The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-09-29
sARANELLps GERMS
ST. Louis Globe Democrat.

/ revelation OF the exLrdcrdiuafy noe"H
pursued by Sanarelli In his study OF the
Ixerm of yellow fever, newly discovered By
Nm 1t appears that he has not hesitated
Immaculate healthy human beings with The
NEST fatal Of infective diseases. In order To
prwe the verify Of his microbe. This he
waA able TO do at the quarantine station on
the island OF Flores. near Montevideo. be-
caus, in that part OF the world lives art
extreAely cheap where the lowest orders
OF the, people are concerned. and no law
stepped in to stay the hand Of the bold ex-
perimerner.
| II IL Understood that some. II not all Of
the persons inoculated died OF the disease
DR.. Sanarelli used for the purpose q fill
tered culture" of the new germ. 1t NAV
be imagined with what interest he viewed
| the effects, inasumch as this was the final
and absolute test OF the discovery. II
true yellow fever was induced there could
be no further dispute as 10 whether the
microbe was In reality the specific bacillus
OF icteroid typhus, as yellow fever Is
termed In medical parlance. The resulti
obtained were the utmost that could have
been desired. the fearful malady being de-
veloped with all its long train OF symp-
toms.
Sanarelli himself saws:
My experiments on man reach the
number Of five. In two of the individ
uais tried the effect of subcuteaDeous
injections Of the germ culture. and In
the other three that Of intrayenous In
1ectiCns. These fortunate trials though
few In number, are sufficient to illum-
mate all the pathogenc mechanism nf
the disease, so obscure and so badly In
teipreted until now. The injection OF
the filtered culture in doses relatively
small reproduces In man typical yell
low FEVER. The fever. the congestion,
the hemorrhage, the vomit, the fatty
degeneration Of the liver. the headache.
the backache, the inflammation Of the
Kidneys, the jsundice, the delrum. the
hnal col,apse-in fine. all that coniunc-
tion OF symptoms which constitutes the
basis of the diagnosis OF yellow fever
! have seen unrolled before my ewes.
thanks to the potent influence OF the
yellow fever poison made In my labora-
tory.
1t is to bo hoped that the victims of
Or. Sanarelli's experiments realize that
they We're going through all these tortuf-s
for the sake of comforting lasting hanefit
upon mankind incidentally. they we're
able TO set the seal of absolute certainty
"lVh wv new ulStOVtTy AS the doctor
himself says I'VE have Mt last the specific
agent of yelllw fever. We have minutei,
studied its life history. its necessities and
It's relations to environment. We have re-
Vealed the whole mechanism Of the dis
ease It produces This upalady. up to a few
months ago feaIful mystery. is now
placed on the some level rs all the other
great infectiye diseases"
This Is certainly n MAGNIFICENT achieve
iay.ftf
be disposed to criticise such experimenta-
ton upon human beings Not that the suf-
fering and loss of life involved are not
amply paid for by the knowledge obta med
indeed, thousand times over. The uues-
ton Is merely whether any man Is war
ranted in assuming such resnonsibilitv
Is scientific murder a pardonabla crime?
That is the question.
Such experiments az those of DR.. San
areill are wholly without precedent in the
history of medicine. Some verv remark
able attempts were made in earlier DAYS
to communicate yellow fever to human no.
ihss' but tho latter Were themselves the
expermenters. and they had an unnues-
tionable right to bestow upon themselves
whatever maladies they chose. Earlv in
the present century Il number of physi-
elans' enthusiastic in their pursuit Of the
mystery of yellow fever. did everything
possible 10 inocuI5te themselves with It
Ihey injected the black vomlt into their
VEINS In various parts of the body. They
appAed II TO wounds made in their arms
snd even put 1t into their eyes. They
Drcathed the effluvia Of its cvaporation
MADE pills of IL. which they swallowed
ana inocniated themselves with the saliva
una me persplation of dying patients.
In short, every daring means was tried
Tor eNperimmtally transferring yellow
fever, but without result. Thus for a long
tine the mistaken idea was accented that
tho malady was contagious. Thanks
10 pr. Sanarellis discovery It Is nov
known why these efforts. made 50 unsen-
isnly In the interests OF mankind. were
Iailures. Drs. Potter. Firth Cattrall and
: "'ket'-their names should be embalmed
In grateful mamory--took Ii for granted
that the germs OF the disease would he
louha IN the stomach. 1t was natural To
suppose that the black vomit characteristi,
OF the complaint would be full OF tho enc
cine poison The fact Is, however that
me germs do not occur In the stomach a,
.ne patient, unless very dilute and inactive
lney are found IN the tissues and in tho
circulating blood. :" Tue
Yellow FEVER is particularly shin dis
ease. Cholera explodes OH boar, ~ n ,,ss
SCI, so TO speak. rapidly attacking MI tbos,
VINO are 10 be attacked. but soon dying
out or It's own accord for lack n, c,,ax
.'ohs suitable to tho germ Yellow fevar'
on the other hand, once installed In a ,h,n
myers indefinitely. This. as now known
is because the microbes OF icteroid tvnhns
arc auapted FOR living long time In ,,.r-
ciahuise and In yellow fever carriers
vessel that Is poorly ventilated ibs ,,r
in the upper part and h,v,ns
ieud dampness below. is an ideal hrc.aa,.
OF the disease. ' ''''i Dresden
These facts. DR. SanarelIf has discove,,,
a.s que TO certain very Interesting mo-
r,ularity In the germs method of Twin.
~ uepends actually for its breeding nowsr
upon the presence OF fungi OF the low or.
"s, as molds. Where molds are ,hnr,
VIII me yellow fever mcrobe flourish ana
plopagate It's kind; whore they are not !,
soss not multiply at all, apparently Tbis
heins understood, It is easily seen WHY ths
maiauy Is rampant in damp and M
iatea places. Mods are the natural nra-
,es.ois or the yellow fever bacillus II is
soleiy through their intervention th,, thS
serh can lind the strength to live and
nTeed. Thus humidity and heat ara con'
uitions indispensable to the deysIonrsn,
u lSteroid typhus. During the great chi
usmic OF yellow fever In Monteyideo 4,
1871 only the inhabitants OF houses ,o,,.
ins north were attacked. BY a preferences
.neh deemed inexplicable Even nj ,hst
.,n'e' however, 1t had been observed thst
me dwellings looking north uara a...'