New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-04-14


We are paying tho price now of our balmy
Winter weather New-Yorl and Philadelphia
and al intermediate towns have fallen under
a scouree during the last two weeks. 1t is safe
10 say that Il third of the population Is either
i'm bed or Just getting out of IT. Every victim
has his own namo for hs amcnt-G1ppc,
April Fever, EpiZo0ty, etc. and every man o
them is ready to swear that under any name
It is utterly bcastly and abomlnable. Nobody
dies of it. of course though when man goes
about his work for fortnight spectacle
II gods and men. with his eyes bunScd, ton
sils swollen, and a cough that tears his whole
body from his boots up the idea of decent,
dgnGcd sleep in u colin il relief. The only
cous,lation in the matter il that nobody
can insult you by that most aggrayating
rciOinder TO your complnintS-thlt they
have gone through it all ~ well as you. No
two persons are attacked in the same way
the new plague has greater variety and vitality
th1n all those of Egypt combined; 1t faSienS
uIon one mans eyes, upon anothers BRAN;
stops the ears of this victim, clutches that one
by the throat. Children have proved Its favor
lite and easy prey; and while the mortality
among them from this cause alone has not
been great, there can he no dOubt that n Sc
we're attack of this kind wcallens the constitu
ton of child, and renders it ready victim
TO diphheria, whooping- cOugh, scarlet fever,
or any other disease prevalent mt this season.
There are as many explanations OF this si1gu-
llr epidemic as names for it, but the fact that
il extends throughout the whole belt OF
the Middle States goes to prove that
its origin il to he sought for III the
atmosphere, and not in any local cause.
The most apparent solution of the riddle ia the
lack Of snow during the past Winter. The
great masses of decaymg vegetation left by
the Autumn have remained uncovered, and as
n rule unfrozcn, to breed malarious poison
now in the growing warmth, instead OF being
hidden under their usual covering until they
were dcc0mposed. Snow, besides serving as
safe screen. contains certain chemical agents,
which c0unteract these poisonous cxhalatlons
and sink with them into the ground. When
We consider, too, the much larger share
of oxygen held in its white glttering
fields than in rain or river water, we
have arrived by rough guessing at suf-
iicient answer to the riddle. One thing is
certain.-whatever be the cause Of this uni
versal misery, the surest cure for it Is change
of place and air, either to the mountains, or,
better still, to the seaside. Some of the sea-
side resorts, especially Atlantic City. whose
hotels three years ago were closed until June,
have been kept open all Winter, and in many
cases have been filed with patients, sent by
physicians from the neighboring cities. We
arc just beginning to comprehend the poison
Gus and curative qualities of the AR; we do
not at all understand them with such certainty
as to apply them with precision and effect.
When we do, we shall find it much easier
ana cheaper mode Of cure to change our
! boarding place for a few weeks and breathe in
health at every pore than to stay at home to
breathe In death instead, and fec the doctor to
! fight it of with pills or tonio. III l could