TTTE STT?TDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTTATTD. JTTLY 23. 1915.
DEATH
OTIS AND H
OW TO BODY FIGHTS THEM
Copyright, 115. by A. Merrltt.
THE whole problem of how the body
protects Itself, or. In technical
terms, acquires immunity1 against
Infectious disease, gives itself an Im
munity bath, as if It were a trust mag
nate before a grand Jury, is so compli
cated and so difficult that even after 30
years of laborious and enthusiastic re
search we are still In the dark about
many aspects of it. Here and there a
few big headlands and landmarks are
beginning to stand up out of the fog,
and among these one has recently
emerged which seems to furnish a. bet
ter promise of guidance through the
channels than almost any other hith
erto. This Is the idea, curious and almost
Incredible as it may seem, that most of
these elaborate processes producing
such scores of specific and Individual
remedies each one adapted to Its own
particular disease are modifications of
the simple and every-day process of
digestion. Particularly of the digestion
of meat, i. e., the active, living sub
stance, the real life-stuff, that grows
and does things, of both animals and
plants, technically known as protein.
By dint of an experience, and a bit
ter and calamitous one, of millions of
years, . our stomachs have gradually
learned to digest and utilize for food,
without damage to themselves, the
flesh, or living stuff of other animals
and plants, such as meat, milk, eggs,
fish, sea food, the gluten of wheat' and
the vegetable casein of peas and beans.
It has, however, long been known that
if a comparatively few drops of the
blood of another animal, or even the
milk, or the juice of Its flesh, or a lit
tie white of egg, was injected directly
into our veins, so as to reach our blood
at once. It would produce poisonous
results; and If In sufficient amounts,
very serious and. even fatal ones.
In other words, what Is food in the
stomach may be poison in the blood.
Why this should be puzzled us for a.
long time. But two - new. discoveries"
finally threw light on the problem. One
of these was that we found in the pro
cess of digestion, that meats, .or pro
teins of all sorts, were broken or split
up Into from about 15 to 20 simpler ele
ments known as animo acids. These
simpler bodies would pass readily into
the blood and were then carried all
over the body, where the different tis
sues, our muscles, bones, glands,
nerves, ete, picked them up and re
built them into our particular variety
of meat, or protein.
So far so good, and all very simple
and harmless. But from another
quarter entirely the bacteriological
laboratory came the surprising dis
covery that one of these 20-odd frag
ments, into which protein was spilt in
the process of digestion, was poison
ous, and quite actively so. Now we
for the first time began to understand
why our digestive process had such
numerous and even mixed-up looking
sets of glands employed in It some
of them apparently duplicates. And
particularly why something like nine
tenths of our digested food was car
ried straight to the liver and strained,
through it before being allowed to
reach any of the rest of the body.
Our fussy old digestive system knew
Its business after all. And its unnec
essary elaborateness and in the effi
ciency jargon of the day, "waste mo-
tlon" was for the purpose of dealing
with and neutralizing this poisonous
element in the meats, or proteins, of
our food. In fact, the liver seems to be
largely a great toxin-filter and poison
neutralizer for both our food and for
eign germs that get into our body.
The next step was to put these two
ideas together and conclude that much
of the poisonous effect of disease
germs in the body was due to the fact
that they found their way Into the
blood and that the blood attempted to
digest them, and in so doing set free
this poisonous element in their pro
tein. Then there was literally the
devil to pay and no pitch hot, for the
blood is a simple, primitive sort of
creature, with no digestive apparatus
to speak of. and "no liver" to neutral
ize this split protein which conse
quently rioted unchecked through the
body.
In other words. the disease germs
act in our blood as if they - were
strange meat, or foreign protein, and
poison us in the same way as an equal
amount of snake's blood or white of
egg would. This is known as the
split-protein theory of Infection of
Vaughan.
