The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 10, 1898, Page 19

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JULY 10, 1898. 19 OCTOR ERNEST S. PILLS- BURY, curator of bacteriology, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, has been working for eks past on an exami- of the dust to be found in the on the streets of San Francisco. made microscope slides of dust all parts of the clty from Pa- the water front, and h to Butch . Of variety of r was the conclusions reached g and important. In some dangers are S0 great we have sing. On the new dang: nts to frc cour: obtained are most i a few i shown to been in the other hand a number of nted themselve and the air rancisco in the downtown di is shown to be about as foul ot habit of suppc it can well be without starting a plague. Indeed, by a comparison with the statistics of a similar work in other cities San Fr:ncisco is shown to be in gome respects the dirtiest in the world. While it lacks the soot and grime of Pittsburg it more thar makes up for it by a large number of dangerous mi- crobes produced princi~ally from horse refuse. In making lis examination Dr. Pills- bury made use of the most approved modern methods, and obtained positive results in each case. He used two modes of procedure. One was a direct examination of the dust scraped be- tween the cobbles; the other an exami- nation of the organisms found floating about in the air. too small to be seen by any but the most powerful micro- scopes, and requiring the most careful handling to :scertain their exact na- ture. The direct e: a method ver: mination of the dust is imple and-easy to un- derstand. mination of the air is very complicated, and requires the highest class of laboratorv apparatus. This is also somewhat long and easily interfered with. In the direct examination of the dust of the street a very small quantity is scraped up and nut into an air tight bottle. It is then taken t) the labora- tory, and the finest of it sifted out. A portion of this no larger than a pin's head is spread over a microscope glass slide, being held in place by a thin, gummy varnish. In this condition it is such a small quantity it can scarcely be seen, and even the staining in strong aniline dye scarcely serves to make it more visible, But when this plate is put under the objective of a ~owerful miscroscope it at once becomes a marvel. Dust and germs are taken from the air by means of what s known as the “Petri plate” This plece of apparatus “ally consists of a flat glass dish with cover made to fit tight by be- ing ground on the edges. In order to use this plate it {s neces- 84ry 1o first prepare a culture medium ¥ e of gelatine and bouillon. This is done €in mixing the requisite quan- vIn‘- of =ach and heating and stirring several minutes. While still hot this oured on the glass dish, which has iy € lized and cleaned, and (}he COver placed on the top. It is then set aside to cool and after a few days, should no poi ; of infection be visible on the gelatine which can be seen through the glass cover, It is ready for use. It is now know ¥ y use n to be absolutely The method of using these pl to take them to the spot it is d'gszll:eeg t’:s: test the air of and uncover them for a minute. The immediate effect is not apparent. Sand, hair and other visible particles do mnot stick to it and when the plate is covered up it looks exactl; as it did before it was opened. % After exposure the plate is taken to the laboratory and put into the incu- bator, where it is kept at an even tem- perature for three days. Now the change is visible, for the plate is cov- ered with all sorts of growth and spores, being in reality a species of mold. By examining this growth un- der the microscope, it can be told ex- actly what sort of creatures inhabit the air we breathe. Dr. Pillsbury found the purest on Pacific Heights, each ple out there yielding a ver One plate had only ten points of tion and contained no dangerous cilli at all. The worst air was found at the cor- ner of Market and Powell streets. This was simply deadly and filled with the most disgusting kind of microbes. The next worst was at Lotta’s fountain. But both were so much alike as to be unworthy of comparison. The same germs were found in both. A small quantity of dust was also scraped out of a crevice of the fountain. This was a most disgusting mass and contained several germs capable of pro- ducing the nastiest kind of sores. The interior of several stores and public buildings was also tested and yielded results bad enough in them- selves, but good when compared with the out-of-door plates. All of which would seem to indicate that our streets are in need of more sprink- ling. The germs are first in the dust and then carried through the air by the wind to find a lodgment or breed- ing place, possibly, In some human being’s lung. Ana the person will afterward wonder how he or she got sick. ir out posed Aside from germs a large amount of very fine sand and fiber was also found on the plates. This in itself is very bad for the health, because it clogs up the air passages and renders the mucous membrane inactive or inflamed. These solid partic often form in a cake and beneath them a sore forms that pro- duces a virus capable of poisoning the blood of the entire system. This sore is called citarrh and it is generally con- ceded