Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-03

Nv " IVY rious m cro-organ-
lA isms have been sep
arated from the mat
ter contained in smallpox pustules, but none
Of them has been shown to reproduce the
specific complaint by incubation.
Very recently, however. a discovery has
been made which is destined to revolu-
tionize the business of vaccination. The
specific bacterium of vaccine or cowpOx
has been isolated. The importance of this
achievement will be understood when 1t Is
explained that pure cultures from the germ
will be used in future for inoculating peo-
pie with cowpox, instead Of the lymph now
obtained for the purpose from the COW.
The present process always involves some
chance of communicating other diseases to
the patient tuberculosis. a complaint ex-
ceedingly common among cattle, has often
been given in this way to human beings.
The germ of cowpox is a micrococcus, SO
called to indicate it's shape. which is that
of a little round ball. Under the micro
scope a colony Of this species of bacterium
looks like an aggregation of dots merely.
insignificant as they appear. they have
saved scores of millions of human lives
already, and in the future are doubtless
destined to preserve more human beings
than now compose the population of this
earth. They can be propagated in indefinite
numbers by simply permitting them to
feed on gelatine or some other nutritious
substance, and a solution of them can be
put up at a cheap rate for use by ply
sicians. Vaccination with this pure culture
will be much more certain In its effects
than cow-lymph, which quickly deteriorates.
The latter also loses it's efficacy unless it Is
taken from the animal at exactly the right
stage in the development Of the pustule.
Hence the frequency with which vaccina-
tons fail to take" u
The vaccine Farms.
This discovery will destroy the business
OF the vaccine FARMS iof which there are
a number In various parts of the country.
One Of them Is located hear this city.
Young heifers are employed for the pur-
pose NEGOTIATIONS of cowpox being made
In the skin Of their backs, which are
shaved and kept as clean as possible The
animals cannot well He on their backs or
Hex them. and so those parts are selected.
When the pustules. about the size of a 10
cent piece, are sufficiently developed the
fluid matter contained in them is drawn
on by the simple process of puncturing
them and thrusting small pointed splinters
or bone into the vesicles. This Is continued
until the vesicles are empty. The bone
points" thus tipped with coating of cow
pox lymph are dried and sold to dealers
IN drus supplies, to appthecaries or d.
The vaccine farms are under private
ownership. The proprietors send circulars
all over the country to physicians and other
possible customers. each of them adver-
Using to furnish the purest lymph III the
market. Precautions against tuberculosis
In the heifers are taken by inoculating them
with kochs tuberculin every few months
Any animal that shows feverishness after
an injection Is rejected from the cowpox
producing herd. Within the last few days
tens OF thousands of people in this city
have been vaccinated, causing such an I'M
usual demand for vaccine points that ply
siclans have been obliged to telegraph great
distances for them, the farms in this part
Of the country being unable to furnish
nearly enough to go round. One point
would serve for several vaccinations, but
the practice Is never to use the same
splinter twice, lest some disease be con-
veyed from one person to another.
Oh course, even at this day many people
have a violent prejudice against vaccina-
ton. To show how far 1t may be carried
1t Is worth while to cite the case Of
woman In the Interior Department, who
within the last few days was exposed to
contagion from one Of the cases of small
pox now under surveillance. The health
having required her to be vac
cinated she went to a doctor here in town
and explained to him that she was afraid
to have the operation performed. He told
her that 1t was unnecessary, gave her an
alleged medicine, with instructions to take
u,
and told her that 1t would render her abso-
lutely safe from smallpox. 1t goes without
saying that medical science knows of no
such prophylactic to be taken internally.
But the singular part Of the business was
that the physician thereupon gave to the
woman certificate STANG that she had
been vaccinated by him. For these facts
the writer is in position to vouch.
Before the Days of Jenuer.
Fortunately, the smallpox now visiting
this city seems to have assumed not the
most virulent form. The malignant, or
black" smallpox Is invariably fatal. usual
ly resulting in death on the fifth day. Its
most striking symptom is a hemorrhage
into the skin, the coagulated blood making
large blue or black spots over the body.
There Is also an extravasation Of blood in
the membranes which cover the eyeballs,
so that the latter turn black. Uusually there
Is much pain In the back, the feet are cold
and the mind remains remarkably clear
until the end. This severe kind of small
pox Is very rare, happily, and 1t never
occurs In persons who have been efficiently
after fifteen years of age. Small
pox Is most fatal under five and over thirty
years of age. At these periods 80 per cent
Of those attacked die.
Nobody knows where smallpox first ap-
peared in the world. 1t Is said to have been
known In China and India from the re-
hottest antiquity. OF All forms Of pesti-
lence 1t has been most destructive. Other
plaques have surpassed 1t in destructive
ness for time, but smallpox, In addition
to epidemic vistations, has permanently
localized Itself in every country 1t has
reached, remaining ever ready to take ad-
vantage OF favorable conditions to assume
the epidemic form. Noaclimate Is free from
its ravages. Negroes and, inhabitants Of
warm climates generally suffer from it with
exceptional severity. Al century ago 1t was
reckoned that one-fourth eof the human
race bore In blindness or Bother forms of
suffering or Disagreement traces of having
been attacked by this, fearful enemy Of
mankind. r
Ancient Arabian manuscripts have been
discovered which gives, a friShtful picture Of
the ravages of smallpox in the Abyssinian
army during the siege Of Mecca in the year
$50 A. d. At about the same period, or
soon after, 1t Is known to have ragged all
over Europe. The earliest positive historical
of the plague do not date further
back than the latter part Of the sixth CEN
tury but there is not much doubt that the
epidemic which depopulated the world in tho
first century was smallpox. Seneca, de-
scribng the pestience in Thebes wrote,
"Oh, new ano direful face of deathl A
vapor burns the body's citadel:
small spots besprinkle the skin, the eyes
are stiffened and the dark blood bursting
the veins distils from the contracted nos
trils."
Smallpox visited Europe a number of
times in the ninth and tenth centuries. In
the eleventh and twelfth centuries 1t was
spread by the wars of the crusades,
being the only perceptible recompense