This explains why it is necessary for
nearly all disease germs to work their
way actually Into the blood before
they can produce their poisonous ef
fects. Some are Injected Into the blood
directly by the hypodermic syringe of
an Insect, like malaria or yellow fever,
by the bite of a mosquito. Others get
in through scratches on the feet and
legs, or through flea bites, like the
bubonic plague; others fly Into the
nose In dusty air and pass through
cracks In the mucous membrance of
the nose and' throat Into the blood.
And others which are tougher are
swallowed with our food or drink and
pierce the walls of the stomach or In
testine. But nine-tenths of them must
penetrate Into the blood, die there and
let loose their split-protein before they
can produce disease.
When disease germs have burglar
iously forced an entrance Into the
blood, how can It oal with them? Sim
ply by growing a "pepsin" of its- own
and training itself to digest them. The
mere entrance of germs into the blood
Hi' ; ' v - . . ;
:jS-- '-. . f ' " " "- . -It
: . , - -i'
i - k
jit -.-,-" .'. - -j .
5 i .... . - .
'M.: : -V . ' -". if
i; ' ' ' " 1 is'
! f: ; '. -''J ''Ml
i ;; ' Vv. . ' ' Mil
i r. ' - ; '(f
; -. ' A
i V : . - . . . P'W .
A . ' . !- A - - y v w
.. . ' - y i x ; -i
i ' . ' v ;
" i . J'- i
illf- Uv:::. 1
ill f y - - i
!. t T:
M if J I
SSii f- '- -""iirSw, i t v" -jr -
Into the blood or scratched Into the Pt on la this paralyied and hnd
kln. and promptly calls forth an out- cuffed condition past the throat ar.d
pouring of these digestive ferments to oow n, n iomcn ana jnete
dissolve them. After this "shera bat
tle" has been repeated once or twice.
the blood becomes o rich in "pepsin
that It la able to attack and dissolve
living germs, and the patient Is as
completely Immune against the disease
as If he had gone through a full at
tack of It- From smallpox to typhoid
and from bubonic plague to boils, we
can fight fire with tire In this fashion
with a success which has almost revo- ,
lutlonized medicine already.
Obviously, from this point of view,
the first line of defense against Invad
ing disease germs Is the stomach and
the digestion, itself. If they are In
fairly vigorous condition, our stom
achs and Intestines make no more
bones about llgeMlng germs, if not In
too large amounts, than they do about
tackling a fried egg. In moderate
amounts, we can literally "eat m
alive." Even rattlesnake venom when
swallowed is split up and digested
harmlessly, as we have long known.
Indeed, the stomach Is probably
usually the grave of at least two-thirds
of all the Infectious germs that get
Into our bodies. This is one of the
reasons why net more than a fifth,
seldom more than a twentieth, of those
exposed to a disease actually develop
It. Roughly speaking, about half our
tacked by the digestive juices and dis
solved Into heir elements before they
can "come to."
Hut If the nor and hroat are swol
len and inflamed and catarrhal, with
cracks or ulcers In their mucous mem
brane, the germs that are breathed
into tho nose have a chance to cling
to these sticky and diseased surfaces
and work thrlr way through these
cracks and tlsoures Into the blood,
and thus escape the waiting stomacu
and set the whole body on fire.
A similar loophole or breach in the
defenses Is afforded to germs that get
Into the mouth on food or drink by
spongy ana ulcerous gums, swollen and
enlarged tonsils and chronic sore
throats of all sorts. If there be no
traitors of this sort about the air and
food entrances of the body. Invading
germs lose at least four-fifths of their
chances to slip through the body de
fenses and Infect the system. Even
germs which ultimately turn up In and
attack the lungs, like those of tuber
culosis and penumonia. often enter
through loopholes of this sort. And 7Z
Is even believed that the germs of In
testinal diseat-es, like typhoid fever anfi
dysentery, have to find some nssure or
ulcer or Inflamed patch somewhere
upon the wall of the alimentary canal
through which they can break through
commoner disease germs fly Into the tha mucou8 membrane and get Into the
body In dusty air. breathed In through biood to ,nft.ct tne svstem
the nose, while the other half enter so perfect a rrotect.on is our di5es-
through the mouth, either upo. In- tion mnd our dU,,v. mucous mem-
fected fingers, food. cups, etc, or In brane that many germs and their rois-
contamlnated food or drink. on, ar .tm poetically outside the
If the nose and throat are vigorous body after they have been swallowed,
and healthy both groups meet prac- and will be either destroyed or swept
tlcally the same fate. They are en- out of the body before thty can do
tangled In the sticky raucous from any damage unless they can find a
the mucous membrane, which partly "leak" In the protective wall of mu-
smothers and partly poisons them, are cous membrane.
