The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 6, 1896, Page 24

24 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1896. PRODUCING ANIMAL LIFE BY “MERNS *OF T ECRICIT The Wonderful Achievement of an English Scientist Insects Brought Into Being--Gould the Globe People Itself? If the earth were devastated of all or- ganized life by some great cataclysm of nature, could nature again populate the globe? Supposing the last protoplasmic germ cell were destroyed, would this mean that the world thenceiorward for countless sges would be utterly abandoned and desolate—until the action of the elements had reduced it to nothingness and sent it whirling through space as meteoric dust? Western philosophy is practically agreed upon the theory of Weismann's eternal ceil, a protoplasmic speck, as the basis of all animal life, but the appearance of the first cell is nct accounted for. This theory is correct as far as it goes, but Oriental | philosopby, while recognizing the eternal cell as accounting for one phase of exist- ence, asserts that manifested or physical life is but a single link in the chain of being, and that the real life center ison ctive planes, and affirms that not an all original life disappear from the earth, and the latter be again popula- ted, but that this actually aid occur many times in the early history of our globe, each successive ‘‘creation’ bringing a higher degree of development. Life itself is eternal and may never be annihilated, but its manifestation in or through any given body is dependent on the individual organism, or rather upon its power of cohesion. When the body wears out the life force either goes into some other body or flies back to the body of the planet itseli, Every atom of matter in the globe is a reservoir of lat- ent life, which may become active under proper conditions and evolve higher and higher forms. One illustration of this may be found in the case of volcanicislands upheaved from ocean depth, a thousand miles from any other island, but which in the course of tep or fifteen years are found to bear hun- dreds of varieties of vegetable life. West- ern science off rs the theory that the seeds must have been carried there by the winds. In the absence of knowledge of the real water, together with a portion of alumina from the crucible. To a portion of the silicate of potassa thus fused I added some boiling water to dilute it and then slowly [ added hydrochloric acid to supersatura- tion. “My object in subjecting this fluid toa long-continued electric action through the | intervention of a porousstone was to form, if possible, crystals of silica at one of the poles of the battery. On the fourteenth day from the commencement of the ex- periment 1 observed, through a lens, afew | small whitish excrescences, or nipples, | projecting irom about the middle of the | electrified stone. On the eighteenth day these projections en- | larged, and seven or | eight filaments, each | of them longer than { the excrescences from wkich it grew, made their appearance on | each of the nipples. | On the twenty-second day these appear- ances were more ele- | vated ana distinct, ana on the twenty- | sixth day each figure | assumed the form ofa verfect insect, stand- ing erect on a few | bristles which formed | its tail. | “Till this period 1 | had no notion that !these appearances | were any other than an incipient mineral | | formation; but it was not until the twenty- eighth day, when I | plamly perceived | these little creatures | move their legs, that | I felt any surprise. And I must own that when this took place | I was not a little as- | tonished. I endeav- ored to detach some from their position | on the stone, but they | immediately dicd and | I was obliged to wait | patiently for a few days, when they sep- arated themseives from the stone and moved about at pleas- laws -of life this is, of course, the only | ure, although they theory that can be advanced, but when | had been for some some of the varieties are found to be dif- | time after their birth ferent from any eisewhere known, this | apparently averse to explanation at once falls to the ground. | motion. Inthecourse Again, artesian-well borings in America | of a few weeks about have penetrated some of the early geologi- | a hundred made their cal strata, and irom tne dirt brought up | appearance on the them. After months I noticed similar excrescences as those above noted at the edge of the fluid in every one of the cylin- ders excepting the two which contained the carbonate of potassa and metallic arsenic, and in due time a host of insects made their appearance. “The third battery consisted of twenty pairs of cylinders, each equal to a three- inch plate. Between the poles of this interposed likewise a series of six glass cylinders, filled with various solutions, in only one of which I obtained the insects. This contained a solution of silicate of potassa. “I have also obtained the insects on a bare platina wire, plunged into fluo-silicic acid, one inch below the surface of the fluid, at the negative pole of a small bat- tery of two-inch plates, in cells filled with water. This is a somewhat singuiar fiuid | for these insects to breed 1n, who seem to have a flinty taste, although they are by no means confined to silicious fluide.” Professor Crosse supplements his state- ment by saying taat the insects were pos- sibly hatcned by electric action, but as- serts that we have no right to assume that electric action is necessary to vitality until such fact shall be most distinctly proved. On this