Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-05-26
A LEARNED DISoulsITloN ON pIs-
 EASE TRANSFER.

suits From Hand CIasping.
 Is it possible for one man to commu- nicate disease to another by tho shaking xf hands?
 If this question be true, should the gnstom be abandoned or should it be modified under medical instruction so ms to minimize the danger?
 The existence of micro o-organisms hnimical to life and health has been es. abolished beyond dispute Dr. Breiter The Medical ls6oorSi. on tnis bypothe- ais. But his leading point, insisted up- @n with much force, is the danger which is hidden in the apparently harmless and sometimes pleasing custom of shak- Sng hands. He says:
 "That the surface of the human body ag very hotbed for the propagation of q great variety of micro organisms Fuerbinger, Mittman, Bizzozero. Ma giora and Welch have elucidated most eonclusively It ;s certainly beyond the shadow of doubt that in the presence of predisposing factor and sometimes even without that the mierobio diseases gro ushered into existence by their indi- widual prototypes, this being essentially brought about by contact ill some way 0f the two contingent forces. Modern surgery is founded on this principle. The carefulness with which we prepare our hands and surgical instruments be- fore and after surgical operation well exemplifies the importance of famil- iarity with its dangers i'll every sense.
 We recognize that many of our mi crobio diseases, especially of the exam shensatic type, eliminate their toxic ele- ment very largely through the medium pf the skin, which undergoes extensive exfoliation, disseminating the poison far and wide. Isolation Is resorted to and enforced most vigorously, thereby check ing the spread of the disease, and then disinfeetants lavishly used cause the de. Etruotion of the offending armies. In ahe era of scientific prophylaxis eonse- Quent upon the introduction of the mi- groscope, bacterioIogy and antiseptics we find a steady decline of epidemics either developing in the outer world OF in cur hospital wards. Yet accidental ineenlations of tuberculosis smallpox and vaccinia, as well as more horrible diseases, still exist and are but demon. strations of either an unavoidable cause or q faulty observance of established data. ?
 Dr. Breiter gives thorough discus zion as to what may be the result of con- tact of the hands. He declares that with men who are of eleanly habits, but who have acquired disease and such as they would wish to hide from their fellow anen. the specific bacillus of this disease has been found in filth collected from ahe hand. He has found tubercle baeilli I'D the dirt taken from the hand of the man suffering from tuberculosis, the Klebs-Loeffier microbe among cases of suspected diphtheria and had no doub$ that the specific germs of every IAlcrobic disease may and would be found in mil. lions on the surfaces of the hands fl proper experimentation were made. He proceeds as follows:
 Many victims of scarlet fever, both En the early and desquamative stages, especially the latter, are walking the streets of every large city ready to in. graft upon the moist hand of any chance acquaintance the prolific virus of the disease. The same may be said of per sons with pulmonary tuberculosis, whosa hands and handkerehiefs through constant wiping of the mouth are foul and saturated with the bacteria laden axpeetoration of the disease. Tubercu- &sis of the hand, the lesion large or mall in area often painless and un. recognized as such for q long while and perhaps untreated, Is by no means an gnfroquent occurrence. Scabies, we k8aw, has marked predilection for the iaand. Need l mention othersq Now whether these conditions are tho result of hand to hand contact or not does not matter. The conditions themselves are dangerous elements. and it is the con- sideration of such factors i'll the causa- sion of disease that we are studying
 ssOf course the mucous membrane serves as better pabulum for the invcr sion and development of micro orga!I- isfns, but the skin is not absolutely neg Rtiva Ill that respect, and if it were it would make little difference, as the FTaa, skin and mucous membrane, are very often in close apposiuon with each other. We know that the hand has car xied bacteria to the mouth. disseminate gag contagion in that way Typhoid fe- yer, Asiatic cholera, diphtheria and oth- sr diseases are known to have been pro- anced that way. Why search through medical libraries for similar and per Aa.,s mora cnnnlnSiua -eridnnnn2 rha