Edward W. Axson to Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre

You see I havent forgotten that I owe you a letter too but as Nellie's debt was so much older I had to write to her first. Mama's letter reached me a few days ago & I think I will take the chances and come on down to Princeton when I finish my work here—which will be by the end of this week I think. I shall be very very glad to see you all again—it has been such a long time since I saw you—and it seems even longer than it has been.
What do you think I have been studying since the Institute closed? Do you know what Bacteriology is? Bacteria are very tiny living creatures—really plants though you would say they were animals if you could see them under the microscope swimming about in a drop of water. They live everywhere in the air, in the water you drink, on every piece of fruit you eat, and in every piece of soil you pick up. They are so very small that a single drop of a liquid in which they are grown (we use use bouillon or gelatin as a rule for making the “cultures” as they are called) will often contain over a million. Some kinds grow so fast that of only half a dozen or so be put in a test tube of liquid the next day, if it has been kept at the right temperature, the whole tube will be cloudy with them. Most of them are perfectly harmless, which is very fortunate for us as we take in many thousands every day but and some are very useful as for making vinegar or cheese &c, but some are what our professor calls the blacklegs and when they get into your body they may give you some disease—certain kinds of Bacteria giving certain diseases. Fortunately though these are seldom met with under ordinary conditions. Last week we were working with the ones that cause Typhoid fever, a tiny little thing that looks about like this [drawing of a small darkened oval]—and also the one that causes consumption which looks very much like it. Of course we are very careful when working with those dangerous ones not to come in contact with them—we burn our needles off after every innoculation and when we get through we drop all the tubes &c into a bucket of poison and also wash our hands carefully in it.
This letter has been pretty much all about Bacteria hasnt it? But I I have been doing so little recently that would interest you that I thought I would tell you a little about something which you probably havent had in your school.
Give lots of love to Mama and the other kids—and with lots for yourself—and hoping to see you real soon.