point, however, it has for ages been the teaching of occultism that life is vital electricity, that the spark in the pebble and the blood in the body are but modifications of the great electric life force which permeates the whole of nature; and the varied experiments above noted themselves afford ample evidence of the relation of electricity and life, and voint the way to the solation of the prob- lem of the first beginnings of sentient life. Ray SINGH. A Safe Place A Yankee in Ceylon, desiring to take a bath, asked a native to show him a place that was free from crocodiles. The native took him close to the mouth of the river, _Where our Yankee enjoyed a nice refresh- ing bath. On coming out of the water he inquired of his guide how this locality happened to be free from crocodiles. “‘Crocodiles 'fraid of shark,” replied the Cinghalese; “‘too many sharks here!”— Ueber Land and Meer. —————— The Dowager -Empress of Germany, the Empress Frederick, draws from the British treasury as a British princess the sum of £80,000 every year. SAN FRANCISCO'S BARRIERS 1 Over on the northern shore of Angel Island there is a Government institution known as the Quarantine Station, but it is a terra incognita to the rest of the world. Nevertheless, it is about the most important quarantine station in the world | to-day. It is the best equipped for the checking of infectious diseases, and dur- ingthe last five months has done more work of the kind than any other similar institution in existence, and in the inter- val several important discoveries in dis- ease germs have been made. Thousands of people pass near the sta- tion in boats of different kinds and admire the location of the pretty buildings nest- ling in the verdure of the hillsides, the placid water of the little bay and the old warship Omaha at anchor, but none have any idea of what a busy place 1t really is, it is so sugpestive of peace and quiet. But it is the institution that looks after the health of San Francisco. Every ship DR. that comes in from a distant port is ex- amined by the quarantine officers and if ROSENAU IN HIS LABORATORY. from these have also grown new varieties | of plant life. In reply to this it may be | urged that the seeds are from plants that | grew in former ages, and whose vitality has been preserved through the geological | ages; and in support of this argument it | can be shown that wheat taken from | mummies thousan-s of years old has been pianted and produced crops. The Eastern scientist, however, will hold | that in both cases the plants are not due | to ordinary seeds, but rather to the ex- panding of the life-force witbin the min- | eral atom, which because of the existing conditions is enabled to advance from the | mineral up to the vegetable kingdom, and | teat under other conditions the life-force woula also manifest itself in the lower forms of the animal kingdom, these latter being, perhaps, the *‘cell’”” of Weismann, It is not necessary, however, to limit ourselves to the speculations of Oriental metaphysics as to the ability of nature to spontaneously generate physical life— animal life. Professor Crosse of Broom- field, England, bas reported a series of experiments in detail before the British Association, in which he had pro- duced insects by the action of electricity upon silica in connection with various acids. Electricity is one phase of the life force which pulsates through the so-called “inanimate” nature and through all animated beings, and its action upon the minerals used in the experiments was sufficient to awaken the latent life in the stone. Professor Crosse says in his report: *“In the course of many endeavors to form ar- titicial minerals by 2 long-continued elec- tric action on fluids holding in solution such substances as were necessary 1o my purpose, I had recourse to every variety of contrivance I could think of. Among other contrivances I constructed a wooden frame with three shelves. Each shelf was about seven inches square. The upper one was pierced with an aperture in which was fixed a funnel of Wedgwood ware, within which rested a gnard basin. When this basin was filled with a fluid a strip of flannel wet with the same was suspended over the edge of the basin and inside the funnel, which, acting as a siphon, con- veyed the fluid out of the basin, through the funnsl, in successive drops. “The middle shelf of the frame was like- wise pierced with a swaller funnel of glass, which supported a piece of some- what porous red oxide of iron from Vesu- vius immediately under the dropping of the upper funnel. Thisstone was keptcon- stantly electrified by means of two platina | wires on either side of it connected with the poles of a voltaic battery of nineteen vairs of five-inch zinc and copper-zinc plates in two porcelain troughs, the cells of which were filled with water. The lower shelf merely supported a wide- mouthed bottle to receive the drops as they feil from the second funnel. When the basin above was nearly emptied the fluid was passed back from the bottle into the basin without disturbing the position of the stone. “1t was by mere chance that I selected this volcanic substance, nor do I believe it had the slightest effecy in the production of‘the insects to be described. The fluid with which I filled the basin was made as follows: I reauced a piece of black flint to powder, having first exposed it to a red heat and quenched it in water to make it Of this powder I took two ounces friable. and mixed it thoroughly with six ounces of carbonate of potassa, exposed it to a strong heat