Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-05-20
Interesting Experiments.

Interesting Experiments.
The alleged success which has attended
the experiments of DR.. Friere, at Rio Ja-
metro, in inoculating persons with yellow
fever microbes, and of DR.. Ferran, IN Spain
in iuoculatng persons with cholera mi
crobes are beginning to attract wide atten-
ton. They certainly deserve to be IN
quired into by scientific men in all parts
of the civilized world.
a great advance has been made in sci
ence if a protection against two OF the
most dreaded scourges Of the human race
yellow fever and cholera-has been dis-
covered. But has protection been dis'
covered?
The evidence appears to be conclusive
that there has. DR.. Friere states most
positively that persons who have been IN
oculated by him with yellow fever virus
have gone with entire safety where the
| yellow fever was raging in It's most ma
! lignant form. He has inoculated thou
sands of persons who showed mild symp-
toms Of yellow fever, but who quickly
recovered from their sickness. None Of
those inoculated was ever attacked by the
fever.
Dr. Ferran appears to be as positive re-
speeding the success of cholera inocula-
ton as DR., Friere is respecting yellow
fever incubation. He has inOculated a
great many people in. the districts in
Spain which are now threatened with
visitation from the cholera, and he re-
ports that his preservatiVe works like
charm.
The Spanish Government sent COM
mission of physicians to the districts in
which DR.. Ferran's experiments were be-
ing conducted, and after n critical exam
ination and thorough observation, they
made very enthusiastic report with re-
spect TO DR.. Ferran's experiments and his
success. The English Government has
been so impressed with the reports Of Or.
Ferrans work that it has decided to send
a medical mission to Spain to test his sys-
TEN.
DR.. Ferran was inspired to begin his
Investigations by the success which APP
peared to attend the investigations of DIR.
Koch year ago. His discoveries, how
ever, soon surpassed those of the German
savant. Although only 30 years of age,
he already has a well established reputa-
tion in medical circles throughout the
world on account of his works on micro
telephony and his investigations with re-
spect to parasites.
A writer gives the following account Of
DR.. Ferran's experiments with the cholera
microbe:
DR.. Ferran has made many experiments
on men and animals, which lead him to
state that incubation by this bacillus can
produce the death of animals with every
symptom characteristic of cholera, and
that the incubation of human beings
creates symptoms identical in their
nature, but with less intensity and no
fatal results. The incubation is generally
practiced upon the lower part of both
arms. In two or three hours it produces
local irritation, difficulty in moving the
limb, and dull pain. After about another
four or five hours the pulse rises to ia and
even 100, and the heat of the body
to 81 and 40 centigrade. The
person thus lloculated feels languid.
shivers, loses appetite, and suffers from
nausea, diarrhma, cramp and sleepless-
ness. After tWenty-fOur hours these
symptoms abate, and they generally dis
appear in fOrty-eight hours. All success
slYe NEGOTIATIONS, even to the extent OF
eight cubic centimetres of virus, prove
utterly harmless, both in adults and chill.
dren. In animals. after incubation, il
has been observed that successive and
larger doses of virus, introduced by in
oculatiOn, also prove harmless, whereas
these same doses produce death
with choleraic symptoms in any
animals not previously inoculated.
DR.. Ferran has also observed that the
local symptoms resulting from inocula-
ton seldom vary, whereas the general
symptoms vary according to each case.
Not single case has occurred in which
successive NEGOTIATIONS in men or ami
mails have caused death. He has tried
his experiments on himself and other
medical men, and on hundreds of believ-
ers in this preservative. He thinks him.
self, therefore, justified in expecting from
these inOculatiOns the same results as
have been obtained from incubation in
smallpox and carbuncle.