Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-12-07
DfpHTHER RI,
Growth and Spread of the Diseasc in
Great sRrifain.

Great Britain.
piFsTHERI. NySrssY-rHs DIFFERENCE re-
TWEEN IT AND CR0UP-NOr CONFINED rn MAIt-
HI0US DISTRICTS.
From t-e London Times, November 49,
The simultaneous occurrence OF sever. AM
iatal illness in many members OF single house
nOtu Is an even: which never fails 10 CAL forth
lively sympathy with the sufferers and with
those 10 whom they are most dear. AMI the Sc
verify OF such calamity. sadly familiar Is IL
has been rendered by successive eDidemic> NJ
olpbtheTia, Is brought home TO ali Of Us with Pc
culiar force when it falls upon a family no:
only OF exalted station. but in which that sta
tion has been consp!cu0uSly adorned by public
ana private virtues. The British people would
In any case he deeply moved by The domestic
sorrows or any OF the queens descendants: bit
the Princess Alice. by her untiring efforts TO
promote the welfare OF Others. alike in the
country OF her birth and in that OF her adoo-
ton, has In an essential manner gained the
SymnatllleSof all. The melancholy intelligence
that her husband. her sou, and four OF her five
daughters have been Frustrated by dlpatheria
and that her youngest daughter, the Princess
Mary, at the tender age OF four years. has fallen
victim to the maiady. will be received every
where with the most profound regret; and the
bulletins OF each day viii BE- awaited with anX-
iety. az well in England As in Germany. The
latest reports which have reached us justify the
hore that the worst may now be- over. and that
the Princess may be spared the ordeal OF Sui
fuT her and deeper af1iicton.
Tne disease by which the sufferers have been
atticled is one Of which the nature. the caIS
and the ms thOdS of diffusion are still To gre
scarcely recognized By physicians until It a
pc2rld. rather more than twenty years ago al
B0ulogne. where considerable mortality was oc-
casfC ned by what was at first described as Tie
tied England in an unmiStakable form: but sub
sequent inquiries discovered that this was not
in reality its first outbreak among Us. and that
ii had previously existed, without exciting at
teltion, in certain villages in Norfolk. Ia the
course OF the next few years 1t prevailed in
mlny places, and the resemblance between its
: TOMS u Oh IN Z no
SugseSt.on that the two maladieS were nearly
allied TO each other. and that diphtheria might
indeed. BE- only a variety OF Group To which
some unknown conditions had impaired a chr
acter of contagiOuSneSS which the original form
Of the disease had not possessed. The question
whether Group and diphtlleria are essentially
identical IS one Which has been very carefully
studied. and which even now is not certain;
determined, although the. e can be no doubt Of
the existence OF a growing tendency among
physicans in favor OF 4 reply in the affirmative.
When dinhtheria first attracted notice. il an
pea;ed TO be dint Sed b. contagion alone and
The facts AFFORDED no support to a belief that It's
occurrence was even promoted By what are
con prehCns lively called ''lnSanitlry condti ms
OF lis ing such as exposure TO sewer ema IA
ions and oti er nONiouS Influences. OF Ia.e
years, however. there has been manifest in
c1nat!on among n0n-medical SanitarianS and
the pubic to connect epdemicS OF diDhthn ria
with the general sanitary defects OF the dis
trictS in which they have occurred All that
can BE- said to be certainly known upon this part
Of the subject is that the high ntagfoIsne $ OF
dlphtEeria is controlled by an apparent ab5e ice
OF susceptible ity on the part OF large numbers of
PEOPLE, more especially of adults. when il ha y
pens that more than half the eases occur in
children between the ages OF two and twelve
years; aid that it has never been distinctly
traced to any specific contamination of air or
water, or known TO coincide precisely with the
area OF any infected sewer or water course
differing totally, therefore, from typhoid feve.
in both OF these respects. There are some AM
nal poiSOnS which are known to increase in the
severity OF their action by successive in0cula-
IONS, and to this class 1t seems probable that
the infectious matter OF diphtheria may belong
Dr. Th0rne-Thorne, by whom outbreaks in some
Of the Welsh valleys have been investigated
has recorded that the epidemic prevalence of
diphtheria was preceded by an epidemic sore
throat OF less formidable kind. and suggests
the probability that the latter may have b2ena
development of the earlier affection Dph-
iberia certainly differs from many other cpl
deInlc diseases in not comforting any positive
immunity from subsequent attacks, and ii at
any period or stage it IS purely local disorder.
