Dangers of Kissing.

Kaikoura Star, Volume XIV, Issue 677, 26 January 1894, Page 2

Dangers of Kissing.

Professor Miller, of Berlin, has published a paper on the human mouth us a centre for the spread of several diseases through the instrumentality of kissing. The diseases which he enumerates are pneumonia, tonsilites, diphtheria, consumption, catarrh in some of its forms, inflammation of the mouth or throat, decay of the teeth, etc., and several others. These diseases all have their cause, according to this author, in certain bacteria which develop in the mouth, and which are transferred from one mouth to another by kissing and also by inhaling the breath. He has found 22 different varieties of these germs which may live in the mouth, throat, and nasal cavities. He does not say that these diseases are always spread in this way, but that they often are, and he is able to give proof of this by citing cases which can hardly be contradicted. This may all seem impossible to those who have not made a study of the subject, and many physicians are yet sceptical about it. They think the presence of these bacteria in the mouth a result, not a cause, and sometimes this is true. This brings up the subject —is kissing a hygienic habit or not? A wellknown physician described tbe habit tbe other

day as ‘an exchange of microbes.’ No doubt there are times when it is a very unhygienic one, and especially when one is suffering from any disease which may be conveyed from one person to another. For this reason that beautiful act, the kies, should not be indulged in when there is the least danger of harm from it. Innocent children are perhaps the greatest sufferers. Everyone likes to kiss a beautiful child. Mothers, too, often encourage it. From the point of view of hygiene we believe this indiscriminate kissing of children a great evil. Let us learn to show our delight in them in some other way.