It is not to be presumed that in the present age of popular enlightenment people do not know better than to trifle with germs. It is, therefore, alarming to note that with light they will continue to practically commit suicide by a failure to observe the most ordinary rules of hygiene. In the mad pursuit of pelf and position little heed is being given to the omnipresence of bacilli, bacteria and other mischievous, pernicious and fatal agencies. Why will people supinely continue to court death in street cars, theaters, churches and at crowded entertainments, where the most casual movement sets into motion myriads of germs that are inhaled, eaten and absorbed by those present? And why will they disregard common caution by eating food in hotels, cafés, restaurants, Pullman cars and at home, when all food is known to be gorged with murderous molecules of one sort or another? And why perpetuate the dangerous habit of washing when both soap and water are teeming with baleful bacteria? There are still a few who continue to take water into their system in full realization that it contains something more than a million germs per drop. And is there no way of impressing the public with the fatal consequence of sleeping in beds and sitting in chairs, and of riding and walking through streets surrounded by air which is composed largely of corrosive sublimate—a deadly poison? And as for kissing? Only Igorrote, Hottentots and Russians can be forgiven for not knowing better. So deathly does modern research recognize this primitive and all but obsolete practice to be, that it is being seriously considered of adoption as a pleasing and more humane substitute for chloroform as an antique exterminator. Why not conform to the simple necessities and observe the rational precaution of doing nothing without first being sterilized and aerated? And let those determined to drink remember to recognize as sanitary only those fluids commonly known to be strongly germicidal. It would seem that the present generation will never reach a true realization of its peril until it has already become extinct. THE NORTHERN VIEWPOINT. His heart went out in feeling To the colored brother kneeling At the white man’s feet; His brother’s wrongs oppressed him And a poem he addressed him, Warm and neat. He suffered indignation, He swore by all creation ’Twas a crime, To deny him social right— Wasn’t black as good as white Every time?