The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-01-04

American soldiers IN Cuba Need NOT
Fear the Disease Called
BerA-neri.

A statement puDlsneu sohnc u"yS
igo in the press throughout the coun-
trv from Gen. George w. Wingate, an
army officer, about the climate oil
Cuba. and the dangers from disease
To be confronted there, and concluding
With a statement about "beri-beri'
which has made its appearance there
in the cities, was handed to Mr.. st.
Julien Mazyck by reporter Tor the
Charleston Is. e. News and Courier re-
Gently, with the request for informa-
ton about the disease, with which he
was understood to have had consider
able experience.
.'Well, l do not think anyone need
give himself any apprehension about
the danger from beri-beri,' SAID Mr.
Mazyck when he had read the article.
at may be regarded as disease pc
culiar to the black and yellow races
and rarely, If ever, attacks white man.
/ have seen and treated more cases OF
it, perhaps, than any man in AMERICA
and, while it is contagious to degree
among the negroes, ! can state posi-
lively that no white man contracted IT.
My acquaintance with it lasted from
MAY until September, 1862, and was OF
nature calculated to impress itself
upon me with peculiar force. was in
Charleston at the time 1t first made It's
appearance among my fathers ne
groes on the Santee, and knew nothing
of it until the o,erseer became alarmed
and sent me word that number OF
them were attacked by kind OF
dropsy that seemed to spread among
them and completely nonplused the
local physicians. As the matter ap-
peared to be serious one went up
there to see about it myself, and found
between 80 and 40 negroes of all ages
in bed, swollen fearfully from head to
foot and unable to walk.
There was nothing else for it, and l
| determined to stay there and nurse
them myself. No one had ever seen
] ANYTHING like it in the country, and
was unable TO do anything more than
| nurse them for long time. The ma
iority of those who took it died, and
| with a few il seemed to run its course
and disappear. From what | could
see ii was an infectious dropsy, with
the difference that it did it's work much
more rapidly, the climax being reached
in about three weeks, when the patient
either died or began to improve,
..In utter despair / took numbers o.
people up to look at them, and all OF
them were forced to confess that they
had never seen anything like it before
At length lady in the city told me O
similar case in a negro OF her ia
theirs which old DR.. Schmidt, of thi
city, had termed beri-beri' and treat
ed as such. he having seen much of i
on the Guinea coast of Africa. Hi
treatment consisted of rubbing the pa
tient with sweet oil and administerin:
fiye-grain doses of calomel daily.
tried the experiment on woman wh'
had it. She recovered, though whethe
as the result of the treatment or no
| am unable to say.
"Some years later | was telling Dr
Guiteras OF the disease, while he wa
!. stationed here, and he immediatel.
pronounced it beri-beri, having seen i
: in Cuba. He said it was negro diseas
: and not to be feared by white men
Both he and Dr. Schmidt claimed tha
, il came from dampness. and was no
J to be found where the soil was dry.
From my fathers plantation on tn
Santee a few cases spread up on tn
Waccanitsw, but the epidemic disaI
peared with that year, and have neye
: heard OF it in this country since
i. st. Louis Republic.