THE SHOEING OF MARS
f Continued From Pa fa 5.)
PocroiOVooDj-Hutchinson"
Hush's hand. Without glancing at it
hand as moral support for the former Lorlmer thrust it Il.to his iwket
sets up a hostile chemical reaction on
the strange general law of all living
matter, that the moment a living cell
touches another cell or Its products it
"bristles up" and begins to secrete an
attacking substance.
If the germs are exceedingly Irri
tating and virulent, secreting a posi
tive venom of their own. rattlesnake
fashion, this antidote Is poured out
In such quantities by the blood that
we can collect It. after recovery, and
use It to Inject Into another victim's
blood at an early stage and literally
"extinguish" the disease The famous
and faglcally curative diphtheria antl-
conquering most infection only pro
duces just the amount of pepsin need
ed to digest them safely and never
piles up enough of It. gets strong
enough in it, to be of any value as an
"extinguisher" In another victim. ex-
President we won't stand a show."
Ten minutes later he was back again,
his face alive with excitement.
"They're all up at the club, holding
some sort of a powwow, he explained.
"It's good night for us. But that isn't
all. I drifted into the wireless house
to see If th-y had any news and picked
cept In very large amounts. Though Up this message from some boat that
it can promptly repel another attack of calls herself the Cynthia."
the germ on Itself it la Immune Lorlraer emitted a howl of delight.
against the disease In future. "Why. God bless your homely visuge.
But although we have not very that's the name of the Meredith yacht."
many antitoxins or extinguishers to he cried.
cure disease, we can use our know!- Snatching a- piece of flimsy from
edge to prevent It, with splendid ef- Colby's hand, he bent over It and read
fect. Since these protective digestives a fragment of a message which evl-
are called forth by the dead and de- dently had been Interrupted:
toxin is such an antidote, taken from caylng bodies of germs, why not use
"Make west coast- Boat waiting.
the blood of a horse which has recov
ered from diphtheria.
Such venomous germs are, however,
rare exceptions, just as poisonous
snakes are among the harmless ones,
the great majority of disease germs
having to die and scatter their poison
ous "splits" in the blood In order to
produce disease. So that the blood In
. As the natty little tender from the
Cynthia chugced away from the beach
he drew the crumpled paper out and
read It. The message was from the
President, returning to power, and was
addressed to Hugh.
"No hard feeling." It rend. "You won
the war for us. S!ilj at once five
thousand more pairs of thoes."
Hugh handed the order to John
Meredith, who had come ashore In the
tender. The ishoe magnate snorted as
he read the contents.
"You come home nd marry Jane."
he tald to Lorimer. "It's cheaper than
having you eli thoci. And this man
Colby he seems to have Ideas. I think
we can use him in the business."
On the quarterdeck of the yacht a
girl was witting a handkerchief.
Colby smiled appreciatively. "My first
killed bacilli to train the blood to eat Come and"
un the living ones, without producing Five minutes later the single hlgh-
an attack of tha disease? powered automobile In the republic, the business is as best man." he chuckled.