for fifteen minutes in a black- lead crucible in an open-air furnace and | then poured the fused compound on an iron plate, reduced it to powder while still warm, poured boiling water on it and kept it boiling for some minutes in a sand bath. The greater part of the soluble olass thus fused was taken up by the stone. ‘1 observed that at first each of them fixed itself for a con- siderable time in one spot, appearing, so faras I couird judge, to feed by suction, but when a ray of light from the sun was directed upon 1t it seemed disturbed and removed itself to the shaded vart of / [ ONE OF THE BIG STEAM DISINFECTORS. everything is not all right she is ordered to the pretty place on Angel Isiand for examination and disinfection. All of which 1s a long, tedious and difficult process. The diseases with which the Angel Island quarantine has to deal are those of the Orient, principally China and Japan, and they are the deadiiest known. Chol- era, black plague, smallpox, leprosy and half a dozen others almost as bad are con- stantly making efforts to get into San Francisco. That they have not done so has been due to the quarantine restric- tions and the thoroughness of the way in which the work has been done. The quarantine sta- tion is conducted on scientific principles. The idea has not been to simply go through a certain formula with suspected per- sons, but to study them and find out what diseases of the Orient are most com- megns of checking them. Thediscoveries that have been made on Angel Island are of the greatest impor- tance and will prove of incalculable bene- fit in the future. Dr. M. J. Rosenau is the physician in charge of the Angel Island quarantine station. He has held the post about a year, during which time he bas made efforts to make the institution the best of its kind. Although a young man Dr. Rosenau has been through a great many plagues. He was on duty in Ham- burg, Germany, dur- ing the great epidem- ic a few years ago, as well as in other parts of Europe. He also nad charge of the United States quar- antine 1n Texas when icans were down with the smallpox, and kept the disease from spreading to other parts of the State. He likes the work, and aims to do all he can toward checking disease in the human race. ‘When Dr. Rosenau Angel Island quaran- tine he was deter- mined to make it a model institution. - Congress had realized the importance of the eral appropnations, which he was at lib- erty to utilize as he saw fit. His first the stone. Out of a hundred insects, not above five or six of them were born on the south side of the stone. Iexamined some of them with the microscope and observed that the smaller ones appeared to have only six legs, but the larger ones eight. They seem to be of the genus Acorus, but of a species not hitherto observed. ! “I have never ventured an opinion as to ! the cause of their birth, and for a very good reason: I was unable to form one. | The most simple solution of the problem | that occurred to me was that they arose from ova deposited by insects floating in the sir, and that they might possibly be hatched by electric action. S8till, I could not imagine that an ovum cou!d shoot out { filaments, and that those filaments would become bristles. Moreover, I could not detect, on the closest examination, any re- mains of a shell. I nextimagined that they might have originated trom the water, and consequently made a closer examination of several hundred vessels | filled. with the same water. In none of these could I finaa trace of an insect of that description. T likewise closely exam- ined the crevices and dusty parts of the room, with no better success. ‘“In the course of my experiments upon other matters I filled a glass basin with a concentrated solution of silicate of po- tassa, without acid, in the middle of which I placed a piece of brick, consisting mostly of smlica. Two wires of platina connected either end of the brick with a voltaic bat- tery, of sixty-three pairs of plates, each about two inches square. After many months’ action, I one day perceived the well-known whitish excrescence, with its prejecting filaments, In the course of time they increased in number, and as they successively burst into life the whole table on which the apparatus stood became covered with similar insects. Some of them were of different sizes, there being a considerable difference in this respect be- tween the largest and smallest, plainly | discernible to the naked eye, as they nim- bly crawled from one spot to another, } “Atthe same time similar formations were making their appearance in another room. Here I had three voltaic butteries, unconnected with each other. The first consisted of twenty pairs of two-inch plates, between the poles of which I placed a glass cylinder filled with a concentrated solution of silicate of potassa, in which ‘was suspended a piece of clay slate by two platina wires connected with either pole of the battery. In course of time I observed similar insects. “The second battery consisted of many pairs of cylinders, each equal to a four- inch plate. Between the poles of this I interposed a series of seven glass cylinders filled with the followirg concentrated solutions: (1) nitrate of copper; (2) sub- carbonate of potassa: (3) sulphate of cop- ver; (4) green sulpnate of iron; (5) sul- phate of lime; (6) water acidified with a minute portion of hydrochloric acid; (7) water poured ot powdered metallic arsenic, resting on a copper cup connected with the positive pole of the battery. All these cylinders were electrified and united by