Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-05
The Prevention Of Epidemica,
From the New York Tribune.


The seventh international congress Of hygiene
and demography, held in London this month. was
q notable affair. Over 5000 delegates we're pres
emit from all parts of the world. wide range
of subjects was discussed, and valuable COM
parison and exchange Of opinions on questions
of universal interest resulted. The Sectional
divisions included bacterioiogy, the relation of
| diseases of brutes to those Of man. infancy
childhood and school life, chemistry and
physics in relation to hygiene architecture and
health, engineering and health naval and mill
tarA hygiene and industrial hygiene. Perhaps
! the most noteworthy point of agreement was
rs to the need OF a scientific basis for all pri-
waite and public health measures. As the Lon
don Lancet remarks. sanitary reform is too
often undertaken with a painfully inadequate
regard to scientific laws, and we are not sure
that even in this country the reproach is alto
gether unmerited.
The subject of preventive Medicine" xas
perhaps the most widely interesting of ALL as it
embraced the exclusion and control Of rowing
epidemics. Sir Joseph Frayrer opened the dis
cussion and papers wore read by delegates
from France, Holland, India, Australia and the
United States. Remarkable unanimty was dis.
played as to the ineficacy Of the ordinary quar-
antine. and the testimony adduced NAV be adj
vantageousiy pondered by western sanitarians
who rely exclusively on this ancient safeguard
for protection from cholera and yellow fever
inyasions. Sir Joseph Frayrer Is said to have
''repudiated quarantine, because he thought
it could have no possible effect in practice"
and Surgeon General Cunningham advanced
the startling proposition that no exemption
from cholera has ever been proved to be due
to quarantine. The motive OF these assertions
lies, of course, in the belief that personal
communication is not the prime factor. in
the spread OF disease-a belief that recent hap
penings in this city show il gaining ground
among enlightened physicians. Before trained
observation Was employed in the systematic
collation. OF statistics it WAS reasonable to sup
pose that the prevention of actual bodily con-
tact was paramount to ali other considerations.
Lately, however, evidence has multiplied of the
extension Of epidemics TO new localities with
out any trace of importation or of commune
cation between those attacked and persons pre-
viously affected. Such WAS the case according
to DR.. Lawson. at Southampton in 1865, at New
Orleans in 1873 and in the south OF France in
1884, each OF these instances having been care
fully investigated on the spot
II Is O comparatively new theory that adj
monishes the individual to calculate his own
power Of resistance rather than the chances of
Its employment against disease, but it is based
on sound common sense. The statement that
quarantine is usually ineffective should be
qualified with the explanation that its protec-
ton Is commensurate with the cost only in
countries where the internal sanitation il good.
In India, as was explained at the congress, any
attempt at quarantine only leads to misconcep-
ton Of the real danger and carelessness as to
more important safeguards, and this is true in
less degree, Of many other places. The dis
cussi0n, therefore, did not prove that the old
method Of isolation should be abandoned, but
it indicated that the surest preventives Of epi-
demic disease are good food, pure water and
effective drainage.