The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-09-08
OUTNINE VS.. MONOGAMY.

On Thursday night we received o press dis
patch from New York in regard to the i'm
portance Of certain microscopic observations
made by DR.. Joseph Jones in yellow fever
cases. The dispatch went on to say that the
discovery. by DR.. Jones, of bacteria In the
blood Of yellow fever patients was regarded
by the medical fraternity OF New York Us Of
the greatest Importance to science, and that
it confirmed the sporadic theory and the
efficiency of antiseptics. There was moth
ing In these statements to startle us,
except that the dispatch appeared to us
to be q very remarkable illustration Of the
truth of the old adage-one must go away
from home to hear the news. AS to the infer
ences drawn by the scientists Of New York
from DIR. Jones observations, rs stated above,
we had no objection to make to them, either
as scientists or moralists, while we were
gratified ut the comfort and consolation the
wise men of Gotham were said to have de-
rived from them. But the dispatch went on
to say--we quote the precise words Of the
dispatch "It (referring to DR.. Jones discoy-
cry of bacteria in the blood of yellow fever
patient) also strongly supports the opinion
that quinine Is prophylactie, as that alkaloid
is certain death to all monogamic organisms
This statement we could not accept on the
mere authority Of q press dispatch. AS sci
entists we dissented from the conclusion an
nounced, but as moralists, the bare sugges-
ton was revolving. Knowing DIR. Jones as
we do and have done for many years, as, not
only scientist of great learning and accu-
racy, but also as q gentleman of high moral
character, we could not believe that he had
even stated proposition from which such an
atrocious deduction could possibly be drawn.
Dr. Jones may have discovered bacteria
in the blood Of yellow fever patients we
are willing to confess that he did, because we
don't know what bacteria are and can't find
out. We are also willing that the medical
fraternity of New York should deduce from
the discovery that the sporadic theory is cor
rect and that antlseptics are efficient. But we
do protest, in DR., Jones' name as well as Oh
our own account, that the observations OF our
eminent scientist have not led to the conclu-
sion that quinine Is deadly to q 'monogamic
organism" Such statement Is scandalous
to this community
It might apply to Brooklyn society," or, to
be rigidIy just, to the Plymouth congrega-
ton, but it meets with no application in this
city. When we read the concluding state
ment of this dispatch we felt assured that no
observations Of DR.. Jones could ever have
Justified any such conclusion. Had that greet
scientists microscope confronted him with
any such momentous moral proposition
as that quinine was fatal to "monoganic
organisms is, to organisms social
or otherwise, wherein monogamy prevailed
he would not have believed his own senses.
He would have thrown his microscope In the
fire. Certainly he would never have admin
istered another dose of quinine. For these
reasons instead of publishing the dispatch in
our telegraph columns, we sent 1t to DR..
Jones, post haste, by a reporter, and we are
proud to say that the doctor repudiated the
whole thing. In fact his discovery, he aver
red, was of sporitn in the air and not Of ''bac-
terra" in the blood.
What we have said here is perfectly intelli-
gible to scientists like ourselves; but 1t is our
province to write for the people who are TN
learned in professional jargon, so our scien-
tific readers must bear with us while we ex-
plain our position. In order to do this we
must resort to our Webster's Unabridged. In
this reservoir of language we find no such
word as ''monogamic," except as the French
form of the English word homogeneous "
This, then, is the word that was intended
to be used, and we are confronted
with the startling proposition attributed
to DR.. Jones, an old practitioner in
this community, and man Of the highest re-
spectabilty, that quinine Is deadly to all
Homogeneous organisms Now, according
to Webster, Homogeneous" means "having
one wife only, and not permitted to marry q
second" The word organism" means
well, anybody knows what that means-it
means an organism anything that is organ.
| lied, as, for example, the State government
| the police, the army. In this instance ii
clearly means society-the social organism.
It can not be necessary to go any further In
order to make apparent the scandalous re-
fections upon the community which these
New York scientists profess to believe are
the natural and necessary deductions from
the scientific observations Of one of our most
distinguished medical men! AS a social
| Organism" New Orleans society is "monoga-
| NOUS Those of us who have any wife at
all have only one, and any man who has more
Is criminal under the law. This has always
been the case, yet quinine has never shown
itself to be certain death here. Dr.. Jones adj
ministers it daily in his practice, and he GER