The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-11-16
DR.. Weschcke Asserts That the
Telephone Does
THE SUBJECT IS DISCUSSED
An Interesting Meeting of the County
Medical Association
Papers on Various Topics Of Interest to the
Profession Read and Discussed by
nembers and Visiting Doctors

The Los Angeles County Medical asso.
citation held its monthly meeting last
evening at the hall OF the chamber of
commerce.. The president, DR.. y. D
Fitzgerald, presided. and the regular Sec
rotary, DR.. Rose T. Bullard, OF. ciated
IN that position. A number of interest
ing papers were read and discussed by
both this mem bsrs and the visiting ply.
sicians present. The sensational paper OF
the evening which discussed a topic OF
great general interest was hy Dr.. Emil
Wescncke of San LUIS Obispo upon the
subject of "Disease Transm ssion by the
Telephone" The main points OF his
highly scientific production were as fol.
! lows:
II you examine a telephone mouth.
piece, you perceive clinging to and about
the small circular diaphragm ia its in
terror and slong the sides Of the funnel
or cup-shssped transmitter, an opaque,
| erayisn. filthy-l"oking deposit, which
may still be- moist from the last spe ak
tr's breath and which, exactly resembling
| the half-dried secretion from your nose,
is collection of filth and unquestiona
bly, forms the nucleus Of a disease breed
| ing colony OF germs.
THIS must become apparent when we
thrown against the diaphragm of the tel
| ephone, the spittle deposited on the rim
| OF Its montnpiece, together with particles
| Of food it may contain or the forms of
| epituelial tissue cast from and about the
| speakers lips.
That the breath and saliva partake OF
noxious qualities their fetor proves, as
| does the character Of the deposited filth.
The teeth, carious perhaps, catch and
hold food particles, which. through the
natural warmth of the bucoal cavity and
absorption of abundant salivsry secre-
ton, soon dlsntearate and rot, which is
due to the bace ria OF fermentation and
putrefaction ord inarily found in the at.
mosphere or In the food itself.
The activity OF these germs we know |;
as they are thus carried into the tele-
phona transmitter by the breath or spit
| tie, they lodge and arrow. are perhaps IN
termixed with a stray hair from the
these further nutri,ive material. Harm.
less as are these common factors of ordin-
AIRY organic life, essential as they are to
| its existence, they easily become asso-
ciated fro ~ the modus operandi OF their
lodg ment. with the germs or poison of a
pernicious nature. these of disease. de-
| posted bv affected speakers. Causative
factors of traDsm issable maIadies. in the
majority OF cases germs, are ordinarily
| d stributed eth 81 by inhalation, degluti-
ton or absorption. A certain disease
| may usually be contracted by one of
these methods. yet its contaRion may be
so modified as to be able to reach the
human system by any or all these chan
nels. So it is with those diseases which
may be and unquestionably are trans
mitted by the telephone. DISEASES so
distributed by inhaI4tion are diphtheris,
scarlet fever and consumption. Those
absorbed by the mucous membrane of the
| mn, ., ,.l pht TO-. hx,t Tho
surroundings OF the mouth, lupus, bar
| ber's Itch, ring worm and eczema.
| As regards diphtheria. Lueffisr has DEM
| onstrated its ca Use to be bacillus capa-
Bile of rapid multiplication even outside
of the body Primarily local. it causes
before becoming systemic. and during
its initial stage it b. comes dangerous to
the telephone speaker, since patient so
afflicted is still capable of transacting Or
binary business. he may come before
the transmitter directly from the SICK
room of member of mis- family ill with
the disease, and as be fingers before the
mouthpiece, breatues into the same,
transfers. perhaps, during cough, a
| particle of inflam m atory phlegm from his
mouth, he becomes the injector OF the
mouth-piece.
The highly infectious character of
dipththeria is shown by Dr.. Louis Smith
physician WIN, while inspecting the
fauces OF a child ill with the disease, was
conscious that some of the contagion was
expectotated into his face and beard,
| ana that he afterward fatally commune
Gated the disease to his own child. II is
evident that germs of such fearful power,
capable OF life OUTSIDE the system when
lodged by brea or spittle n the tele-
| phOns tIansmitter. where a filthy deposit
already awaits it, can easily menace the
very next speaker.
Such is also the case with the germs OF
scarlet fever, where the bearers of con-
tagiOn are the expired air of the patient,
the secretions Of the pharynx and cpl
DENIAL scales.
Louis Starr, our own authority on
childrsn's diseases, dwells on the fact
that the contaxion is often brought home
by an attsndanI's hair, beard and clothes,
and whereas it is probably rare that 4
patient i'll with violent scarlet fever, with
Its concomitsnt sore throat, would use u
telephone during his acute stage, yet the
germs cling about him long after, and
may then be carried. II diphtheria and
SCARLET fever are thus easily transmitted
into and by the telephone, to what extern
is Tuberculosis transferred? 1t unquas.
tionably is contagious, and as it causes
one-seventh of all deaths, it is our duty
TO combat it far more emphatically than
We have done. In Germany a law pro-
hibiting splitting in public places has
effected iesseninK Of the mber of cases.
conclusively proving contagiousness OF
| sputa. and 1t is trne that the telepoh ne
| mouth piece, in reality a public spittoon,