This Is tho now famous method of successive property of various Presl- but Hugh did not hear him. Ills eyes
vaccination. Germs of the disease to dents, was roaring through the hills wete ort the girl.
be prevented are either killed by heat with two Americans In the front seat. Meredith tore the shoe order into
or weakened in polsonousncss by pass- Just as they had been scrambling bite, and as he tossed the pieces over-
Ing through the body of some animal. Into a car a messenger rushed up and board the breese sent them swirling
Then a small dose of them Is Inlected thrunt a slip of yellow paper Into back toward TayhU
. - . 1
ggilBHiQm -m pictures mn little oms lljgggj
TOADSTOOL AND DAISIES
ONCE upon a time in the long, long
ago, when fairies rode upon the
breeze and slept under the petals
of flowers a toadstool stood in a field
of daisies. But it was not an ordi
nary toadstool; and the two daisies
growing close beside it were not ordi
nary either.
Of course, to look at thern, you
would have Imagined they were; for
they looked in no way different from
others of their kind in the same field.
And yet would you believe It the
two daisies were the fair Princesses
Alma and Alna and the toadstool was
their brother, Prince Alba.
You must pronounce their names
very distinctly, you see, or you will be
apt to confuse them. Their sorrow-
They Still Hoped That Some Day Relief
Would Come.
ing parents were King Alfa and Queen
Alha, who ruled over the kingdom of
which this daisy field was a very, very
small part. And they were bowed in
sorrow because their children had dis
appeared and they knew not where to
find them.
A wicked witch had put a "spell"
upon them and. with a wave of her
wicked wand, had changed the Prin
cesses into daisies and the Prince into
a toadstool. Bat now remember this
the wicked witch had been so en
raged when she worked her spell that
she failed to note where she had
placed the two daisies and the toad
stool. She had spoken the words that
brought the change about, but had not
said where the Princesses and the
Prince, in their new forms, should
grow. And. of course, the "spell" be
ing complete, not even she herself
could do it over again or change It.
The King and the. Queen sent their
soldiers and couriers to all parts of
the kingdom to search for the children
and they offered chests full of gold
and jewels and precious stones as a
reward to anyone who would find the
children and bring them -back to the
palace. But, alas, all to no vail, for
of course no one even thought af look
ing for the Princesses and the young
Prince in such commonplace things as
daisies and toadstools.
That is, no one except a certain Good
Fairy who spent her days in trying to
undo the evil the wicked witch was
continually working. And not even she
could have found them among all the
daisies and all the toadstools in the'
kingdom had it not been for Butter
fly, who, in flitting about from flower
to flower, had dlscoverel the secret and
had told her exactly where they could
be found.
But even then the Good Fairy was
powerless to undo the "spell." She
could, however, by working "good
magic," fix it so that every evening the
fair Princesses could thrust their pret
ty faces out through the center of the
daisies and talk a short while with
their brother, who came out of the
toadstool but, in so strange a form
that at first his sisters had not recog
nised him.
, He didn't look like their brother at
all. and the first time they saw him
they were frightened, for be was
dresssed in a garment of green moss
that covered his body completely, and
he wore a skull cap made of leaves
pasted together and more terrifying
than all else two slender horns grew
straight out from Just above his eye
brows and curled up at their ends in
funny fashion. They didn't recognize
him until he spoke.
To see the brother and his sisters
talking was impossible for mortal eye,
of course, but be would climb up on
top of the toadstool and sit there
while the Princesses, their fresh faces
shining out between the petals of the
daisies, would bend down and eagerly
whisper to him. They spoke of their
father and mother and wept; but they
still hoped that some day relief would
come.
One sunny afternoon the wicked
witch came walking through the fields
in search of mushrooms with which to
make a stew for herself and her favor
ite cat and broomstick (indeed, yes,
indeed, witches do have to feed their
cats and broomsticks!). She was In a
great rage about something and she
walked along trampling down every
flower and Bhrub In her path. Of course
you will remember she had no idea she
was in the field with the Princesses and
the Prince. ,
Suddenly she espied the toadstool.
