Evening star., 1898-05-20
THE EPIDEMIC IN SIXAGUAY.
CerebrO-Spinal Meningitis There 1,
Swift and Deadly,

From the Portland Oregonian.
A prominent ply sician of Portland who
does not desire his name to be used, said
concerning spinal meningitis: THE dis
case runs in epidemics and Is due mainly to
bad sanitary conditions. 1t Is an inflam-
nation of the membranes of the spinal
cord and of the brain, and is accompanied
by terrible headaches and pains in different
parts of the body Young, healthy persons
are more liable to it than any other class
and it attacks male and female alike The
disease is accompanied by a breaking out
of purple blotches all over the body, and
for this reason is sometimes called purpurc
fever. There is no known cure for the dis
ease and nine out of ten people attacked
die inside of twenty-four hours, and some
times in third of that time. If one does
happen to recover, he is left deaf or blind
afflicted in such a way that it would
have been better if ne had died.
The sanitary conditions in Skaguay are
very bad. There is no drainage whatever,
all slops, etc, being thrown on the ground.
The water is very bad, as the creeks are
full of dead horses by the hundreds. Then
the cold weather compels the inhabitants
to- keep all the windows tightly closed,
shutting out all ventilation and adding to
the general bad health. 1t is very ter
rible thing, and nothing on earth could in
duce me to attempt to do any business in
the town. While 1t is probably not con-
tagiouS, the conditions that give it to one
person will give it to another just as Well
There is no doubt that the cold of the
Alaskan climate renders men easier prey
to the disease.
up to the latter part of January the Win
ter, from the Arctic ocean to the Mexican
line, had been exceedingly mild. Since then
the Alaska coast has been constantly
swept by icy gales which have been de-
structivc alike to life and property. During
this brief period the Clara Nevada has been
driven to her destruction in the Lynn
canal, the Oregon has been blown ashore.
other vessels have had minor accidents and
many people have died at Skaguay and
Dyea and on the mountain passes leading
out OF those towns to the Klondike gold
fields.
Strong indeed is the constitution that es-
capes ills in the northern regions at this
season of the year. Few of the MANY thou-
sands who have left Portland, San Fran
cisco and Seattle for the north since the
first of the year can truthfully say that
they arrived at Skaguay in perfect health
All complained of some ailment-cold in the
head, stiffness of the limbs, sore throat
backache, etc. the long steamer trip is
not conducive 20 bodily comfort. Seasick-
ness is anything but pleasant, and lack of
exercise causes languor and failure of the
excretory organs to do their duty. Scrupu-
louS attention to the functions of these or
gans is an essential in the treatment of
cerebro-sp,ral meningitis but whether it
avails as a precautionary measure is for
doctors to say.
"As the majority of the northbound peo-
pie come from south of the fiftieth parallel,
they do not have any great difficulty in ac-
quiring cold after the steamer passes the
northern point of Vancouver island and
pokes her nose into the waters of Queen
Charlotte sound. In Alaska it is not con-
sidered good form to kill cold with
whisky. The main reason is that the
whisky in the northern regions does more
harm than good. Another reason is that
the whisky Of commerce., considered as
stimuiant or as a medicine, is pure rot and
is of no value. One drink of Alaska whisky
will make a man yearn for the return of
his money: the second will cause him to
tell all he knows to any one having time
and patience to listen to him, and the third
will cause him to arm himself with toma-
hawk and go on murderous hunt for his
wife's relations.
''The sanitary condition OF skaguay ID as