The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1898-04-07


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frment of the yeast, our dear little
kitchen queen will have no light rolls
for breakfast, and that staggering lord
of the household who sits at the foot of
the table will frown like his imperial
majesty had been insulted by offering
him unpalatable bread.
We are now prepared to fully and
clearly comprehend the manner in
which all poisons and most contagious
diseases affect the human system. In
the case of smallpox if the contagion
has been inhaled by the lungs from di-
rect contact with the poisoned air, the
period of incubation will run generally
from ,12 to 20 days. have never seen
a case where the disease was developed
in less than 12 days, and we have un-
doubted medical authority where the
period of incubation extended to as
much as 40 days. Now, if the lymph
drawn from kline pox is an infalible
preventive of small pox, can not any
one see that vaccination during the
period Of incubation will always cut off
the disease, and the small pox will be
killed in the blood of the subject of the
contagion.
Reasoning priori led me to pat this
question to an absolute test, We then
had in full force the "shot gun" quaran-
tine, and there was no foolishness about
either. The guards never slept on their
posts, but stood up like brave soldiers
ready at moments notice if the nasty
thing should drop down from Venus or
Jupiter, or the Pleiades to utterly ex-
terminate it the moment it touched the
earth. | could even smell tho powder
as an occasional shot was fred to ap-
prise us that we were located some
where betw cen the "devil and the deep
blue sea, and the most sensible thing
we could do was to stay there and not
kick. And this calls to mind hoods
immortal verse:
ooh, what rarity
Is Christian charity
Under the SUM-"
But there was q noble woman who
had nursed me when child and whom
[ loved with all the fOndinss and af-
fectiOn Of brother, who had been ex-
posed to the cOntagion and had then
advanced to the eighth day of the
period of incubation. She was within
three weeks of the full term of gesta-
ton, and every physician who has
mastered the horn book of his profes.
sion knows enough of the physiologi-
cal laws of the embryonic circulation to
satisfy him that smallpox in her case
was almost certain death. The prob
lem in this case to be solved was moral
rather than physical. We had no com
munication with the great big world of
civilization lying outside of the "shot
guns" could get no medicine and no
medical advice, and the situation
seemed extremely gloomy. To recall
all the facts and circumstances of two
months under "Shot gun" quarantine,
is calculated to inspire a high degree
of respect for the rude sympathy tine
glorious old patriarch Job received
from the glib tongue of Billdad the
Shuhits. But badinage aside I de-
termined in this case to rely on the
only hope left, which was to introduce
the vaccine viras at four different
points along and on chain of absorb
ent glands, 80 as to rush it into the
bleod and set vaccine fever at the
earliest moment. On the third day
from vaccination she was under con-
siderable fever, the battle had been
fought in the blood vessels and the vic
tory won. Sciences had scored another
victory more glorious than all the tri-
umphs OF war for two lives had been
saved in spite of the "shot guns"
The lady referred to in this case was
Mrs. j. D. A. who resided in johnson
City for many years, was known to the
whole tswn, and died in January, 1894,
respected and regretted by all who
knew her.
have been the subject of eonsidera-
BILE animadversion since my last article
was Published on variola Some have
even been so bold as to say I had been
wicked enough to call them idiots in
my criticism of the necessity of "shot
gun" quarantine to Arrest the spread ol
smallpox. Come now, my good friends
and let us reason together? / did not
say you were feeble minded idiots al
all, but new in the last days Of the
nineteenth century when the full blaze
of science, like search light, has illu-
minated earth, air and water, and man
has stretched forth his puny arm and
plucked down the vivid lightnings oi
heaven and sent them on errands oi
love and mercy round the world, ] did
say "some men Of good sense when il
a smallpox panic exhibited the charac
teriStics of tho idiot rather than tht
rational man." And, pray my gooG
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