St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1884-09-13
Hay Fever.

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hay fever, as being essentially nothing
more than pollen poison. VI course
such poisoning differs Immensely from
infection by bacterial germs, because
the floating pollen of the air does not
increase and multiply in the human.
system, as they do; it merely sets up
irritation of the mucous membrane,
giving rise to catarrh and asthma. But.
the two cases have this much at least in
common-that the origin Of the diseases
has been traced in either Instance to a.
definite external cause, i'll living germs,
or spores, and that by avoidance OF.
this cause we may reasonably hope to-
bring the malady under proper control,
if not to extirpate it altogether. The
theory that hay fever is due to the
pollen of grasses is no new one. One
the contrary, it has for some time been
growing in favor with pathologists, and
DR., Mackenzie's able exposition may
be looked upon rather as the conclu'
sive vindication of the pollen hypothe-
sis than as the first statement of new
truth. Indeed, as long as hay fever
has been known at all, the popular
name by which it is Familiarity called
has associated it with the Towering.
time of the ordinary meadow grasses.
though the irritation has generally
been ascribed rather to the odOr Of
sweet vernal grass and scented holcus-
than to the distinctive action Of the pol
len itself. The latter species is un--
known in English meadows, bat sweet
vernal grass IS familiar to most of us as
the peculiar spiky plant to which new
mown hay owes with US the whole on
its delicious fragrance. Still hay fever
like influenza or cholera, did not occur
in Europe, according to DR.. Mackenzie.
i'm 1.-the good old times" whenever that
may be) or if it did occur it was over.
looked in the multiplicity of medieyaE
diseases. AS the complaint does not
actually kill, it may have been consid.
cred unworthy serious attention in the
DAYS of the SLACK Death and the Great
plague; but it is singular that the first
detailed account was given by Bostock;
at as late a period as 1919. Since that!
date, hay fever seems to have grown Sc
ialarmingly in frequency that DIR. Mac.
jkenzie is fain to account for its rapid.
development by supposing a new ac-
Iquisition of irritating powers on the
part of certain vegetable bodies. Surely.
however, it is more likely that, It's
we, tits ours, have changed, not it. -
Helmholtz was the first author to SET;
forth definite theory OF hay fever
which he believes to be produced by
Hibrios (the modish bacilli were not
tlAen in yogue,) and he held that the
vibrios, though always existing in the
mucous membrane of the nostrils, were
especially excited to spasmodic activity
by summer heat. But it wasDr. Black
lev, of Manchester, who led the way In
showing that this disagreeable com
plant is really due only to the pollen
of flowers and grasses. Instead of max
ing his experiments IN corpora Ujli, Dr..
Blackley made them on his own per:
son; he inhaled pollen. and artifcially,
acquired the complaint; and he proved
that in certain other instances the
severity of the disease bore directrela,
ton to the amount of pollen in the air.
Dr. Mackenzie, treating the matter in
the most vigorously scientific manner,di
yides the cause of summer catarrh into
two classes, the predisposing and the
exciting. The predisposing causes is OF
course the possession OF certain pecu-
liar idiosvncrasy, dependent perhaps OF"
abnormality in the mucous membrane,
or in the small veins and nerves with
which it is supplied. As usual, the Ill
innate nature of the abnormality iii
ANY is too delicate for direct investigar
ton. The idiosyncrasy is generally de-
7eloped quite suddenly, and when once
acquired it tends to increase most I'm.
pleasantly with each succeeding sum.
J. ~ Iho+
possible, avoid catching hay fever at all
for the first time, and you will most
probably never catch it for the second. y
oddly enough, the idiosyncrasy seems
ALMOST confined to the English race,
at home or in America; Scandina.
vians, Frenchmen, Germans ands
Italians all enjoy comparative i'm.
munity. French and German doctors
in New York noticed no cases among.
their compatriots there, though the
disease is painfully common among the:
Americans proper 1t is i.atteying tG
our Anglo-Saxon intelligence that hay
fever also specially affects persons OH
some education and fair social posi-
ton" In the West Indies, where vel
low fever rarely attacks people of col
ored blood, light brown families are
quite proud if one of their number
catches the aristocratic infection, and it
NAV, perhaps, be equally consoling to
the sufferers from hay fever to learn
that in DR.. Merriman's experience the
complaint belongs principally to the
upper and middle classes So much
is this the case that farmers and agri-
cultural laborers, who are most ex-
posed to the exciting causes, seldom:
suher from it. But in persons who
possess the requisite idiosyncrasy, DR..
| Blackley showed quite conclusively that
hay fever can be artiiicially produced
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