to be vorse in Sa. Francisco than in any other city in .he Union. It is gratifying to note that in all his examinations of nearly 100 plates Dr. Pillsbury did not find a single bacilll tuberculosis. This, however, does not prove that there are none in the dust of our streets, but it shows that they are not as plentiful as is gener- ally supposed. But Dr. Pillsbury has since found by experiment that the bacilli do not live more than a couple of hours if expectorated on a sidewalk where the sun can strike them. For some unknown reason sunshine is death to the bacilll. The same degree of heat produced by sunshine will only serve to increase their activity. But the dead bacilli are not at all desirable, for they are capable of producing bad sores. However, as none were found the oth- ers are not likely to do much damage. The most disgusting organism found in large numbers by Dr. Pillsbury was the Coll commuism. This showed up in nearly all the plates exposed out of doors, and in most of those inside the down-town stores. It was worse at Powell and Market streets than any- where else. This germ is a product of horse droppings and is very little larger than bacilli tuberculosis. In appearance it is very much like the germ of typhotd fever., Of course, it is not so deadly in its work, but still it is capable of producing ul °rs, aggravating sore throats and making nasty sores out of simple bruises. Its worst feature, however, Is its disgusting aspect. When it is known that on a windy day we breathe hundreds of thousands of these organisms it is enough to make one sick. And all because our city fath- ers do not use enough water on our streets One rather surprising find was the large number of bacilli tetanus. These showed up on over half the plates. This germ is what causes lockjaw and the ason the disease is not more because so few children run A wound from a nail that Market street a week or almost sure to cause the barefooted. has lain on g0 would be di; se. number of other sickening germs were found, including the strepto coci bacilli. This is capable of causing blood poisoning should it by chance come in contact with a cut or a bruise. In a way none of these germs are to be feared by a healthy person, but there no doubt but that they are harmful and cause much of the indis- position and sick feeling that so many people complain of. It is also sure that they aggravate any disease, es- peclally consumption. In this respect they are most deadly. Even the pres- ence of the tetanus in a slightly dis- ed lung cannot fail of producing a harmful effec It will surely make the dis > worse and weaken the sy: tem when there might be hope. What then, must be the effect of a combi- nation of all the other germs in sand, hair, gravel, etc., that flies through the air on a windy day. It is no wonder our climate does not produce the cures of consumption that it did a number of years ago. Our streets are too dirty. Of all the inside places containing bad air the theaters were the worst. The crowds of people come In and shake the dust of the street from their clothes into the warm air to be breathed over and over again. Every theater in the city showed an improper ventilation. On account of the high winds pre- vailing here San Francisco's streets really need a great deal of sprinkling. And they get very little. The dryness of our thoroughfares is remarked by all travelers. There is no large city in the civilized world where the streets are as dry as in San Francisco, and they ought to be kept sopping wet all the time. Following is a technical review of the examination of air and dust of San Francisco and {ts bearing on pulmon- ary diseases, written for The Call by Dr. Pillsbury: TATISTICS are now being kept as to the preponderance of lung dis- eases among city people over their country fellows. From a post- mortem examination of the lungs one as expert as Conan Doyle's detective, Sherlock Holmes, might deter- mine almost the exact location of the greater part of the individual's lfe. It he were from the coal regions of Penn- sylvania or from those of Alameda County, by the difference of the grade of the carbon deposited in the lung the ex- pert might determine his environment. The coal mines, however, are not alone in producing the deposit of carbon lining the air cells of the lungs and producing what is known as anthracosis. The soot of such manufacturing cities as Pittsburg or London not only deposits its black mark on the buildings and the leaves of trees, but the wall of the innermost air cell of the lungs retains its share of this soot, Every one who has seen the hordes of workmen returning at night from the TUnion Iron Works or watched the village blacksmith who breathes the smoke of his forge may have noticed the black, soot- lined mnostrils, which give a hint of the blackness further in toward the air cells. ‘When we realize that an adult at rest Lreathes about 686,000 cubic inches of air in twenty-four hours and a man at work about 1,586,900 cubic inches—more than double the amount—it is easy to see how the lungs get such a black lining. There are 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 air cells in the lungs, with an estimated surface of twenty square feet, and on this moist 0000000000LO00O0O0D00000 MARKET Shows Particles of Sand, Wood Fiber, Cotton Fiber, Yeast and Bacteria, Etc. of Bulk of Dust Was Organic Matter. ganic. 