Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-07-22
FERRAN'S NEGOTIATIONS.
THE MERITS OF THE PRACTICE
STILL IN DOUBT.

WASHINGTON, July 1.-John w. Fos-
ter, United States Minister TO Spain. has
transmitted 10 the State Department a re-
port made to him by Z. de Ia Grania,
physician Of Boston, on "The cholera IN
spain, and the pretended prophylaCtio
anti-chOleraic moculations of DR.. Fer
ran" DR.. la Grania accompanied the
medical commission, which was recently
sent to Valencia by the Spanish govern
ment to investigate the condition of the
cholera epidemic which is prevailing IN
that province, aud to report upon the
efficacy of the new system of incubation
practced by DR.. Ferran.
FERRAN ROYALTY RECEIVED.
DR.. la Grauja says: "On the
morning of May % we entered the
infected districts, and on arriving at
| Aiclra, town of about Is, 900 Inhabitants,
the enthusiasm manifested for DR.. Ferran
by the citizens, who, headed by the Mayor
were waiting at the railroad station, was
indescribable. They Clamorously asked
that DR.. Ferran should remain among
them, and that incubation by DR.. Fer
! rams antI-chOlerlC broth, suspended by
order of the Secretary OF the Interior,
should be continued forthwith to save the
people from the dreaded scOuTge that was
destroying them. We reached Algemesi
| on May 81, and without loss of time began
to visit aud examine the patients who
were suffering with the disease, the char
acter OF which was still undecided. y \
EXAMINING THOSE INoCULATED.
Satisfied that the epidemic was one of
! true cholera the commission decided TO
I spend the rest Of the afternoon IN the eX-
animation Of the inhabitants who had
been inoculated by DR.. Ferran with his
anti-choleric broth. The number Of those
examined was quite large, and all Of them
were enthusiastic in the praises given to
| DR.. Ferran. They had been inOcul8ted in
both arms, but presented no marks or
scars other than those made by the hypO-
dermic syringe and now almost obliter-
ated. Some Of them stated that they had
| had q little headache aud severe pains
in the arms, lasting about twenty-fOuT
| hours after the incubation. one Of the
most remarkable things is that none
| had either vOmits or diarrhBa
while suffering from the effect Of inocu-
latiOn or from attenuated cholera, as DIR.
| Ferran and his friends style 1t, excepting
small children unable to speak, who,
according to the evidence OF one of
DR.. Ferran's assistants, had both. 4
NATURE OF THE OPPOSITION.
During the last few days the number
of opponents to DR.. Ferran's prOphylactic
! inOculatons has greatly increased, and l
! sincerely believe that there would be but
very few adherents were it not because
| the opposition to the present government
of Spain have made political capital out
| OF the well-2rOun0ed suspension Of tnOc-
| ulatiOus until after the termination Of the
| investigation and the report of the scien-
tific commission as ordered by the Secre-
tary OF the INTERIOR suspension which
has allowed D.. Ferran and his assistants
a 20.
cause of humanity, science and progress.
ONE GOOD EFFECT.
cone thing, however, must be said in
favor of Or. Ferran's inOculations, and /
am sorry that it is the only one. l can
say that those who have undergone the
| process feel So much confidence In their
! inoculation as TO have lost all fear Of the
| disease that causes so much terror in the
generality OF the population. In
| pursuance of their studies the members
OF the commission examined 720 lnOcula-
| tod persons ~ ~ In view of the rp-
suit produced by these inoculations the
commission have come 70 the
conclusion that they are inoffensiye, and
| recommends to the government that DR..
Ferrau should be allowed to continue with
his experiments =.
ONLY EXPERIMENTAL.
"That tine anti-cholera process Of DR..
Ferrau is nothing but an experiment, ia
| perfectly true, and l have no hesitation IN
| asserting that even as an experiment ii is
| very crude, unscientifc aud anti-patho-
logic. and unfortunately It has been
| divested Of all merit, II IL ever had any,
! by converting II while in its rudimentary
! state into an unprOteBsiOnul industry"
Or. Ia Granja, continuing, says that
some persons were found VINO suffered
severe inflammation Of the arms from the
inocu ation, and that others We're re-
ported to have died from blood poisoning.
CRIMINAL CARELEssNEss.
He adds:
''The inOculattons are carelesslv made,
with the bTOth TO be used for them left in
a tea cup exposed To the action OF the air,
which cannot fail to add impurities 10
those originally contained. and without
the precautiOn Of burning The syringe, 30
necessary to avoid sophie poisoning.
"Slatist'cs arc presented by Dr. Ferrau
10 sub,tHntGte his claims in favor Of his
hrothzemt 10 give him support, bur uu-
fortunately for him they cannot be taken
for statistics by anybody free from preju-
dice.
FERRAN's FAvORTTE PROOF.
"The tayorite statistics Of DR.. Ferrau is
that ~ Alclra. IN this place little less
than one-half Ot the population have been
ipOculated, and much more than one
half Of the deaths are among the inocu-
lated but taking into consideration that
the deAths are counted from the date OF
the invasion Of the town by cholera, that
those who suffer most from It's attacks are
poor. ill-housed, ill-ied, and unclpan, who
are those not iuoculated. the statistics are
deceltul and misleading, and, conse-
quently, are not 10 be relied upon, unless
ii IL 90 support false claims among the
fanatical aud terror-stricken people.
STRANGE sTATEAIENTs.
"Dr Forrnu makes the assertion that
the inOculated do not have any immunity
from cholera until five days after inocula-
ton. hut be does not know for bow many
dave after that they are protected. 70
say the least, these statementa are un-
scientific aud empric, as we'll as the
dOlngs ot DR.. FerTan, and are TO be taken
for what they are worth.
Now that Dr. Ferrnu II allowed 10
continue bis experiments on human sub
iects. / hope that ho may be- successful in
discovering, even II ompiricnlly aud
nyainst al scientific laws, something 0f
real value, not only 10 himself saud his
assistants, but % humanity at large.
Nevertheless the inOculated do not appear
10 acquire much immunity because they
are nttncked by cholera aud die like those