The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1886-05-01

A Physiclmmss Views AS Pre-
sented at n Medical Meeting.
Utica IN. " Letter:
Lives are daily sacrificed and dis
eases are daily communicated by the
promiscuous habit of kissing. As a
custom it should be abandoned among
women in their greetings.
1t is within my remembrance that a
boy was suddenly stricken down with
that dreadful malady, diphtheria. The
mother kissed the son most affection
stely, but it was the kiss of death for
her. | have no doubt other physi-
clans have noted similar observations.
In the sacred precincts of the fireside,
when death has laid its relentless hands
on one of its members, the common
practice of kissing is liable to induce
septicemia, and thus other precious
lives be exposed to the venomous sting
of death. As you can see more easily
the action of drug when given in a
large dose, SO you will see more point
edly the danger arising from kissing
by giving an illustration of a malig-
Dant disease.
There is no longer any doubt in re-
gard to the inoculability and infecti-
BUSINESS of consumption. 1t is not an
established fact that it is not conta-
gious. When you remember that more
die by its insidious hands than from
any other cause, but few families or
relatives of families can be exempt
from it. This being true, should not
persons visiting sueh unfortunate indi-
Yiduals do away with the accustomed
mode of greeting by kissing9 A dis
ease which has resisted the treatment
of the most skilled up to the present
day should be prevented if possible.
Is human life to be sacrificed for the
sake of conforming to custom 7
Change the custom, and other ways of
greeting will be equally popular and
much more sensible aud safe.
The bacillus of phtisis is a minute
form of organic life, which acts so sub
tly that the introduction of it into the
system would net be manifested by
any immediate symptoms. As surely
as "a little leayen leayeneth the whole
lump" just as surely will the micro
scopical germs multiply in the system
in the most marvellous manner. Soon
there will be hacking cough, some
elevation of the temperature, hoarse-
ness or shallow voice, and the work of
destruction now noticeable goes on
until its victim can no longer resist its
invasion, and death claims the victory.
There is q disease more terrible than
the two previously mentioned. 1t is
peculiar to no grade in the social
world it is handed down "up to the
third and fourth generation" when it
gets thoroughly seated in the system,
unless treatment be continued for
years. II is more terrible than cancer,
for that is not hereditary. it is con-
stitutioDally destructive, while cancer
is more locally SO. It eats away the
palate, destroys the hearing, softens
and disintegrates bones, and in its
hereditary descent produces malfoFma-
ton Of brain and body. 1t exists
very extensively IN this country, but
more 50 in other parts of the globe.
A person may have the appearance of
health, yet the system may be poisoned
BY il, Such person kissing another
upon the lips free from The disease,
could communicate il. Every physi-
clan has seen these cases in hospitals
or in private practice. Laying aside
The question Of heredity, 4 dissolute
husband may convey it to bis wife,
and she in turn to her children or
lady friends through kissing.