Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-05-31
PNEUMONIA A GERM DISEASE
Said TO BE Infectious but Not Contagious.
Fresh Air and Exercise.

Iaa'
Fresh Air and Exercise.
And now the theory is held that pneu-
monia, too, is to be classed rs a germ dis
ease. The authority for this opinion is
DR.. A. G.. Siebert, a German American
physician of New York, one Of the most
competent authorities on the subject in
America, and an interchangeable investiga-
tor ON modern scientific methods of the
causes of pneumonia, and especially the
degree to which the weather furthers this
disease.
lit is my belief, certainly" said DIR.
Siebert, that pneumonia is an infec-
tious, though not a contagious. disease.
People do not take il from each other,
but they may take it from the same
place. In my practice, Us a very conn
mon thing, in the same family. two or
more would have it. In "A Basarian
prison, tut Of 500 inmates, siSty-two died
of pneumonia in one year in one ward.
Not another ward wa touched. DR..
Emmereich was the physician attendant.
lie ordered the floor Of this ward to be
torn up. Beneath il there was found a
filling Of refuse, impregnated with moist
ure in the proportion Of % per cent. to
the whole mass. from the washings which
had dripped through the boards. The
rubbish was analrzed under powerful
microscopes, and in it were discovered
miasms, which a few years ago DIR.
Friedlandcr had pointed out a Icing
found constantly in the lungs Of people
who had died Of pneumonia. This is one
indication.
The infectious diseases Begin with a
sudden chill. So docs pneumonia, Pneu-
monia lasts generally from seven 10 nine
days. disappearing with a crisis and a
profound sweat, and when the crisis is
past. the patient, though weak and ex-
hausted. is otherwise perfectly well.
This is the character Of fever and the in
fectlouS diseases. Again. among people
exposed even 10 the Seyerest conditions OF
winter weather in the open air pneumo-
MIA Is q thing almost unknown. The
Arctic explorers in the extremes Of ice
and snow and in pure air had no pneu-
monia. They had many other diseases,
though. incident to cold and hardships.
Pneumonia occurs in summer Us well as
in winter. proving that cold is not an in
~dispensablc aus All physicians of
much practice have found cases of pneu-
monia originating in the same house at
different times of the year, and il is fire.
uuently the case that those who have il
once have il again. The latter fact is
well known. An explanation Of this,
which is at least allowable, is that the
locality Is the cause of the disease rather
than special susceptibility in the people
attacked by il.
pneumonia is a house disease. as is
the case. according to my belief. with
inflamnlatory rheumatism and diphtheria.
In the warm air of the house the system
is made sensitive to the cold, but the cold
is only the producing cause. 1t prepared
the cOidied lungs for the pneumonia poi
son which had its real origin in damp and
dirty rooms ur cellars.
..What is the cure: Well. the steps "a
the cure have ~unhappiiy advanced bu'
little. But the relief and the prevention
are-no medicine and plenty Of fresh air,
IL Nbh bhlNt AbliohiAAlAAhAs " NhiAE'A'h'
cold, or the fear of pneumonia, | should
say. if you cannot fresh air anywhere
else. 20 to the Arctics for it: hut get that,
at all events. if ycu want To live. A con-
sumptiye who followed my advice lived
two years longer than any expectations
had been held that he could live. What
was the advice: No medicine and a voy-
age in September down the Atlantic
coast. with directions 4 keep ON deck as
long as was up. rain or shine, and to
sleep with the portfolio open, except when
it rained. Ills friends prophesied that he,
being seemingly IN the last stages Of con-
sumption, would come back in three
weeks a corpse. In three months h,
came back with an added weight Of III,
teen pounds. lie lived two years longer
pursuing the fresh air regimen. On hi,
deathbed lac told me that the open ali
had given him those two years. His wa
a genuine case Of tuberculosis. too"
..What, then, is the connection between
the weather and the "a of pneumonia.
If. as YOU believe, pneumonia is a germ
disease
mo poison can enter the blood except
through a raw surface; and II is only
where the respiratory tract has been lrri'
tated that the poison germ can enter the
lungs"
''What weather, then, prepares the
lungs for the reception Of the poison
seed.'
whenever you find three things
humidity, cold and n wind of over iiitcer
miles an how-look out for pneumonia
February is ~pnoumpria's carnival month
and by actual statistics, 1 have compared
; the weather constituents for each day fo
a space Of three years. with GOO cases u
pneumonia occurring during that time
In this comparison the facts are that regu
larry on the days Of humidity. cold ant
high wind the pneumonia statistics rcacl
their top mark, This is not theory; TIER
| is the record. The worst pneumonia nc
count is not necessarily On the codes
} DAYS, for with extreme cold there is yer,
probably no extreme humidity. IL is th
two together that myagc, Dry col
makes no such score. ConsumptNes VIII
I thrive well in the high and dry cold {
! Dayoes, Switzerland, in winter, sui,
most IN Nav. Chicago Times.
! A Good War Horse.
At q dinner not long ago one Of III