Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1899-07-05
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How Nature
Gave Science
A Pointer.


I've been reading in the papers
about disease germs bacilh, bacteria.
microbes or whatever you call them. -
said a passenger on one Of the Pontiac
cars the other day Il don't know
much about the science Of such things.
but I've had lets of experience. and
very peculiar experience too. Talk
about your antitoXin for diphtheria and
such things. 1t isn't a circumstance to
what I've had in my time"
The speaker was tall. rather spare
middle aged man. with dark brown
hair, mixed with gIay. and full beard.
cropped short. On the whole. he was a
rather Pleasant appearing fellow and
disposed to be- sociable
"Nou know how "A fellow feels when
be shakes. do you-w when your bones
all ache and cold streaks run down your
back every time you move and Your
teeth chatter till yOu think they will
all come looseY Then you burn up with
fever after the chill is over. and your
head aches. and You hope you will die
before another chill comes on. You
know all about that. do your Well. so
do j. But was cured of il many years
ago and I've never had it since
'How were you cured? % / asked
with some interest. and some of the
other passengers began to lean over and
try 10 catch the conversation.
81 was inoculated. "
You see. l was living on a farm
down along the Wabash. in a locality
where everybody had ague nine months
out of the year. twas regular breed
ing place Cf malaria. where everything
that lived and breathed had the shakes
The papers used To have great stories
about the shaking in that country. and
| guess most of them We're true, though
l suppose there was little exaggera-
tion sometimes. recollect reading once
about how il affected the wild pigeons
When they settled on the ground in
search of beechnuts and other stuff to
eat. they covered acres and acres as
thick as they could stand. Well. there
was story that the pigeons got the
ague when they lit in that locality and
shook all their feathers off Then spec
ulators came and shipped thousands of
'em To market. They couldn't fly be
cause their wings had no feathers to fiy
with, and the spectators gathered up
tons of the feathers and sent them east.
1t was a good story, but l always
thought il was stretched little
But whether the 81 Dry is true or not
i had the ague for months at time.
and no quantity of quinine or other
stuff would do any good. just shook
and shook and burnt up with fever till
/ was shadow and could hardly walk
l had given up all hope of ever getting
any better unless went 10 some other
place but ! had spent so much money
for medicine that l hadn't enough left
to get away with. and l had to Just
shake and stand il.
lone day l found a squirrel in a
trap | had set in the woods. He was a
fine looking fellow. a big fox squirrel,
and hated 10 kill him, So l took him
home in the trap and made a cage for
him. He soon became quite tame, and
l could handle him as l pleased. One
day | noticed there was something the
matter with the squirrel. He seemed
mopish and had no appetite, which was
something unusual for Il squirrel. He
kept getting worse and soon grew as
thin as | was.
lone day the doctor was passing by,
and | called him in to see my pet. He
looked him over and said it was a clear
case of ague. That seemed queer to me.
and / laughed at the fdea-said l had
never heard of such thing. He ex-
planned it was because the squirrel was
confined in cage where he could not
get his natural remedies. The wild ami
mails. he said. ate certain things while
in the woods that kept the malaria from
affecting them. But this one was pre-
vented from getting them and was suf-
fering the consequences.
II watched the squirrel the next day,
and, sure enough, he had a regular
shake. just as / did. He curled himself
up in ball, as small as he could, and
shook like sixty. Then he would stretch
himself out at full length and lie for an
hour or two as still as mouse. l felt
bis poor little body and found he was
burning with fever.
al was going to turn him loose in the
woods and save the poor little fellow s
life but the doctor said he would like
to study the case for the sake of science.
So l kept him and let him shake. We
tried to give him quinine. but he
wouldn't have il after the first dose
But after ! few weeks he quit shaking
on nd -, 60 h.a