Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1895 — Only Way to Escape Microbes. [ARTICLE]

Only Way to Escape Microbes.

Parent—Why do you advise against my boy Willie using a slate and pencil in school? Dabster in Science—Because they are covered with deadly microbes, that would undoubtedly kill your boy if he lived long enough. Parent (much impressed)—Then I suppose I had better get him a paper pad to do his sums on? Dabster in Science—My dear sir, do you wknt to commit deliberate murder? There are millions of bacilli in every page of paper made. Parent (anxiously)—Well, how will he do his sums then? In his mind? Dabster in Science—Worse yet. It has been found that abstract introspective thought over imaginary problems stimulates the growth of lethal bacteria in the brain cells. If you want your Willie to live, you had better keep him in a ro#m sprayed with antiseptic vapor.—New York Tribune.