Untitled

Taranaki Daily News, 10 December 1918, Page 3

A theory which has a popular'-:,ypgue is that the ir.lluenza pandemia hail its origin in tho devilish ingenuity of the Germans (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph). Of course, nobody ,qould invent a.new disease germ; but'there are medical men who believe that in this ease an influenza germ has been given added virulence by G.erman scientists. The thing is theoretically possible- A comparatively harmless germ could be artificially ' •'exalted" by passing it Uirough a series of very susceptible animals or human beings, with the result, that it would emerge with highly virulent characteristics. But experience has proved that when such an experiment is made, the artificial exaltation, or virulence of the germ does not remain. It soos eoes back to its former mild state. And it must be noted that if tho Germans had succeeded in playing this game with the germ of Spanish influenza, tho Germans themselves have suffered severely from the disease.