Ii soon ceases TO retain this character The
primary source OF danger is from SuifocltfOn by
the formation OF membranes in the air PASS
ages: but long after this danger is past fatal
issue may be determined by the production of
irremediabie changes in vital organs EXhals-
ton OF the powers OF life is a common cause Of
mortality; and those who survive often suffer
glieTOuSly from muscular paralysis.
In the early part of the present year certain
portions OF the north of London, in the par
lShes OF Maryiebone and Hampstead were
ab e severity. which led to the formation OF a
committee charged with the duty of inveStiga-
ing the general state of the affected districts
and of stimulating the local sanitary authori-
ties to more energetic action than was believed
TO be habtual with them. We have ALREADY
noticed paper which was read before the So
clai science Association. and which contained
description OF the drainage of the parishes
concerned. 1t was shown that nearly all the
houses in the area over which the disease was
prevalent were open to the invasion of sewer
gas; ana lt was inferred, not unnaturally, that
there must be some connection between the de-
iectlve drainage and the epidemic. 1t would be
Impossible TO say that persons habitually breath
ing sewer gas may not be brought into a state
OF weakness by this yitiation OF their atmos-
phere, and that they may not thereby be rem
dered less able to resist the poison of diphtheria
or OF any other contagious disease TO which
they be exposed; but there Is no reason to be-
lleVe that sewer gas, per Sc, is capable of pro-
duclng definite malady, whether diphtheria or
any other; and it is certain that sewer gas does
not produce typhoid fever. the disease chiefly
associated with its presence, unless the sewer
gas has itself been contaminated by the specific
poison OF that disease. TO attribute a specific
effect to vague and widely diffused cause is
not course likely, in general way, to con-
Guce 10 the advancement OF knowledge bit it,
Is one which may even retard the recognition
OF the truth by directing vigilance into wrong
channeiS. we are informed that some recent
researches, conducted independently in differ
ent localities by skilled observers, have tended
toconnect epidemic outbreaks OF diphtheria with
particular sources OF milk supply, and to do
THIS with a cloSeDeSS and eXactitlIde which an
pToaCH very nearly 10 absolute demonstration
II would be altogether premature until the
facts have been thoroughly Investigated to
draw any conclusions from them: but the de-
TAILS or the cases referred to will shortly be
made public, and it cannot be denied that what
Is already asserted about them Is Of n very
startling character. There are vel! aScertained
Instances OF the diffusion of typhoid fever and
OF scarlet fever by milk, but in both these cases
the mode OF diffusion has been simple and in
telligible. The typhoid has been spread by con-
tanlnated water used to adulterate the milk
or In the language OF the dairymen, to .srlnse
the pals" and the scarlet fever has been spread
by the personal agency OF the scarcely conya-
leScent distributors. In the case of diphtheria
we cannot assume the existence of either OF the
foregoing conditions. There Is no evidence
that diphtheria has everbeen spread by infected
water alone, and therefore, a fortiorf there is
none That 1t has been spread by minglinp in
lected water with milk. There Is no evidence
that, as constantly happens in scarlet fever the
active contagiOuSneSS OF diphtheria extends to a
period OF cOnvalescence at which the accus-
TONED duties OF life can be resumed IT. is a
mere matter OF speculation that the cause of
the disease may eventually be traced to some
at present unknown condition OF the milk ITSELF
DuI Cne speculatl0n rests upon sufficient basis
ana Is OF sufficiently grave character to cali
Ior the most anxious inquiry on the part of
those by whom the truth must ultimately be
ascertained.
The Franklin Search Expedition.
the Franklin search party, under the COM
mand of Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka. of
limited ilaI