The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1891-05-03
WHAT IS LA GRIPPE?
Doctors Do Not Know and Disagree
About the Fatal Disease.

About the Fatal Disease.
La grippe, or influenze-the one a
French and the other an Italian words
one of the diseases which still remains
mystery to doctOrs-an OpprObrium med
icum. For centuries ii has been fatal
Visltant in populous quarters of the
globe, and, while not SO deadly and terri
BILE as some of the earlier epidemics
chrOnicled in medical history still it
leaves devastation in its path wherever it
goes, with wrecked constitutions that
fall an easy prey to the cOmmOner every
day disorders which attack them subse-
quently.
The cause of influenza is still wholly a
matter of speculation, but probably it is a
disorder produced by some species of
minute germ floating III the air and
assaiing humanity through the channels
of respiration. There are hundreds of
varieties of these microbes, many of
which are known with absolute certainty
to give rise to the maladies familiar to us
as contagious and infectious diseases.
Such bacteria are so small that. as has
been said, a thousand of them could
march abreast through hole pricked by a
fine needle in piece of paper. 1t is no
wonder, then, that particular species are
difficult to discover, isolate and study
Furthermore, the science of bacteriology
has a much more recent development
lIldl1 jllt ldSl lIlN dSlOI Oh influenza pre-
ceding that of 1890 and expert micro
scopists are only beginning To investi-
gate into the microbic origin of this
disease. It will be some years before any
definite scientific knowledge concerning
it is likely to be obtained. for the nicely
and accuracy required in such studies
demand also long period of time.
Meanwhile charlatanS and quacks will
continue from time to time to announce
pseudo discoveries, in order to reap their
harvest Of profits from deluded and suf-
fering victims.
,Supposing the germ theory of la grippe
to be true, and there can scarcely be any
doubt of this, we may imagine that in
some remote corner of the world. usually
Asia, the hot-bed of epidemics, the spe-
cific germs of influenza took their rise
and were blown in vast numbers, like
the pollen of Towering plants, over wide
areas, even over Europe and to these
American shores. All men inhaled them
more or less, but in all men the tissues do
not present an equally favorable soil for
their development. A man in perfect
health is almost, though not wholly, an
tiseptic. Those with constitutions debili-
tated by disease or age, or delicate by in
heritance, easiest Succumb to the en-
croachments Of the parasites. Hence
there Is great variety in the symptoms.
The air passages are usually first and
SOll1GlIiutS SOi6ly dIlbClGNl.
IS lighted up i'll the mucous membranes of
the nose, throat, larynx, trachea and
bronchial tubes. If the germs enter the
blood there is a high fever. nervous de-
preston, pains in various parts. and in
fiammatory changes may even invade
more important tissues, such as the mem
branes of the brain, the pleura, the peri
cardium and the peritoneum. The effects
of the poiSons upon the nervous system
are especially profound. There may be
every degree of the affection, from the
mildest cold in the head to the deadly in
yolvement of vital organs.
We do not know why there should be
so virulent an outbreak this year in some
places. Perhaps the visitation of 1890.
which destroyed so many and left others
with frail constitutions, has rendered
many individuals more vulnerable to a
second sortie of the invisible foe. Posi-
bly, climatic and atmospheric conditions
have been such that the germs have been
multiplied and strengthened in some To-
calities and diminished and weakened in
others. Certain it is that while the in
huenza has prevailed everywhere this
winter in the United States, North, South,
East and West, 10 a greater or less ex-
tent, there have been much more serious
outbreaks in some of the Northern and
Western cities. Any reason given for
this must of necessity be altogether theo-
retical.
1t is obvious that, ignorant of the act
ual cause of the disorder, physicians are
absolutely at loss what to do to combat
it. They can only treat the symptoms as
they arise and do the best they can to
sustain the strength of the patient For
the present we can rely only upon such
methods, and it would be foolish and alb
surd TO commend one remedy above an
other in a disorder which no one as vet
understands. Under the circumstances
one can readily see why what one physi-
clan heartily approves as therapeutic
agent In influenza is decreed by another
as rank poison, the truth being that one
knows as little about the matter as the
other. 1t may be taken as an axiom that
physicians always agree when they are
confronted with Scientific facts; they diff
fer only as regards the unknown. The
real lesson TO be learned is prevention.
Keep the body in good health by proper
attention to hygienic measures, such as
exercise, baths, diet and the like. The
influenza will make but futile onslaught
upon such fortitications.-Ne1o York Sun.