The record-union., 1896-11-30
STANLEY is TURNING BLAcK.
African Blood Injected Into His Veins
Produces a Strange Effect.

-
1t is not new thing to hear of a
negro gradually turning white as the
result of peculiar skin disease. Such
cases are quite frequently recorded in
medical journals. But to find a white
man gradually turning black is certain
ly one of the curiosities of the age.
A German observer has recently called
the attention of scientists to the fact
that the skin of no less a person than
Henry M. Stanley, the famous African
explorer, is gradually becoming black.
Those who remember Stanley as a
newspaper correspondent years ago
quite fair. When one contrasts the
color of his skin at that time with his
appearance at the present day the
claim of the German scientist seems a
very reasonable one
1t is Well-known fact that the cli-
mate of certain portions of Africa is
extremely dangerous to foreigners.
The danger is particularly great along
the west coast, where the land is low
and intersected by numerous creeks
and rivers which are subject to fresh
cts. AS result this land gives a ma
larial character to the entire section.
Although there is much dry and ele-
waited land, it is surrounded by swamps,
making a uniform malarious atmos-
phere. Europeans who travel through
this part of Africa are almost invaria-
bly, attacked by very severe form of
malarial disease called by any one of
the following names: African, Guiana,
Bulam or coast fever. This fever is
similar to the malarial fevers of other
countries, differing only in severity.
When Stanley travelled through this
section of Africa it was observed that
he alone of those who made up his
party escaped the terrible fever. 1t
is now stated that Stanley, learning of
the immunity enjoyed by the natives,
and that blood transfused from a ma
tive to foreigner would protect the
latter against the disease, submitted
to the operation five times. That the
treatment proved successful cannot be
doubted, as Stanley Travelled repeated
ly with impuRity through the fever
country"
The operation of TRANSMISSION is not
unattended with danger, the greatest
care being necessary to prevent the in
PRODUCTION of air into blood vessel.
When performed by a skillful operator
the proceeding is simple enough. The
apparatus used for the purpose con-
sists Of rubber tube with a bulb in
the center. To each end Of the rubber
tube there are attached metallic needle
pointed tubes.
Before using the apparatus the air Is
forced out Of the bulb and tube by fill
ing them with warm solution Of salt.
The patient and doctor are placed side
by side, and the tubes, still filled with
the salt solution, are inserted in open
ings previously made into the veins.
Then the operator congresses the bulb,
as we'll as the tube from the donor's s
arm, and the salt solution is forced in.
Then pressure is made on the tube con-
nected with the patients arm and the
blood passes from the vein Of the doc
tors arm as before, and SO On until suf-
ficient blood has been injected.
The German physician mentioned
above claims that Stanley not only be-
came an immune to the fever, but that,
through the African blood transfused in
to his circulation, and absorbed, a grad
ual metamorphosis has taken place,
with the result that We no longer be-
hold the fair-skinned Stanley Of years
ago. In his stead we see a man who
presents the appearance of a mulatto,
and a dark one at that.
Accepting the antitoxin theory as ad-
vocated by medical men nowadays, the
question of i1nmunizing one with the
blood of an immune, is certainly reason
able. Many may claim that the very
pronounced change in Stanley's color
is due to pigmentation dependent on dis
ease, such as malarial fever, or per-
haps to liver disorder, which might
cause jaundfce. Such suggestions,
however, cannot obtain in Stanley s
case, for it is a matter of history that
he suffered from neither one nor the
other during his travels in Africa.
Again, there are those who will say
the discoloration is due to the fierce heat
Of the African sun-a fairly reasonable
supposition until we consider the fact
that not only Is the skin of the face and
hands dark, but the skin Of his entire
body is said to be uniform in color. This,
then, demolishes the tan theory, and
leaves us with the one advanced by the
Teutonic observer who firmly believes
that Stanley, through the absorption of
African blood, with the subsequent de-
velopment Of the peculiar pigment
found in the African skin and gradually
deposited in his skin, Is constantly
growing darker.-New York World.