"Ah!" she cried, "a fine mushroom for
my supper!" And with that she pounced
down upon it and Jerked It from Its
resting place in the warm earth but
not before the Prince, who had heard
her coming, had wriggled down, deep
down through the roots of the plant
into the soil.
Turning, the wicked witch started
off at a great rate toward the edge of
the field and. at her very first stride,
her huge foot came down upon the two
daisies in which the Princesses were
imprisoned and broke them off half
way up. Instantly the little maids
were released and fell to the ground.
Now, Nlghto, the witch's evil black
cat, had been stalking along -behind
his mistress and he straigtway espied
the two little Princesses, no bigger
than a minute, lying on the ground. He
thought they were bugs and had Just
started to gobble them up when some
thing sharp pricked him on his back
and he jumped about five hundred feet
at one leap, howling with pain.
And before he landed upon earth
again the good fairy who had pricked
him with her stall snatched up the
Princesses and bore them away to
safety. Then she returned for the
Prince and found him still hiding deep
down in the earth.
She bore all three children away to
her fairy bower and nursed them un
til they had again attained their nor
mal size and good looks. Then, one
night when the moon was hid, she
placed them on her flying cobweb car
pet and carried them back to the pal
ace, tucking them away snugly in their
beds.
The next morning old nurse found
them. And such a rejoicing as there
was throughout all the kingdom! The
whole land feasted for many days, with
the King and Queen supplying all the
good things to eat and drink.
To this day no one knows what had
become of the royal children nor how
they happened to be found so mirac
ulously in their little beds after having
disappeared for so long a time. That
Is, no one except you and I. and that
Is because we stljl believe in fairies,
don't you think?
AN ENCYCLOPEDIA PARTY
DANCING.
I love to dance along the street
And up and down the stairs;
Around the stove and In the grove
And in and out the chairs.
My twinkle toes are full of life.
My heels are full of fun.
They make me smile for all the while
They keep me on the run.
So down the hill I'l dance today,
A merry little sprite.
And back again this evening when
I know it's coming night-
The Jlnrlekha Is the men-propelled ve
hicle of the Far Eul It 1 bi:ni super-
tlad by a v.hlcU known as the cycle-rlckaha.
IMITATING BROTHER
Why, Lucy Matilda Elizabeth Green!
Your conduct Is scandalous what does
it mean?
Your hands to the ground and your
heels in the air.
And trying to stand on your head on a
dare!
"You say 'bruvver- do it?" Well, what
if you did;
You surely don't think you can follow
that kid?
Such "stunts" to a boy are as easy as
pie.
But It Isn't the thing for young ladies
to try.
I'm glad that your mother was not here
to see;
I know she'd be shocked and I'm sure
she'd scold me.
So please don't attempt things you see
brother do.
Or there'll be lots of trouble a-com-
ins; to you.
DID you ever go to one? It Is really
lots of .fun if you have someone
like Aunt Vera to choose the sub
jects. Norah is one of her small nieces
and she told her she might invite some
of her boy and girl chums for a certain
Saturday night when she was going
to give an Encyclopedia Party. Nora
raid no one would come if she told
them the awful truth, and Auntie said
she might disguise It if she would but
That it wasn't as bad as it sounded.
They all came, anyway, and Aunt Vera
asked them to draw lots for slips of
paper.
Elva found on hers just the one word:
"Water-Soldier," with some numbers.
She was asked to find a certain volume
in the Encyclopedia which would tell
'her who she was and all about herself.
This she was to put down on a sheet
of paper and when her name was called
she was to answer "present" and tell
the rest what she had discovered. A
prize would go to the girl or boy giv
ing the most Interesting description of
themselves.
And she had 10 minutes given to her
to find out what a Water-Soldier was.
She found two hard words to begin
with, "Strrtlotes Aloldee." which ap
peared to be another nam for the
thing, but she understood why the
water plant was called a soldier
when she came to "sword-ilke leaves."
