Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-04-15
THE GRIP GERM.
Dr. Billings Says 1t Ha. Not Yet Been Def
nitely Separated.

pIyyIcrLrY IN DErKRxISIxa ACCURATELY TEL
GERMS or DlsEAsEs-NUMBER OF CASES THAI
nusr BE INVESTIGATED AND KxpKHInExr,
nADE-sO KNOWN SPECIFIC ron THE PRE-
NAILISG xPIDEMc.
Tho grip and the poor are always with us
Last year the former was 9 novelty snd people
called il Ia grippe, which sort of etherealized
the nnalady. rs it were. and surrounded it with
q French kiad Of romance that rendered II
rather fashionable This year people call IL
plainly the grip" and swear when il arrives
IL 10 not pleasant visitor, this Americanized
foreign disesse. All the light and Joy are
t&en out Of life wnen you sneeze al dny and
have pleasant little premonitions Of pneu-
monia, bronchitis, &c. One of the aggravst-
ing things about the grip. too is that you
don't know what he looks like. He is
supposed to be germ or a bacillus or q BAG
terra, but you don't know what sort OF a look
ing germ he Is or in fact with any certainty
that he Is q germ at all. man with cnnsump-
uor can comfort himself with the assurance
that he has lot Of round-shsped baeilli max
ing merry in his lungs, but there 10 no such
eonfor. in the grip
TIE GERM NOT DISCOVERED.
ASrsR reporter called on Assistant Surgeon
General Billings at the Army Medical Museum
today and asked him II among his large collec-
ton Of disease germs he did not have a spec:-
men OF the grip. DIR. Billings smiled pleasantly
and remarked that there we're q number Of
specimens OF the germ around the building,
but they were all busily engaged in making n
Pleasant for . number Of tine employees 1.-The
germ OF the disease known as the grip" said
Dr. Billings. has not yet been definitely
separated II is long and arduous task to dis
cover and separate disease germs. and often
SIN harder task to successfully propagate the
germ after II has been found. Much
labor has been devoted in the labora-
tories Of this country and Germany in an ef-
fort to discover the germ Of the grip, but thus
lar without any appreciable success Even
after Investigators may be certain that the
germs Of disease has been discovered IL is an
exceedingly hard matter to actually prove the
fact
TIE CHOLERA GERM NOT cAPTpRED.
Take the cholera germ, for instance. Almost
all Investigators are satisfied that the germ
known the cholera germ is the cause of
cholera, yet the fact has never been proved be-
yond doubt. Wherever cholera is found the
germ is found, but the propagation of the dis
ease from the germ has been matter of great
difficulty and doubt. Likewise in separating
the grip germ q tremendous number Of cases
have TO be Investigated before the germ can
ever be found which is always present In a case
OF grip The propagation OF the grip, If the
supposed germ should be found, would be a
still harder matter, as it is a matter Of grave
doubt whether the influenza epidemics which
have passed over the animal kingdom and the
grip ars Of the same nature. 1t is therefore
uncertain whether propagating experiments
with animals would prove successful and few
men would care to have experiments OF this
kind tried on them.
IT rs WIDESPREAD NOW.
'.As to the spread OF the grip gather from
the reports that the epidemic will probably be
a. wide spreading and as disagreeable as that
Of last year. The west seems to have been es-
Pecially afflicted 50 far. The death rate from
this disease / hardly think will exceed the
average last year. The patients who went
through the grip last year and who have been
attached again this year, however. seem to be
especially inclined to pneumonia and such
more dangerous diseases Las. year in Penn
sylvania the reports of 265 physicians showed
1915 cases Of grip, from which there were
dfty six direct deaths and 205 deaths which re-
suited indirectly from the disease. This is
about fair average Of the death rate last year,
which l hardly think will be exceeded during
the present epidemic.
NO KNOWN SPECIFIC.
AS TO treatment for the disease, there is no
known specific and probably the best method
is simply to keep in a warm room with q con-
slant temperature and use mild spirits and pos
Ebly quinine. This is probably as good
method as any to meet the grip itself. The
disease, however, Is liable to attack the weakest
mia kidney troubles. &C., which developments
must be met according to known methods.
mo, do not think Washington will suffer so
much - the western cities The present good
weather should be . big help in freeing the
city from the unweloome visitor"
cHuncH coSosKoArIoSs DEPLETED.
Perhaps ii will sound strange" said clergy
man TO . star reporter last evening, "were I
70 tell you that the grip has within the past
two weeks depleted my Sabbath congregations
at least one-third, but it Ia q fact and am in
elinsd to believe am too moderate in this
statement"
The reporter expressed surprise and the
clergyman continued: IL do not mean that one
thiri Of the congregation have the grip, but
that so prevalent Is the disease that one-third
Of the families are affected by one or more
cases I feel thankful that though 30 preva-
isnt In my congregation thus far there have
CURED HIMSELF BIT GETTING FULL
How is your BROTHER was asked Of q
youas man inclined to dissipation.
oh. he has been all right for weeks, /" was
the reply. But last pay day he got off, He had
the grip and had IL bad when paw day rolled
around and he went of and got full as a goat.
lie came In at two O'Clock in the morning
went to bed and laid there twenty-eight hours
and got up perfectly cured"
SWIM ~ THE ASAcosrIA
old rounder. 81 heard Of a few days ago. 1
WIS In the west end and called on an old friend.
a carpenter, who, a few years ago, under the
Influence Of the Salvation Army became a
changed man. He told me that last January he
bad every symptom Of the grip, when he had o
dream, in which the Lord told him to go TO a
certain part of the Eastern branch, disrobe
himself, and swim out to the channel and back.
and he would be well man. Firmly believing
that must do So" he said, Il started on the
I'd Of February. and there was q snow
storm at the time The old devil kept saving.
John, you know IL is all nonsense; you viii kill
yourself sure, but the voice came to me in
TOMS Of thunder, oh, We of little faith Thus
was the conflict Several times I turned back
under the promptings Of the devil and az many
was ehided by the spirit to 90 into the
Anacostia As i was bid, and I finally got there
and hastily taking OF my clothes waded out
and then swan 20 the channel and back and as
hastily pulled on my clothes and returned home
without an ache or pain and have been well
mar since
Yes" said his wife, 81 remember the day.
He returned home with his underclothes wet
and had TO get him dry ones- was frightened
because l thought that such dose would kill
him, but IL Is as he says he had no more grip
and has not complained since. / think that
faith bad more to do with this case than the
water"
THE DEATHS rScRHAsrSo.