arcs of sheet copper, so that the same electric current passed through all of ONE REASON FOR CREMATION It Is Held That Flames Free the Ethereal Form and Hésten the Progress of the Real Man Into the Dreamy Realms _of a Subjective Consciousness ‘When cremation was first seriously s uggested in Christian countries asa desirable method of dispos ing of the desd an out- cry was raised against it. There was a shudder of horror at the thought. Had some barbarian proposed to desecrate the resting-places of the dead it could hardly have called forth more indignant protest from the living. So potent is' custom! For centuries we had laid our dead in the earth unquestioningly. We had raised mounds above them to look like grassy beds, and planted them with flowers or glossy liveforever, as symbols of immortal life, All that affec- tion could invent and art accomplish we had used to make the ‘‘city of the dead” a place of beauty, wherein the ghastliness of dissolution was so veiled by formsof beauteous life as to be well- nigh forgotten. About it centered so many tender sentiments; so many loved ones rested there, and interwovep with all the memories of the past were the religious hopes that linked their home with heaven. It was not strange, then, that the suggestion to do away with all these things should raise a general protest. To be sure, they were mere externals, designed to comfort the living rather than to benefit those who had passed beyond the need or care of earthly beauty; but the living do need comfort, and it is hard to reason against sentiment. The plea for Christian burial was s0 strong that for a few years it seemed very unlikely that any other mode of disposing of the dead could soon be substituted. But a sentiment that lacks any natural basis and depends upon custom merely is often easily undermined by the awaken- ing of more reasonable views. Perbaps we may attribute to that mental indolence which makes it so much casier to accept ready-made opinions than to think matters out for ourselves the failure of our western world to realize the folly of its burial customs. 1t needed a formidable array of facts, all tending to vrove that gravevards are breeders of disease, before people would consent to consider whether or not they should be abol- ished. And even then it is doubtful if cremation would at this time have become more thana vague theory 1or discussion had not a few independent thinkers solved the problem of institut- ing a change in eustom by boldly breaking away from 1t. The first cremation was a greater blow to conventionality than all the facts of science, or the arguments of those innovators who, convinced of its superior advantages, sought by every possible means to make clear the soundness of their position. It is so mu ch to have survived the shock of change. Sanitary reasons for this change are now uit ne; understood. The infection of drinking water qby :t?pc::ll: through soil in which decomposing bodies are lying, the pollu- tion of air by escaping gases from graveyards, the dissemina- tion of disease germs by means of the soil itself are causes of sickness which have been sufficiently commented upon. But it would be an error to suppose that no other causes than a desire for hygienic precaution had operated to bring cremation into favor, though that doubtless has had the determining effect. it is not merely an overriding of sentiment by necessity. Strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless true that the very same sentiments of regard for the dead and consideration for the surviving friends bave been enlisted on the side of the in- novation. The fact is that when we do not resolutely close our eyes to truth, but are willing to look upon conditions as they actu- ally exist, the grave is shorn of every tender aspect. All the beauty which surrounds it is above with the living; below is the foul worm and his sickening feast. Of what use to plant flowers or to dream at all that the beloved are lying with the moldering garments that they have cast aside? Why not recognize the fact that what is left to us is but the clothing, which sentiment, as well as reason, suggests should be disposed of in as cleanly a manner as possible? Can we suppose that the soul rejoices in a preservation of its bodily form, or that it is honored by the giving of its flesh to corruption? Such thoughts as these inevitably arise when we compare the facts of burial with the purifying action of flame. The fire element is a purifier beyond comparison. Nothing that passes through it is really destroyed, for life and matter are alive, in their essence indestructivle. Only the impurities which they have gathered are dissolved by it, returning afresh and again fitted for wholesome use into nature's general store. Is it not then more consistent with dignity and with our ideas of soul freedom to consume the abandoned elay? Are nos our senti- ments of love and beauty better satisfied thereby ? There is another argument in favor of cremation which has recently received emphasis from tne publication of a book en- titled *‘Buried Ahve.” Itisfrom the pen of Dr. Franz Hart- mann, an experienced physician and widely known student of the occult. He claims that premature burial is not at all uncom- mon. Citing case after case in which dociors had ‘pronounced persons dead who were afterward revived, he declares that nothing but an advanced state of putrefaction is positive evi- dence of death. As the retention of acorpse long enough to permit this state is difficult in private homes, he tells us that