While it is true that it is "an ill wind that blows no good," it is also true that what is "one man's meat is another man's poison."
To Nature matters of "great importance" and matters of "little consequence" are on an equal basis. The one is not "favored" above the other. It is the survival of the fittest, and not the most desirable that survives.
When conditions are favorable to the "wild" animals, they thrive by killing the other forms of life upon which they live, and when conditions are favorable to man, he kills and lives upon the forms of life which he considers exist solely for his pleasure and benefit.
To nature the germs of disease, as a form of life, are equally as important as the other forms of life that "breathe and have their being."
When conditions are favorable to the virus of influenza and pneumonia, we have what is known as an epidemic, and when conditions are favorable to the growth of cancer, it has what we might term a "Roman Holiday" by destroying a third of our population.
Germs of disease are merely invisible wild animals.
They are forms of life that thrive upon the soil of the human body.
Prayer has about as much effect upon them as it would have upon the hungry tiger ready to devour you.
A bullet from a gun would be far more effective against the tiger, and knowledge of the nature of the germs of disease, and the discovery of the methods of destroying them, are comparable to the invention of the gun and its use against the ferocious animal.
The knowledge of the one protects you against the invisible enemies of destruction, while the invention of the gun protects you against being destroyed by the wild beasts.