The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-02-15
Is it in the Atmosphere
A THEORY WHICH rs COMMENCING TO HAVE
BELIEVERS, AND IN WHICH THERE MAYs BE
MORE THAN WOULD APPEAR.

Is it in the AtmosphereP
THEORY WHICH rs COMMENCING TO HAVE
BELIEVERS, AND IN WHICH THERE MAY. BE
MORE THAN WOULD APPEAR.
If it be true, as is argued by some, that at.
mospheric influences impel the human family
to excesses which In ordinary times are never
dreamed of, then indeed this winter must go
upon record as . most striking exemph fcation
of the theory. The prevailing mania appears
as a form Of Gelirium, which believes In no sill
yer lining to even the least portentous Of dark
clouds, but would have it that each speck In
the horizon of ex istence ID an unerring indica-
ton of very tornadoes Of destruction and
death. The perfect accord OF the weather
prophets in their yoluminous predictions OF
storms and disasters has undeniably produced
an effect upon people the nervous strain Of
which has by no means been lessened BY the
series of calamities with the terrible details OF
which the public press has teemed these many
weeks. 49,. I'D, 49, s..s..; IA sA, 81
Avery large class OF men as well as of women
grow timid and anxious, and another class
morbid by the frequent recitals of blood .curd-
ling accidents and incidents, while still another
class foster most unnatural appetite for such
dread food, and would fain see that the supply
should ever exceed the demand. This latter
species magnify moles into mountains; the
morbid, looking through kindred spectacles,
behold the horrible in veriest shadows, while
the timid become as children in dark places
and see spectres on every haad. But for some
such sort of prevalent atmosphere the Balti-
more so-called scourge would have passed as
summer breeze, creating the merest ripple, to
be speedily forgotten in the every day tide OF
life. s.+.,,f...., 4. Ian af 5s.-e.ss,i.se
None of the larger cities are ever during the
winter months entirely free from srall-pox
and as a rule, Baltimore may fairly be stated
as more exempt from the scourging of the
loathsome pest than almost any OF the great
commercial centres.
II has, in the topography ofits site, innumer-
able advantages, as the numerous hills, create
such power to downfalling water as to most
thoroughly cleanse Che streets at every rain
storm. Strangers frequently remark the clean
illness of the thoroughtares and cite the natural
surface drainage as q source OF unfailng
health. ..s.-..... s..,..,
Baltimose's mortuary reports have for years
been of the lowest OF the great cities, and at
no time during the winter, has the, weekly
death-rate increased fifty per cent. oyer theav-
erage. The statement may appear incompre-
hensible to those who have permitted them
selves to be carried away with the belief that
half the population of Baltimore was in dan
ger of speedy humiliation from the small pox
It cannot, however, prove any more neon,
prehensible than the reports ofthe ravages OF
the disease which have been circulated outside
of the CITY. It has been to Baltimoreans the
old saving over again of going away from
home to hear the news. That there was an at
tempt to work up scare in the city isas IN
deniable as that its origin was in the spleen Of
disappointed place-hunters.
The .outs" insisted that the Gins" were in.
competent, and not few of the most disinter'
ested citizens believed that the contest, OF
words might tend to apractical demonstration
of competency, which would lead to con
dition of publication that would make the
spread of the disease impossible. The news
! papers believing the test one worthy OF exper-
ment. assisted the "scare" by publishing sta
tistics So placed as to create some alarm, but
when carefully analysed really gave groonc
| for nothing beyond an apprehension OF VIVA
the result might be if energetic methods wert
not inaugurated.
The effect within the city was straightwaJ
| apparent in the almost immediate decrease II
the number of cases, but outside the city i
was anything but assuring. Kival business
4 centres at once set about making all the cap
ital possible out of it. No more rapidly sWellet
the ranks of Falstaff 5 opponents in the yolubl'
bragadocia of the Shakesperian braggart thar
the number Of smallpox cases in Baltimore il
the scheming brains of interested competitor
for trade and commerce. As has hitherto oeel
remarked, the atmosphere this winter has ap
peared ever ripe for the rapid spread OF tn
4 belief in evil, and there are doubtless man
good people who to-day labor under the dc
fusion that there have been and are still, TO
that matter, thousands OF persons in Bait
more down with the smallpox.
Assuming the population Of the city at fou
| AZ hos hQan.
day when the percentage OF the sick reache
one in eight hundred. To-day there is hardl
J one in a thousand if indeed one in twelve bur
dred. The highest the weekly death rat
reached was less than one hundred, and VI
wards of seventy per cent. Were children unot
the age of ten. The disease has been absolntel
confined 10 the poorer and more densely pol
! ulated sections of the city, and there has nt
been a solitary case In any OF the hotels
within the business or better residence po
tions.e No one visiting Baltimore has col
tracted the disease, and not single instant
! has been known where it has been carrie
J away from the city. 1t is absurd to claim tt
slightest danger of contracting smallpox 4
any other disease by visit TO Baltimore, an
throughout business and social circles the
has most positively been no alarm. Indee
e the talk about it has been of the reports CT
! culated outside of Baltimore. rather than
: the ravages of the pestilence within munlclp
confines. That there has been very gener
: vaccination is true, and therein lies the grea
! est possible preventative to- he increase OF u
9 disease. The tell-tale yellow nag has De!
e thrust forth from many windows where 1t "
made to indicate possible rather than actu
8 danger, in order that whether smallpox it's
or only varioloid, contact ofthe uncOntaminat
" should be averted. s..t,..Leys- s.sIi y.
Food, money and attendance have been Ia
ished with unstinted hand upon the sick a.
the disease kept so closely within Its centre
/ origin that even in mid-winter when it pl
i. walls to much greater extent than any 9th
J time, its spread has been stopped short 81
i quick. So vigorously and so successfully h
Il it been handled, that 1t is hazsrding little,
/, anything, TO assert that there are to-day
= tually less number of smallpox sufier'
2 than in any Of the larger cities on the Allan
If Coast Forewarned has led to q forearmi
!. of a character none other of the great co
mercial emporiums can boast OF, and with
10 almost universal vaccination there Is nothi
p for the disease to feed upon.