1. Vegetable Fiber.. 2. Yeast Plant. 3. Wood Fiber. poisoning). 5. Bacillus. 6. Grain of Sand. poisoning). 8. Hair. surface is collected the remaining dust that has passed through the tortuous channels of the nose and bronchi. The dust that stops in the bronchial tubes does not, under normal conditions, stay there, however. The trachea and bronchial tubes down to the smallest bronchia are lined with ciliated epithel- fum cells. These cilia, hairlike projections from these cells, are regarded as active prolongations of the cell protoplasm. The movements of these cilla are not con- trolled by the nervous system, and their movement is ceaseless during life.” few of these cells may be scraped BACILLUS OF TETANUS. This queer looking microbe is the creature that causes lockjaw. It is very plentiful in the street air of San Francisco. 0, O, 9. Unidentified Microbe (?). COMPONENTS OF A PINCH OF DUST PICKED UP AT KEARNY AND STREETS, One-Half About 80 Per Cent by Weight Was Inor- Immense Numbers of Bacteria of Various Kinds Are Noted. 4. Epitheleum Cell (causes bloo 7. Streptococi Bacilli (causes blood 10. Sarcinon (blood poisoning). fected with this dust would not lockjaw; tubercle bacilli from some of the sputum of a careless consumptive. The visiting physiclan and surgeon, If he values the life of his patient, cleans his hand most scrupulously before and after touching the patient, to avold br.nging in any outside element to complicate the disease. In this way the death rate due to childbed fever and kindred infections has been reduced 9 per cent. Sweeping the dried droppings of horses on a dry, windy afternoon, into small cause or that we might breathe In dried Dy Dr.E.5.Py DR. PILLSBURY EXPOSING EXAMINATION NEAR in the cities than in the country. In dwelling rooms the number was eight times and in hospitals twelve times the number in the open air. Miquel proves that the places where there are the most microbes are the centers of infectious dis- ease. The curves of mortality, to a great extent, correspond with the curves of the heaps for future removal, is a farce of ;i numbers of microbes in the air. BACILLUS COLI COMMUNARIS. This microbe is generated in horse refuse. It is plentiful in the air of San Fran- cisco and accountable for much throat trouble and sick headaches. GRIT FOUND IN THE LUNGS ON POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION OF A SAN FRANCISCO MAN. This consisted mainly of sand and gravel in 000OO0000000000000000000060000000000 osmall bits blow about in the air that caused from the mouth of a frog. and as the mo- tlon of the cilia may be observed for some time under the microscope, it proves that this action is, in a measure, independent of the animal from which it was taken and gives support to those who think that the body is made up of a series of Inde- pendent organisms. The action of these cilia is always in one direction, and tends to push minute particles mouth. out’ of the lung toward the In this way the bronchial, pas- re kept clean, but it is of greates ¢ should not be over- es become clogged. Here in San Francisco we are not much troubled by smoking factory chimneys, so we may have some small consolation because this is not more of a manufactur- ing city. But what particularly Interests us is the composition of the dust and wirt laden winds that sweep down Market strect and play such frolics with the skirts at the corners. Look carefully at the dirt that lodges in my lady's hair and on her cape after It may give an almost daily occurrence. d e employment to a large number of serving men, but, from a point, they might almost as well be Work- ing a treadmill. sprinkled in the evening after the wind goes down, and swept while still wet. Oon a windy afternoon on Market street the Street-sweeper is a nuisance and ought to be abolished. The light dirt he stirs up is blown into the eyes and lungs of every one in reach. have seen a sweeper start to sweep a lot of dirt from the slot to the gutter, and before the gutter was reached it would all be blown away, to the disgust of individuals further down the street. On a busy afternoon at a big dry goods store the dust is continually stirred from the floor by the swish of skirts. As high as 5000 particles settling on a square inch in five minutes’ exposure gives some idea of the quality of the air. This dust fis made up of shreds of cotton, linen, feath- ers, hairs, epithelium cells, wood fibers, R R R R - R--2-2-2-2--F-2-F-3-F-F=3-F-3-L- strike them. none were found, the others dameage. faReReR BB RageReFeRaFeReRageFoFaRugegg=Fegeged VOVOOVOVOONO00 YUUVOGOV UL a turn from the big dry goods stores, and you will notice particles of dry manure, fragments of vegetable tis- sue, cotton, hairs of varylng lengths and colors, sand, particles of clay, and, by the ald of a powerful microscope, innumerable mold spores, yeast and bacterla. Of most Importance are the living germs, the microbes, bacteria, fungi, yeasts and molds, which, of course, are not evenly distributed. To get an idea of the number and va- riety of germs floating in the air of our streets, lgetrl dishes containing a sterile culture medium were put at various places in the open air, and the results show that people in the Western Addition are fa- vored by few bacteria, while below Lot- ta’s fountain the