The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-03-06
CHAPTER LVII.
DISEASES or INFANcY-(c ontinued).

cavalry OHCcf was quartCrcd near tine residence
of native Prince and one hot afternoon had
just entered his hammock for little nap when
he was aroused by loud cheering from an
adjoining court hOu5e, where lot of natives
had been on trial for vagrancy.
What's the matter with those felIows?" he
asked his interpreter when the cheering was
repeated again and again.
ON, its those tramp prisoners" said the drag
oman; they have Just been in fOrmcd that they
will get their heads shaved and their ears cut
Off"
What and that makes them hurrah like
bounty .iumpcrs2"
e Yes, sir you see, they expected to be cruel
fed, and they are glad to get off so cheap"
similar explanation might account for the
ancient belief that it was lucky thing for
child to have the "King's Evil" (scrofulaj in
early infancy. Three hundred years ago the
prevailing system of diet and ventilation was so
outrageOusly bad that not one child in ten could
hope to escape the =" Evil" altogether, and the
only question was whether the virus would
attack the skin or the vital organs-the liver
and the lungs. But there is no doubt that
with ordinary precautions the trouble can DO
avoided altogether, unless faint of sCrofua
should have become hereditary.
sCRoFULA.
There is suggestive significance in the
original meaning of the names applied to many
diseases of the human race Fever" is do
rived from the Latin word feUeTe to boil or
secthe, and an excess of heat is actually the
chief cause of most febre disorders. The
word scrofula is derived from sus scrofa, the
common hog. on account of the frequency of
specimens OF the genus pig being affected with
enlargement of the lymphatic glands, and
other symptoms of what physicians call a
cachectic diathesis," i. Co. a faint of blood cor
rupti0n. That corruption is due to the I'M
clean food of the dirt-grubbing grunter and in
many cases is no doubt directly transmitted
from diseased pigs to the organism of pork
eating men. Still more frequently, however
n similarity Of results is due to a similarity
of causes, and the Kings Evil " was apt TO
attack persons addicted TO the use of any kind
of unwholesome food-decayed or indigestible
vegetables, alcohol, sour bread and the horrid
salt beef diet of our medieval ancestors.
In certain families scrOfula however. con-
tinues TO appear in early childhood despite Of
considerable reform in the habits of domestic
life, and III such cases must be attributed chiefly
TO the influence of hereditary faint which,
like hereditary consumption, aflicts children
for the sins of their fathers. There seems in
deed. to be a casual connection between the
Kings Evil" and pulmonary consumption,
which has justly been called pulmonary scrol-
ula." EruptiOns on the skin, especially about
the neck aud head, are the first SYMPTOMS soon
followed by a chronic nasal Catarrh {" cold in
the head }, an irritated condition Of the mu-
Gus membrane, characterized by "A profuse dis
charge continual shifting, and often an ugly
hacking cough. The upper lip becomes sore
aud much enlarged the nostrils swollen, there
are occasional discharges from the eyes aud
even from the ears. InilammatiOns of the bones
and joints mark q more advanced, and less
durable, stage of the disease but in a plurality
oil cases the symptoms are limited TO skin erup-
tons aud malignant catarrh-b both apt TO lis
appear as soon as the child is transferred from
an iil-ventilated nursery to a sunny play
ground.
Outdoor exercise is. indeed. the most effect
i've remedy of n scrofulous disposition, and had,
no doubt. an unsupported good deal 10 do with
the recovery oil Kings Evil patients who
often undertook long journeys af0ot TO try the
efficacy of the Kings touch. A tramp from
West Scotland to Westminster. some 800 miles,
through wind and weather and hack again was,
IA rlost cases, sufficient TO counteFact the con-
sequences OF indoor life, and many clear-sighted
physicians of King Charles's times may have
had reasons of their own for encouraging the
useful superstition. Ii has also often been
observed that the Jews, though scrupulously
astidous in the selection of their diet, were
specially subject to scrolulous affection at a
time when people Of their creed were confined
in narrow, ill-yentilated sum-alleys. perfect
disease nurseries, like the almost sunless JHdeH
Case of frankie fort ou-t the Main.
The dict of scrotulous children should DO as
frugal "a possible fruit, berries and wholesome
bread instead of meat and coffee, no artfcally-
preserved vegetables lsaucrkraut. etc. no
cheese, not drop II alcoholic liquids, but in
October an abundance of ripe grapes a grape
cure being in Switzerland and eastern France
the most popular and effective prescriptions for
the cure of all sorts of skin diseases