Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 September 1893 — The Deadly Lockjaw. [ARTICLE]

The Deadly Lockjaw.

One of the most violent diseases that we have, lockjaw, has at last been found to be curable, and where 99 per cent, of those who contracted the disease were before sure to die, we now can rely upon nearly as large a percentage of cures. This disease has been a mystery until quite recently. Why one should contract lockjaw by running a small tack, splinter or other substance into bis body, and another escape all trouble, no one could understand. It was supposed for a long time that certain people had a predisposition to the disease, and the least wound inflicted this way would cause lockjaw. But now that the bacillus of lockjaw has been discovered we know differently. This bacillus Is in the shape of a drum-stick and contains a deadly poison. The bacillus Is found everywhere in the surface soil of the streets or fields, and every time we run any foreign substance into the body we run the risk of getting lockjaw. The germs are all around us in the dirt of streets, and this is why nails that are run into the feet when walking on the roads are apf to give the person lockjaw. The bacilli have congregated on the nail in great numbers, and when introduced into the system they get up a violent poison. A curious powder has now been obtained after a long series of experiments which will instantly kill the bacilli of lockjaw, and when patients are suffering from the dreaded disease an inoculation of the substance will generally eure the disease. The discovery of the cure quickly followed the discovery of the bacilli, and its habitation, and methods of growth.