wind has gathered myriads of micro-organisms. The Petrl dishes are 3% inches in di- ameter, and were left uncovered for sixty seconds. Corner of Scott and Pine streets—41 bac- teria, 10 mold spores (two varieties), 2 yeasts (one white, one red). Corner of Powell and Market—130 bac- teria, 28 mold sgores (four varieties), 7 yeasts (two red, five white). Lotta's Fountain—172 bacteria, 11 mold spores (three varieties), 3 yeasts (one red, two white). In Market street market—55 bacteria, 7 mold spores (two varieties), 2 yeasts (white). Ladies’ Wsllln% room, department store—27 bacteria, 2 mold spores. The most abundant varieties of bacteria were the B. Colicomnarius, the B. Sub- tilis, Sarcina lutae and ' a Streptococcus. These suffice to show us the undoubted presence of many of the virulent patho- enic bacteria. he mere fact of not gndlnx the bacillus of tetanus does not orove that it is absent, and a wound in- CONSUMPTION MICROBES ARE NOT PLEN- TIFUL IN OUR STREETS. It is gratifying to note that in all his examinations of nearly 100 plates Dr. Pillsbury did not find a single bacilli tuberculosis or consumption germ. This, however, does not prove that there are none in the dust of our streets, but it shows that they are not as plentiful as is generally supposed. But Dr. Pillsbury has since found by experiment that the bacilli do not live more than a couple of hours if expectorated on a sidewalk where the sun can For some unknown reason sunshine is death to the bacilli of consumption. produced by sunshine will only serve 'to increase their activity. But the dead bacilli are not at all desirable, for they are capable of producing bad sores. The same degree of heat However, as are not likely to do much 3 b3 f=Reg=3=3-3-1 particles of sand, microbes, bacteria spores and fungi. Considerable has been said of late as to the use of sea water for sprinkling the streets. This would, without doubt, add a certain amount of salt to the dust, but salt Inhibits the growth of bacteria. Experiments have shown that sea water is not an antiseptic; In fact, a saturated solution of salt in water is of no value as a germicide (I don’t say preservative), but investigations do show that sea water does not contaln as many bacteria as an equal volume of fresh water, to say noth- ing of Spring Valley, and so far as is known, the micro-organisms of sea water are non-pathogenic. In the interior of the State the purity of the air depends to some extent on the distance from the nearest road, for here the wear of the summer breezes is more serious in its effect on our roads than the winter's rains. The trend of a moun- tain road is marked on the distant hill- side by the red or brown dust on the roadside brush. The plant life of the country air is largely made up of pollen mold spores, yeasts, and among other bacteria the bacillus subtilus and the sarcinae are most abundant. French lnvesll;ntorl have done an im- mense amownt 0f work in determining the number and varletles of microbes in the air and have determined the relation of the number of bacteria to disease. M. Miquel found near Paris in a single cubic meter of air eighty-five of these microbes in spring, 105 in summer, 142 in autumn and 49 in winter. In the streets of Paris the number averaged about 5500 all the year round. Miquel proved by many experiments that microbes were much more abundant 02 tearing of the delicate lung surfaces which left them open to the infection that caused business stand-gdeath, The streets should b0 0 0000000000006 00 0g In one gram (15 grains) of dust there® has been found 2,100,000 microbes. It has been calculated that in a cit like London a man breathes in during ten hours 37,500,000 spores and germs. ItQ is needless to say that this immense num-g ber of micro-organisms can have no ef- feet even if none of them are pable! of producing other than a mechanicalg) disturbance. It has been shown that sterile dust injures the lungs, so to greater extent should we look for injury@harmless and can often be found from breathing these little seeds which, may develop and grow within the lung.@ The greater part of the dust of clean® rooms, consisting of particles derivedg from mineral, vegetable and animal sub- stances has little immediate effect upon health. However, it certainly tends to re- duce vitality and'gives extra work to the breathing organs, so that it is extremely important that ‘any one susceptible to consumption should be especially careful about breathing dusty air. A beam of strong light shows the air of most inhab- ited rooms to be so crowded with dust as to be almost opaque to vision. The dust in the office of a well-known physician of this city was found, on mi- croscopical examination, to be largely dried squamous epithelium cells, shreds of cotton and wool, mold spo; bac- terfa_and finely divided sand from the street. Many living microbes float in the air of all dwelling houses. The air in_ rooms which are old, overcrowded and dirty contains a great many disease germs. The walls of a room breathe in and out vast numbers of bacteria. In schools vast numbers of bacteria find a lodging place under and between the boards of the floor it these are not close joined and well painted. Pathogenic or disease germs are nour- ished to a great extent by the floors and walls of the rooms and for this reason they should be frequently