chambers for keeping the dead until the time prescribed for burial have been erected in ail the large cities of civilized Europe. Of course it is better to follow such precautions than to risk premature cremation, but there can be no question about the greater desirability of this fate than that of premature inter- ment. In the one case death would be instantaneous: in the other would follow the horror of an awakening in the tomb. But there is still another reason why cremation is now so often preferrea to burial. A study of theosophy has given to thousands quite different conceptions of the human constitu- tion from those formerly held. Initsexplanation of man’s seven- fold nature it describes an ethereat body which is linked with the physical during life, and which is only separated from it gradually after death, This etheric form is not the spirit. It is as truly material as is the body, though of a quite different grade of matter. Interlinked with every molecule of the physical form, it can only free itself from this entanglement as the body dissolves. As dissolption does not involve ely & separation of intelligent soul from the body, but consists of & gradual Jetting go by the spiritual nature of all the factors which' make up the fouriold “lower man,” it follows that the process of dropping its “sheaths’ is hastened by cremation. A destruction of the physical molecules sets free the ethereal form. This in turn is quitted by tne spiritual man when, in the process of dropping these various coverings of the soul, the passionate element 1s forsaken. Though visible fire cannot avail for this minor purification, it prepares for it by severing wholly the still conscious minor body from the corpse. Thusa changed conception of human nature bas led to a belief that we can hasten the progress of an immortal ego into realms of pure subjectivity by helpmng to dissolve its coverings, and in turn this belief bas furnished to many another weighty argument in work was to fit upa and testing of suspected patients. At present the laboratory 1s filled with tubes containing the germs of the most deaaly diseases known, and the habits of the bacilli have been studied as they never were before. found out at just what temperature the germs thrive and what amount of heat or cold will kill them. He has found that some need air and to some it is fatal. Some are indifferent toan excess or de- ficiency of it. The most important thing that has been discovered is that the germs of a disease can be found in the blood serum of a per- | son long after they have recovered from it. These germs are fully capable of infection, and should a person be discharged from the hospitat with them in his system he could communicate the disease. But un- der Dr. Rosenau’s system such a thing is not possible. The culture of disease germs is really breeding. The process is a simple one. | Into a glass tube about eight inches long and half an inch in diameter there is placed a small amount of peptonized meat gela- tine. On topof thisa drop of infected serum isallowed to fall. The tube is then put into an incubator and its progress watched. | The disease germs can be seen to multiply ana descend through the gelatine in a thin stream within a few days. If the tube is put into a cool place the growth will stop, to commence again as soon as the tube is put back into the incubator. The method varies a little with different disease germs. ‘When it is desired to find out what kind of germs may be in a certain tube, micro- scopic examinations are resorted to. By having living culture all known bacitli | comparison can be made, so that there can be no doubt of the ailment of a patient. Last March, as soon as it was known | that the black plague was ragingin China, orders came from Washington for all ves- sels coming from the Orient to be thor- oughly inspected, and for ail Chinese pas- sengers and baggage to be disinfccted whether there was sickness on board the vessel or not. This might not appear to be much work, but it really proved to be a stuvendous task, and the results show the wisdom of it, and are almost enough to warrant it be- ing kept up all the time. In this work the health authorities of British Columbia have co-operated with the States and both have worked on the same principles, although the amount of work there is nothing like what was done on Angel Island. As soon as Dr. Rosenau knew he had to 1 do the work he completcd arrangements for his monstrous task inside of thirty days. His long experience had taught | him that steam was the best disinfectant and he made preparations 1o use it. In a separate building he had three cylinders with double walls buiit, eact about 50 feet long and 9 feet in diameter. One end was'tight and the other was fitted with a gasket made to swing on a hinge. Connections were made with a steam- boiier so that the pressure could be turned directly into the cylinders or into the space between their waus. Numerous favor of cremation, Mzrere M. THIRDS other thingsjhud to be done, but all was 500 negroes and Mex- | mon and the best | | RGRINST ORIENTAL PLAGUES The Best Equipped Quarantine Station in the World How the Lepers and Gholera Patients Are Kept Away ready for the first batch of Chinese that came. There were over 350 of them and they were dumped, bag and baggage, on the wharf, a jabbering, excited crowd. Signs, in Chinese, had been placed in different places telling them what to do, so that no trouble was experiencea on this accouat, and they really seemed amused at the whole proceeding. Their