The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-01-16
CHAPTER L.
EPIDEMIC CATARRH.

EPIDEMIC CATARRH,
Popular superstitions that resist all other
arguments often yield to tho logic of practical
experience. The traveller Burkhardt tells q
pretty story about an Arabian Emir, who like
the Mahdi, claimed to enjoy the special favor
of Heaven, and amassed goodly store of coin
by the sale of consecrated amulets which he
pretended would protect horses from thieves
and fields from locust swarms. Whenever his
neighbours lands were visited by more than
usually grevious plague of grasshOpper5 he
managed to trace tho visitation to their
stubbornness in neglecting to secure sufficient
supply of their charms, and the demand for his
merchandise increased, till the excitement OF
n grand revival induced the Sheiks of one par
ticular village to mako a considerable appro-
priati0n and furnish every householder with
a set of amulets, that were deposited on the
four corners of every corn patch. Five weeks
later the grain fields of that special community
were totally destroyed by locusts, while the
harvest of many of their unbelieving neigh
bors escaped with a comparatively triiiDg dam
age. That SETTLED the amulet controversy. The
Emir ravod aud tasted, but his agents could not
pay their travelling expenses, and finally de-
cined to peddle his charms any longer
An inference of similar conclusiveness might
be drawn from the history of the recent Grippe
epidemic For years-nay, for centuries-our
medical hearsay dogmas have persisted in
ascribing pulmonary disorders to the influence
of q low temperature and every more than
usually hard Winter awakens n chorus of halle
lujahs in praise of various lung balms and chest
protectors, and increases the frmness or tho
belief in the efficacy of snch specifics if hard
frost should fail to be followed by plague Of
coughs and colds" This year, however, a ca
tarrh epidemic of almost unprecedented malig-
nifty conceded with the midest Winter known
for years. and prejudice itself can no longer
mistake tho significance of that fact.
4 Al L - -.
satisfactorily explained" writes Mr.. George w.
Wurtz, Charge d'AfTaires of the United States
Legation at St. Petersburg; but most persons
ascribe IL TO the abnormaliy tuaTm iredther Of the
last month. In this city more than 49,,
900 cases have been medically authenticated,
but these represent only a small portion of the
sufferers. There is no exaggeration in putting
the number of the sick ut fully two-thirds Of
the population Of the Capital. Certainly not a
hoase has escaped the visitation; but noW that
Winter has fairiy set IN IL is expected that the mai
ady riH disappear"
The Fl st severe frost will undoubtedly Justify
that expectation. For, aside from this unmis-
taxable significance, the phenomena of the
present epidemic agree perfectly with the
familiar experience of every civilized North
land where catarrhs of the ugliest sort make
their appearance. not in December. but in
! March j. g., soon a sufficiently mild tenn
perature enables the disease microbes TO develop
/ their accumulated germs. Disease germs re-
| curing a still higher temperature do not ripen
| before Midsummer, like various forms Of cli-
matte feyers,) but, north south. east or west,
/ "A severe frost puts a stop 10 nine out Of ten
/ contagious disorders, and that cAtaTrhs are. on
| the whole more frequent during the colder
| mot the eoldcst) months % the year Is due ex-
| elusvely 10 the circumstance that Winter "a
| specially the season Of indoor-life and sedsn-
| taTy work in stutfy, unventilated tenemenis
| that serve as seed plots Of the disorder.
In all essential respects tho international
\ grippe or influenza Of the present year Is moth
| ing but more than usually malignant catarrh
| DIR. Charles II. Lehman. OF New York City, Do
| scribes its symptoms as follows lt - felt
( first" he says, in a violent attack Of vertigo
and nausea Then fever sets in. which gen
orally lasts one day only. The fever is followed
| by n chill. accompanied by more nausea pair
| in the limbs aud violent sueezing Then Gomez
tho sore throat, great pressure ia the chest
| and "A rapid rise in the temperature"
| Now all those symptoms agree with those Of
a severe cntarrh. Colds" in the head verl
frequently begin with vertigo and loss of appe
tite sud in the crisis of their development art
often accompanied by feyerish pulse and dull
headaches.
I'VE all have had colds" says DIR. Cyru
Edison, Chief Inspector OF the New York Boar
of Health, (which could easily have been mis-
taken for Influenza if it had been prevalen
here. Probably many persons in New Yorl
| have quite as severe catarrhs which are Just a
characteristic in all their symptoms. The in
fluonza closely resembles hay fever, but is acut
| and lasts probably nine days. IL is hard 10 50,
| whether it becomes epidemic through the al
| or is transmitted from ono individual TO an
other, but probably the former, because man,
| persons are attacked at once"
| There is, indeed hardly any variety of germ
disease which may not occasionally assume
more than usually malignant or contagiou
form. Et Iomito, as our Spanish American
noighbors call the chief plague of their coast
| lands, appears in every graduation of violence
from retching-ft and a few hours sick head
ache to n full ,hedged case of yellow fever
| Yonitos by the score may be- nipped in the bu
| bya sudden north wind, aud at other times ma
become epidemic and rage with appalling de
structiveness after having prevailed for week
in the form of a slightly contagious bowel dis
order, not clearly dstnguishabe from chOlcr
morbus. Typhoid fever, too, In its ineipien
phases is apt to be mistaken for much les
serious disorders and "A chronic cough ma
| suddenly develop into that most hopeless forT
of tuberculosis known as rapid or gallOpiug
consumption. Diphtheria of mild form olte
| passes under the name of " soTethToat,' aud a
other times ut once becomes fatally malignant
| IA If peculiar conjunction of circumstance
had developed microbes of IA specially yirulen
type.
The Russian Grippe" is said TO have mad
its appearance almost simultaneously in half
dozen different cities of northeastern Europe
but rs likely as not may have originated in =,
Petersburg itself, where indoor misery in IL
ugliost form prevails to n greater extent thar
in almost any other part of the civilized world
The Winter cold equals that Of our Northwest
ern Territories, and fuel is expensive especially
during the frequent snow blockadcs of tht
eastern railroads. As a consequence thousand
OF families try to husband the warmth OF thei
tenement prisons by keeping their windows her
metically closed and doing their cooking wash
ing aud baking in the same rooms where they
pass the night and where their women and chill
dren pass the larger part of their days. Intern
perance and want of cleanliness aggravato the
morbilc tendency of those arrangements, auC
as "A class the MOscoyte workingmen are ad
dicted 10 incredible detetic denominations
often subsstng for weeks on rancid pork, sou
cabbage aud vile alcoholic liquors.
Besides the situation of ST. Petersburg spe
ciaily favors the development of epidemic dis
eases. Ali the river quarters of the city ar
founded on quagmires apt 10 filter their tluiC
mud into cellars and easements and ever,
| ice choke" threatens the whole town will
| disastrous foundations. In 1868. 1877. ant
again iii 1924, hundreds of families were thu
| IL. TO-, I'D