THE THREAT OF THE GERM.
By C. M. Snow
INCREASE, continual, rapid increase, seems to be the order of the times. It is seen in the accumulation of wealth, of worldly knowledge, of invention—in short, it is seen everywhere and in everything. The lusts of the eye and the pride of life are swiftly bringing in the harvest of their sowing—disease and death. Medical science reports victories over the germs of disease; but these diseases are becoming more general; they are rising up all around us; and tho checked at our very doors, apparently, and seemingly stamped out at times, they are increasing faster than medical skill can learn how to battle with them. The medical profession has accomplished wonders in this battle, and without the knowledge and skill which it now possesses, especially in sanitary matters, the conditions would certainly be much worse than they are now. A disease springs up in a certain locality, and begins to reach out for its victims. Health officers and physicians battle with it, and it is in a measure restrained; but it is not conquered. It is fought in the locality of its starting, like the yellow fever in Cuba, but it will not yield. The bubonic plague counts its victims from the Himalayas to Madagascar, from Bombay to Hongkong and Yokohama; and ships arriving at San Francisco from oriental ports have been visited with that dread disease while crossing the ocean, and others are waiting now at Yokohama and Kobe for clean bills of health before proceeding on their voyages. Nothing could stay the progress of la grippe, and it circled the globe in a remarkably short time. The conditions of life make the increased rapid progress of disease possible. How long will it be before the conditions of mankind in general are such that all infectious diseases will go with the rapidity of la grippe? It is known that the race is deteriorating, and the more rapidly it deteriorates the more rapidly is the soil being prepared for contagion and infection. The “great white plague,” consumption, is fast gaining ground, and one in every seven deaths is laid at its door. It is much more general than a few years ago, as are also the diseases caused by luxurious living; for luxury itself is increasing. Cancer victims are multiplying rapidly. There are other diseases only waiting for the soil of the human system to reach the proper stage of deterioration when their deadly germs will swarm over the earth and strike the human race with fearful virulence. The great plague of India is showing this tendency now, and is attacking the white man much more frequently than heretofore. Syphilis is prevailing to such an alarming degree that an international conference of physicians has been called to perfect some plan for dealing with it. A late report of a certain hospital in San Francisco shows that the number of cases of that malady treated during the year exceeded that of any other disease. The yellow fever germs are still alive, and will so remain. A new disease has begun its ravages in Sweden, and is attacking both cattle and men. The terrible scourge of cholera which recently prevailed in Germany and threatened to cross the Atlantic, is but a warning of what these diseases, or others heretofore unknown and more deadly, may reasonably be expected to do when the fruits of sin have made the human body more fertile soil for their propagation, and when God’s restraining hand is removed from such agencies of destruction. But during such time are the people of God assured of safety under the shadow of His wing. “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee, . . . neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” Ps. 91:5–10.