food was pro- vided by the steamship companies, and as they were well fed, according to their ideas, they did not care how long the thing lasted. | The first thing done wasto have the Chinese put their baggage into the steam cylinder. Nothing was excepted, even the teapots. The men were then made to g0 into a bathhouse and remove all of their clothes, which were then put into the cylinder with the bagzgage. Before taking a shower bath with hot water each man was inspected by the doc- tor and if there was anything suspicious he was taken to a separate building. The bath included plenty of carbolic soap, after which each man was given a suit of overalls, that had been disinfected, | so that when he came out there was no possibility of his having any germs about his person. Money an: small articles were dropped into carbolic acid and handed back immediately. After being thorough!y disinfected and attired in a suit of clean overalls the Chi- namen were allowed to roam over the [ grounds pretty much as they pleased, care | being taken that they did not get too near the fence of the military reservation. But as a rule they do not go far from their clothes and the cookhouse. Three meals, served regularly each day, is a pretty big temptation to John. He knows when he bas a good thing, and sticks to it. There is one place on theisland to which the Chinese never go after they know what itis. Ivis one of the prettiest buildings on the station, with wide porches that offer tempting shade, but at the foot of the stairs there is a sign that informs readers in different languages thatit1s the **Lazereito” or Pesthouse. The Chinese are informed that men with cholera have been in there and that settles it for “John.” He had enough of that where he came from without traveling 6000 miles to took charge of the | station and made lib- | 1 laboratory for the culture of disease germs | Dr. Rosenau has| United | strike it again, While on the island the Chinese are housed in two hospital buildings. They are provided with food, clean bunks,;but of course must furnish their own bedding. If the weather happens to be cold the build- ing 18 heated, they may be comfortable. After being kept three days, providing nothing contagious turned up, the Chinese | were given back their clothes and turned over to the customs officials. The disinfecting cylinders have on num- erous occasions been the meansof cap- turing smugglers. One Chinese had put a large box of opium into his blankets, which of course melted as soon as the steam was turned on and ran all through the bundle. When the steam was turned off that part of the cylinder and into the walls the blankets dried perfectly so that | when they came out the owner of the opium was dumfounded at the sight of his *‘dope.” Since this careful system of inspection and disinfection has been in operation 5000 Chinamen have been handled and several diseases were discovered that otherwise would have got into San Francisco. Nota single case of plague was found, buti smallpox and diphtheria have turned up on more than one occasion. These had evaded the scrutiny of the quar- antine boarding officer, but were discovered by Dr. Rosenau as soon as the men got their clothes off. It wasin the treatment of the latter that Dr. Rosenau ascertained that the germ lived after the men got well. One diph- theria patient was ready to discharge. He has passed through all the stages of the disease and was apparently a well man, but his blood serum in the culture-tube quickly developed bacillus, and would have done the same thing bad it come in contact with a human being. Of course he was not allowed to go. Examinations were made each day until no bacillus was found in the test-tube, and the man was allowed to take his depart- ure. The same phenomenon was observed in other patients, so all are now made to undergo the test. The test is advantageous to the sick man as well as to the quarantine officials. When a man is suspected he is at once placed in a room by himself. Ifit were not for the test he would probably have to be kept there several days unaer any cir- cumstance. But being tested by the im- proved germ methods his condition is es- tablished wizhin twenty-four hours, and if there isnothing wrong he is allowed to go with the others, In case he is sick with some deadly disease, the test shows his condition exactly, so that the proper medicines can be administered in order to give the great- est chances of cure, The fadt that germs are known to remain in the system long after the man is well will, very likely, account for what are known as ‘“‘relapses.” But while it is demonstrated beyond doubt that they are there, the remedies can be ° administered until all danger is past. This is a most interesting phase of dis- ease and rather hard to understand. After further investigation there is little doubt but that it will have a great deal to do with stamping disease outof the world. It bas long been supposed that after a patient had passed a certain stage of aisease it was out of his system and that that was the reason he was convalescent. Numbers of the Chinese are diseased in different ways, but when not contagious they are treated and given medicine and allowed to go with the others. As the plague is still raging in China there is little possibility of the regulations in respect to men from that country being changed. Bat the peopie of San Fran- ciscocan rest in safety as far as any dan- ger of the importation of those diseases is concerned, for with such a thorough in- spection it is impos-ible.