New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-09-20
THE CAUSES AND CURES or THE PLAGUE

THE Cd USES AND CURES OF THE PLAGOE'
The increase of the yellow fever has brought
out every day some new theory as to It's
cause and prevention, or some infallible pre-
scriptiOn which is to put sudden end 10 IL.
Skilled physicians quacks, and that large
dogmatie horde of Intelligent observers
who are always ready to offer their advice
with authority on every subject under heaven,
are all rushing to the front with their expe-
rience and opinions. The Academy of Medi-
cine in Cincinnati has had the matter under con-
sultation for days. From the learned doctors
we find that "a library of books has already been
written for and against the theory of contagion
in this disease how, then, shall the ordinary
observer come to any definite cOnclusionf
Greisinger, who Is the latest authority on the
subject, tells us that 90 if the hypothesis of n
"miasma animatam holds good anywhere it
sis IN this fever" The weight of testimony
among physicians who offer the results OF
their experience or research now is that the
disease is communicated by parasitic germs,
OF bacteria but how it Is communicated Is
still an open question. Advocates OF tins Nv
ing germ theory, who refer every disease
to the presence of invisible animalcul@
feeding ON the human body, assert that
in eTuphve diseases, smallpox, measles,
scarlet fever, etc. contagion results from dl-
rect contact with these minute death-dealers,
either in the skin or in some object that has
touched it in typhoid fever, cholera, and
like class of ailments, they are communicated
through objections from the patient, which
may Iinger in the soil for long periods, and
poison the drinkng-water diphtheric poison
germs must reach the mucous membrane in
order to act, while those of hydrophObia or
yenomous animals must be lodged in the blood
itself.
Whether the living germs Of yellow fever are
communicated from the bodies Of patients or
are nourished wholly In foul conditions OF soil
and atmosphere, is the problem yet TO be
solved. The Cincinnati Swans recommend
that 1.-THE of the money now devoted to re-
lievlng the actual needs Of tho plague-stricken
districts be given TO paying scientific men
for making microscopic researches, Ia or
der to discover the cause OF the dis
ease, its means of propagation and its
cures. No more admirable plan could be
adopted, provided there was any hope that
they would ever agree. DR.. Van Zant has
already examined these bacteria found n the
black vomt or disOrganlzed blood elected by
a dying patient. They stubbOrnly refused TO
die. even when dosed with corrosive subli-
mate and acetate Of zinc Indeed, we know
nothing in the world just now so potent or
terrible as these minute assassins, who, nc
cording to this theory, are killing off half Of
the human race, and upon whom skeptics
ground their attacks upon religion and upon
the existence of God himself
Our doctors bring forward plenty OF
ways to rid the world of them, as
far as yellow fever Is concerned. One
recommends that everybody in the South
| should rub mercurial ointment on the hands
once a day. Another, skilled physician in
| New-Orleans, insists that in the present case,
among the thousands of dead children, at
least, there were no bacteria and no yellow
| fever. The illness may be attributed, he de-
| clares, to simple bilious Temittent fever, and
| the deaths were caused by the too strong
remedies exhibited, and the fumes of carbolic
acid in the streets. A physician in
Washington, far from Directing to the
fumes of carbolic acid. proposes to
erect huge furnaces with high chimneys,
and to kill off all the bacteria in the South
by filling the air for two or three
weeks with these fumes. Still another, in
is that the ubiquitous germs be kept out of
the skin, the lungs and the stomach. For
this purpose he advises all persons in infected
districts to smear their bodies with lard or
other fat, TO wrap themselves from head to foot
in cotton bOthng, TO cover their mouths with
a thin layer of cotton, and 10 take liquid food
alone, prepared in pot wholly covered with
cotton, and sucked through II tube or straw. A
less troublesome preventive is that Of physician
in Chicago who vehemcntly urges the use of
q drop of spirits Of camphOr on the tongue
at the beginning of any disease, from COM
mon cold TO the plague. The c9mphOr he al
leges kills the poison germs In the stomach
The number of remedies equals that Of
preventives. Detroit is shipping and distrib-
utng gratuitOusly quantities OF bOldo, an ex-
tract from the leaves Of an evergreen shrub
found on the CHILEAN Andes, and used by the
natives in kindred endemic complaints. IL Is
said-with what truth we know nOt--that
every patient in Memphis who used this
remedy recovered. A mode of treatment
strongly urged is the freezing out of
the bacteria by wrapping the patient
in ice; another 10 to put an end
to them Cor him) by immersing him in
strong brine, and giving him large doses of
salt. In such multitude Of cOunsellOrs where
shall we find wisdOmf One or two things at
least are clear to us. Whatever the bacteria
may be, or however they travel, they GER
tainly do feed upon filthy air and soil, and
upon bodies enfeebled by idleness, vice, or
much whlskey. We may not know how to