The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-01-09
THE INFLUENZA,

This is not a new disease. but il has re-
;ently acquired new interest. We r.
not sufficiently acquainted with medical
terms to BE- able to define, and in the
jise OF those who suffer from the seast
there j. no need of a definition. The
nsease in it's present manifestation is
SAID to have originated in St, Petersburg,
aud is plainly Rus,ii's contribution to
the ills of humanity. IL miy be that
the Great Bear of The N ,rih SET ks to
Iv,nge himself upon his neighburs for al
the ugly things they have SAID ab ut hrs
treatment of the Siberian exiirs 1t il
Dad enough TO have the influei in tht
ordinary form, but when 1t COMES in the
Urm If the Russian "Rr p one feels dis
posed 10 look about for suuIe ether world
which to 1--we. The disease Is not re-
gard Us dangerous, but Ike the itch,
uncomfortable I, cannon re held in
check Tor i travels upon the wings OF
he wind IL Is not eX irtiy contagious,
out ui the nature OF AN epidemic II one
member of a household has il, ever Y
ther IN inter is quite liil IL TO fall d
victim. Ii would -etm as tn ugh the
wind that carried it spread out from st
Petersburg all over Elropp, The thing
itself seems to be one of those disease
producing Influences which abound in
the air, consisting of minute organs SINS
that act upon different parts of the hu-
man system. The general terms by
which these organisms are known are
bacteria, microbes, or micrO-Organisms.
1865 kinds of these invisible enemies
that live upon or within US have been
discovered, and thu re ale evldt ntly more
waiting to be identified and classified.
And who can tell but that several more
will arrive from some other planet. We
believe that it has not yet been deter
mined whether this new influ-nzl Is pro-
'uced by some one of the 76species of ba :
illus which we are told have been sorted
put and marked, or by one of the so
kinds Of mIcrOcoccus, or of the 90 spiril-
um, or the Of sarcinum, of the 6 of
Oeggiatoa, or by leuconvstoc, an asto-
coccus, a leptothrix, caldothrix, or a
creno .hrIx or some other fellow. 1t is
EVIDENT that any one of these, if there
s anything in a name, is fully capable
of working up the Russian OF any other
influenza. Ii is not easy to tell why Op-
erations upon the human system should
nave been commenced Just at the pres
mt time. Most, if not all, of the parties
named have been living about US for
some time. ii is for this reason that
suspicion attaches to some new foe who
mas not registered his name. But wheth-
er the foe be new or old he is putting IN
good work. He is selecting his victims
from all ella es and condi ions of men
Royalty aud beggars alike are called
upon to sneeze, The schools and the col.
ieges, legislative assemblies and the ar
mics all over Europe seem TO be engaged
in one grand sneeze. IL would seem at
hough Europe had but one nose, and
hat nose now needed constant attention
IL is running away with the people
Not Satisfied with its work in Enrope
this mIcrobe has crossed the Atlantic
and the people of New York have COM
menced to sneeze. The commissioner o.
lm migration must be at fault in not hay
ing kept sharper lookout for all th,
vessels tnat arrived, and sent this immi
grant back before he could make land
ing. 1t is too late now He has set ou
on his journey through the land. III
makes long strides. We hear of him II
the seab lard cities, at bound he step
into Chicago. All the "boomingr citiel
If the further West must make acquaInt
ance with bin at once. or they will fai
to mention in the daily press and corno
lots will drop below zero. To our fe'
iOw-citizens we can only say. prepare Il
sueez'. The scourge is upon us. Their
is no use in h. ling our breath and max
ing asymptoticsl curves with our fnge
tips, our nose will feel the gentle titilla
tion, our physognomies pass into mum
berless contorlion, and sneeze we must
When the fit is upon us all other bust
ness must be suspended. The doctor
tell us we must spray the nose an
throat tn quinine, that we must swa
low quinine and camphor and be.ladoDna
IN short, become walking apoihecar
shops, until this tiend has let loose hi
hold upon us. After all, this new dis
ease may be a scheme of Jew peddler
to cell pocket handkerchiefs as the
travel from house TO house, Thi
thing should be looked into, and IL tn
suspicion ia well founded, then all thes
fellows should have their noses twisted
until their hair turns red. MORTIFIED
NeUs