cleansed with antiseptic solutions. The clothes of the scholars should be clean and washable and there should be no crowding in the classes. The foul smell of a crowded school- room or a theater where all cla: of society mingle is due in some measure from the dust that emanates from the walls and is stirred up by shuffling feet, but mostly from the 50 grains of vapor and organic matter that is hourly ex- haled from the skin and lungs of each in- dividual in the room. This organic matter has a very fetid smell and it contains epithelium cells and fatty matter from the mouth and phar- ynx. This organic matter has been proved to be highly pofsonous and caused the de- pression and faintness which always oc- curs with a highly sensitive individual after a long hour in a crowded house. This was the cause of the deaths in the Black Hole of Calcutta. In the sick the organic matter emanat- ing from the skin is increased, very of- fensive and contains a great many bac- terfa and particles of epldermis. This will explain why actual contact with the sick is unnecessary to *“‘catch” the conta- glous disease. Dust Is an accompaniment of many oc- cupations, and {ts injurious effects de- pend upon its quality and upon the amount taken into the ungs. Metallic dust and dust containing gritty and hard siliclous particles are the most injurious. Greenhow has calculated the mortality rate from puimonary affections for the potters of Stake-upon-Trent. He found a death rate from these affections for male inhabitants of 7.21 per 1000, as compared with a_rate of 2.97 in healthy rural dis- tricts. More than one-half of these deaths in Stake were in potters, although pot- ters form only about one-third of the pop- ulation of the place. This shows an ex- ceedlngly high death rate from lung dis- eases for potters and points to a special cause. Dr. Warman says of the potteries at Treriton, M. J.. that “the. work people suffer with phthisis, lead poisoning, rheu- LLSBURY i (@, A PETRI PLATE FOR @N LOTTA’S FOUNTAIN. matism, digestive disorders and anaemia. The scourers suffer most from dust, but workmen in other branches also breathe a dust-laden air.” “The symptoms of potters’ lung diseases are not especially destructive. They are those of chronic bronchitis and asthma, passing into tuberculosis.” Organic dust is also very irritating, and 00000000000 00000000000000000000000000CO00000000CCCOCO000C00CCOCOO00CO000O ATMOSPHERIC MICROBES. For the most part these are absolutely in the purest country air. 0000000000000 C000 cotton and flax mills are prone workers to_phthi irt sa. ers who are sick forty. from pulmonary complain 11_per cent from consumptio ‘Wool workers breathe in, in the dust from the wool they sort, spores of the Anthrax bacillus. The Anthrax bacillus is a rod-shaped plant organism usually several -times longer than a red blood corpuscle. It grows in chains—bacilli be- ing joined end to end—each bacillus form- ing a spore which is extremely resistant to heat and germicides in general. The most common lesion from this bacillus Is the maiignant pustule, which though a local sore, may be attende with symptoms of systematic infection, often proving rapidly fatal. Inhalation of the irritating particles of steel or other sharp dust into the lungs causes a constant catarrhal bronchitisand pneumonitis, with an increase of connec- tive . 'This prepares the lung to re- ceive the ever-present tubercular dust and thus transition from S that “of every hundred mill- vo are suffering and nearly r years b the bacillus of s had been covered and con- before the infectious origin of consumptis 1 been dreamed of, it was customary v distinctions between various kinds of pht! caused, as then thought, by heritage or by dit- ferent kinds of dust. Steel-grinders® asthma d miners’ phthisis were looked on as distinct di . now known that the inhalation of dust is the pi t the more irritating > anc > dust, will be the cons which causes the first les cous membranes in which bacilli soon find lodgment. Of all the diseases peculiar to the occu- ation or environment of the laborer, the lity is from the effects of etiological relation to phthi- per: 2l ¢ ous of the the mu- tubercie sl Kruger has shown that the ust of & hospital ward in which patients with pul- monary sumption had expectorated upon the floor contained tu- . Th bercle ba was proved by wiping up the dust with a sterlized washing this out in bouillon and this into the abdomen of guin igs. Two animals of sixteen so injected became tubercular. At the City and ( sponge, Francisco in Dr. H sump- tion ward, in the past five vears four of the internes have been infected with tu- berculosis. The du doubtedly tubercular, and the good nam of San Francisco demands that this foul relic of early days be cremated and a. hospital more worthy the name of San Francisco be erected either on the same or more suitable grounds. Theater-owners should be required to furnish better ventilation. Fresh air in large quantities should be forced through cotton filters and into the audience room, at least fifteen cubic feet per hour for each individual admitted. Floors should be painted and washed, not swept,, or, if swept, large quantities of wet sawdust should first be sprinkled over the floor. E. S. PILLSBURY, M. D. e t of this ward s Twenty-four members of the House of Commons are total obstainers.