Bacteria, whether significant of disease or decline of health, are found
more or less numerous in everything we eat and drink. The germs or
spores of many kinds, known as _termo_, _lineola_, tenue, spirillum,
vibriones, etc, exist in almost infinite numbers; some of the smallest
are too small to be seen by the highest powers, which, being lodged in
all vegetable and animal substances, spring into life and develop very
rapidly under favorable circumstances. They develop most rapidly when
decomposition commences, and seem to indicate the degree or activity
of that decomposition, also hastening the same. They are found most
numerous in the feces, and usually fully developed in the fresh
evacuations of persons of all ages. They may be seen plainly under
a thin glass with high powers with strong or clear light, when the
material is much diluted with water.
These bacteria appear almost as numerously, yet more slowly, in urine,
either upon exposure to air or when freshly evacuated, when the general
health of the individual is declining, or any tendency to decomposition.
A diagnosis can be aided very greatly by a study of these bacteria,
as they indicate or determine the vitality, vigor, and purity of the
system, whether more or less subject to disease, even before any signs
of disease appear. They seem to preindicate the hold of the life force
on the material, and always appear when that force is broken. Their
relative quantity found in feces is as a barometric indication of the
general health or some particular disturbance, and it is surprising
how very fast they multiply while simply passing the intestines under
circumstances favorable for their growth. These forms, so small, are
important, because so very numerous, and their study has been, perhaps,
avoided by many; yet they certainly mean something and effect something,
even the non-malignant varieties as mentioned above, and it is certainly
worth while to continue to study their meaning, even beyond what has
already been written by others on the subject.--_J.M. Adams, in The
Microscope_.
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