These in a sort of stiff rosette project
above the surface of the water when
the plant Is In flower In the Spring
time. All during the Winter the young
rosettes lie st the bottcm of the water.
Before she knew what she was do
ing Elva found herself reading a lot
of very Interesting things about other
water plants of the particular order
to which the Water-Soldier belonged,
but she had .o-hurry to write about
hsrself.
When Rodney was called upon to
Introduce himself he said he was one
of the Wser-Bable. He thought
probably everyone knew how nice he
was. If they had ever read what
Charles Klngsley had to say about hlra.
He seemed to have been awfully In
terested in children and he had writ
ten some books that Rodney himself
liked tremendously "Westward Ho,"
"Hcreward the Wake." and "Hypatia."
He had written a book of Greek Fairy
Tales called "The Heroes." and Natural
History seemed to have been one of
his hobbles. "Madam How and Lady
Why" was one of the books in which
he told about nature In an Interesting
way.
"One thing I liked about Klngsley."
said Rodney, "when I read about him
just now, was thst he had a hot
temper and yet controlled it splendid
ly; everyone seemed to love htm be
cause he made himself tender and
gentle."
Nora was a Water-Sapphire. She
said It was awfully nice to be able
to say how pretty she waa . No, she
didn't grow In the water, but she was
found near It, a pebble in the sands of
Ceylon, for Instance. "lolite" was her
other name and that meant violet col
ored. This particular mineral, lolite,
was sometimes cut Into gems. Deep
blue, pale blue, yellowish-grey In Its
uncut form, her shnde varied as the
gem was cut. If fashioned in a certain
way she might be sapphire of the
translucent shade of water; If In an
other, she was "Lynx-sapphire." a
eaten some of It when you were babiea
"I'm awfully good at hide-and-seek."
said Margaret. "You can find
me by rivers in China; I lie there hid
den by the reeds and the long grass
and they call me the 'Water Deer.
But 1 don't have antlers, although cne
of my teeth is as eharp as a tusk to
make up for it. I'm hard to see and
harder to catch."
Aunt Vera said she was the "Water
Buffalo." living in the Philippine?;
when they tamed her they mnde her
work very hard as a beast of burden,
but one thing she absolutely refused
to do was to work during the heat of
the day. "I am a wonderful swimmer
and can make my way easily through
the worst quagmires."
When fat Tommy Barnes said he
was a Water-Flea everyone laughed.
"I've Just got one black eye," he said.
I i
M J I'M I . - X -gr- i w t ' ,v
iV c
Nera Waa a Mater Sapphire.
darker shade. Anyway, she was very
glad to be a gem.
Billy grinned all over. "I'm no pretty
little Jewel." he said, "and I may not
look like a lily, but I am one. Water
Uly? You've guessed wrong I'm a
Water-Cabbage. You can cook me if
you like, but It's a sure thing you won't
eat me for supper. I'm a good deal
like Elva's Water-Soldier, but I belong
to the Lily family, and my first cousin
Is Jack-ln-the-pulplt. I spent most of
my time reading about him. His little
hobby Is using the hairs In his throat
for catching flies. They can get In. but
they can't get out. His berries are
poisonous, but they used to use , his
root for making Tortland arrowroot."
Funny, Isn't is. to think you may have
"but then I'm only one-tenth of an
Inch In length and my body ii In a
transparent shell with two valves. I
swim with ray branched antennae."
"Well. I'm the best of a'.L" said Bob.
"I'm the Water-Boatman. My friend
the Water-Flea uses his front hair. 1
think he said? Look at me. My hind
legs when I'm resting stick out on
either side of my body Just like a pair of
oars. I can swim upside down: and
the bsirs on my legs catch bubbles of
air which help me to breathe."
Aunt Vera had an awfully hard time
deciding which was Xh winner, but
she gave one of them a lovely hyacinth
growing In a glass made for such
bulbs, filled with water. Now who do
you think should have got it?