred great distances by these vehicles. However, some of the so-called pathogenic germs are short lived and will therefore not infect after any length of time.
It is affirmed by some that a person may be a carrier of a dis-ease and not himself be suffering from the dis-ease. As, for instance, there are cases on record where an individual has been a carrier of diphtheria, having the germs in his own throat and from his throat the germs have found their way into the throats of others. In other words, there were pathogenic germs in his body which were doing no harm to him, but when they entered the body of others caused dis-ease. People have been found with every imaginable dis-ease germ and yet have themselves been perfectly well. Such persons are known as “carriers.” From a chiropractic viewpoint this condition is very easily explained. In such people the transmission of mental impulses is sufficient to permit Innate Intelligence to maintain a sufficient degree of adaptation to prevent the propagation of the germs, but not sufficient to enable Innate to excrete the germs as waste material.
The course followed in preventive medicine in these cases is isolation of the individuals and the strictest sanitation. Their occupations are controlled so that they will not handle food intended for other people. In these ways danger from carriers is lessened.
Pathogenic bacteria live in the bodies of infected persons, in their secretions and excretions, and in the discharges of the body, but they are not found free in Nature. The principal vehicle of transmission is man himself. He is also the principal recipient of infection. Germs may be found in the various secretions such as those from the eye, ear, nose, throat, from wounds and in the pus from abscesses; they may be found also in sputum, urine and in the solid excretions. In these ways they may be transmitted from one individual to another. They may also be carried by animals, insects, food, milk, water, air or any other mode or vehicle. The most common mode of transference, however, is from person to person.
Channels of Entry
The channels through which germs enter the body are grouped as follows: (a) respiratory tract, (b) digestive tract, (c) skin, (d) genito-urinary tract.
Since the air contains many germs at all times, it can readily be seen that the respiratory tract forms an excellent portal of entry through the mucous membrane of the eyes, nose, mouth, throat and lungs. It is asserted by those who believe that germs cause dis-ease, that the germs of diphtheria, scarlatina, measles and pneumonia enter the body through the respiratory tract. It can readily be seen that since the air contains bacteria at all times, even of the so-called pathogenic type, that they would be taken in with every breath and if these germs were the cause of dis-ease every individual would have all kinds of dis-ease. It is quite evident that these germs do not remain in the body except under the most favorable conditions, obtaining only when there is interference with transmission which makes the tissues abnormal.
It is maintained by exponents of the germ theory that the greater number of germ dis-eases are caused by the germs that enter the body through the mouth into the alimentary tract. There are many pathogenic and non-pathogenic germs contained in the food that we eat and the water that we drink, and yet these germs do not produce dis-ease in every individual, yet the exponents of the germ theory hold that typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery and many other dis-eases are transmitted to the body through the alimentary canal by means of food and water.
As a portal of entrance for germs into the body, the skin is considered of least importance since the germs will not penetrate the normal skin under ordinary circumstances. If there is an abrasion or wound infection may be produced by the entrance of germs, but this will take place only when there is sufficient interference with transmission of mental impulses to make it impossible for Innate Intelligence to bring about proper reparatory processes. Animal parasites may find a portal of entrance through the skin.
The genito-urinary tract furnishes a portal of entrance into the body for such germs as those of gonorrhea, syphilis and tuberculosis, either by direct contact or through intermediary agents. Infection of the body is by means of some of these entry channels which differ with the different bacteria. The bacteria may be entirely innocent when entering one part of the body, yet when they enter through some other portal they may be considered pathogenic. In other words, some germs will thrive in one part of the body but not in some other part.
Terms Infectious and Contagious
The terms infectious and contagious are not clearly defined and have no scientific precision. “A contagious (contigere, to touch) dis-ease is one that is readily communicable—in common parlance, ‘catching.’ Formerly a contagious dis-ease was considered as one which is caught from another by contact, by the breath or by effluvia. A contagious dis-ease implies direct or personal contact. If contagious dis-eases are limited to those contracted by direct contact or touch, as the etymology of the word signifies, only syphilis and dis-eases similarly contracted would be contagious. As a matter of fact, smallpox, measles and influenza are types of contagious dis-eases, and the term is now usually understood.”
“An infectious (inficere, to put in, dip in, or mix in) dis-ease is usually considered as one not conveyed directly and obviously, as in the case of contagion, but indirectly through some hidden influence or medium. In the days when specific febrile dis-eases were regarded as caused by miasmata and noxious effluvia, the term ‘infectious’ and ‘miasmatic’ dis-eases were more or less synonymous. Typhoid fever was often taken as a type of an infectious dis-ease. Malaria was the type of miasmatic dis-ease.” (Rosenau, Preventive Medicine and Hygiene.)
Most authors consider that an infectious dis-ease may be contagious and a contagious dis-ease is also infectious. Contagion implies more of a personal contact as a mode of transfer, while infection implies more of an indirect mode. The communicable is more specific, but does not refer to any particular mode of transference.
There are many so-called communicable dis-eases, yet let it ever be remembered that if Innate Intelligence is operating at par in the body there will be an immunity from these dis-eases, although the germs that are supposed to cause them will still exist.