The Princeton union., 1880-12-23

presence OF Qlpntherla, as 6eu-prOpagatlnS
malady. and es pecially to regard and sanctirily
tients as contagious and requiring immediate
and effectual disinfection.
Second-The failure to organize all nursing
and personal attendance of the sick, 80
as to exclude all who are not
employed under medical superyisions,
tains to them. In other words, the want Of
central and effectual sanitary advice concern
ingthe sanitary care of the sick
rd-Failure to efectually disinfect the
IRE premises and all material of the domi-
leiie where there has been diphtheria.
Fourth-Failure to recognize and act upon
the medical fact that persons convaiescent
from diphtheria may convey infection of the
malady several weeks after recovering from the
sick bed.
DR.. II. B. Baker, of Michigan, also read
paper on 1sThe Relations of Schools to
Diphtheria and Similar Diseases,'' IN
which he states that ssthe ravages of
this disease are no less terrible than those
Of yellow fever, and they demand the at
tention not only of local, but of state and
national boards of health'' He farther
says:
IN Michigan, at least, the proportion Of
deaths reported of children between the ages Of
five and ten years, compared with the deaths
ably greater from diphtheria than in those
from scarlet fever, Group, diarrhea, or any of
the diseases which particularly cause the death
of children. In my mind the question arises
whether diphtheria is spread less than is scarlet
fever by the aerial dust which reaches children
clothing, or whether this greater proportion
of deaths from diphtheria among children over
five years of age may not be because children
over five years of age attend the public schools,
and diphtheria is spread more than is scarlet
fever by such contact as there occurs.
In this country, at least, diphtheria
seems to have prevailed more in the
-eeld han. .ins the warm latitudes, more in
winter than IN summer. This is true Of asc,rss
let fever; it is also true of small pox. The
explanation does not seem TO me to be difficult,
If one supposes diphtheria and scarlet fever to
attack the body where they seem to attack it,
namely, at or near the entrance to the air
passages. Any one who has lived in cold
climate in the winter, knows how much more
liable one is in cold weather to have sore
throat, schapped" lips as well as chapped
hands, influenza, ETC., all of which conditions
supply rare surface for the reception of the
contagion of disease which, for its reception,
requires to gain entrance into the body in
some such way. Besides, ventilation of rooms
is much less complete in winter than in
SIMMER. In its time and area of most FREQUENT
occurrence, therefore, diphtheria seems to be al
Lied to certain diseases known to be commune
cable, and it may here be remarked that in its
time and area Of greatest prevalence the evil
dence shows that diphtheria is not allied to
diarrhHa, the disease perhaps more generally
than any other attributed to filth as q cause;
nor is it either in its time area of prevalence,
allied to cholera, a communicable disease, the
spread of which is more than that of most
others attributed to filth. On the contrary the
commonly accepted filth diseases prevail most
IyNyE .Nv ofao - 49,.
temperate climates, while with diphtheria, ac-
cording to my observations, the reverse is
true. But whatever the cause or the mode of
spread of diphtheria it is import
ant that we know the time Of greatest
danger in order best to guard against it. It is
well to remember that it prevails most in
cold weather.
Ho" MAY BE sPRRADIN SCHOOLS
1t is not alone by the breathing of infected
air that diphtheria may be communicated from
child to child in school, Indeed, those who
deny that the air is often or ever q medium of
communication of the disease, and who are at
all familiar with the thoughtless ways of little
children in school, must yet recognize that the
possible means OF communication by almost
direct contact are many. Who has not seen a
school boy with his mouth full of marbles
just taken from mate? Children often bor-
row and lend pencils which, by instinct, they
wet in the mouth or hold in the mouth; they
borrow sponges of one another to
wipe their states, which they moisten with
saliva In SO democratic a community as a
primary school-room it is common thing to
drink from the same cup. Their clothes com
monty hang in close contact in close closets
and ante-rooms. TheV manifest their likes or
dislikes by biting or refusing to bite from the
same apple; and little girls often pledge eternal
Nor IyrvHS fIapa