El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-09
BUBONIC PLAGUE
SAID NEVER TO HAVE BEEN IN
SAN FRANCISCO
Experienced physicians Saw That
the Disease Was Not the True
Aslatjc Terror postmortem
Examinations Not Sufficient
Doctors Disagree.

The Pacific Medical Journal tor
.June. 1900. contains a communication
from Doctor Charles G.. kuhlman. ue-
cIaripp that careful analysis or the
evidence up to that time Justlned MIN
in saving that there was not a scih-
tiIla OF positive evidence" that there
| had been any plague in san Francisco
! He had had over a years experience
with the plague in Bombay. Calcutta
| and other places in India, N was
| convinced that postmortem
lions without clinical history are in
sufficient to establish plague. He
| maintains tina h symptoms ooser-
Ivable after death are common 10 man!
| diseases and also that numerous va
| rieties of bacilli are so near alike that
they cannot be differentiated m1cros-
copicaIIy. or by culture. or by any oth-
err method known to science
In tho Pacific Medical journal for
iulv DIR. Ernest S. Pillsbury. profess
sor of Pathology and Bacteriology in
| the college of physicians and surgeons
of San Francisco, emphasizes the dlI-
| 6culty of distinguishing microscope
| cally or by cultures the different bac1i-
Ii and says:
las has been demonstrated by Doc
tor Kinyoun. the diplococcus pnuemon
ia may easily be mistaken. after the
/ most CdTelul u
| the most expert for the true pest bacli-
H."
DR.. Pillsbury maintains that In
| not one Ease can a clinical history be
| obtained that resembles in any way
| hat OF true bubonic plague" in San
Francisco.
In the same magazine DR.. H. Darcy
| Power. lecturer on Medicine in the col
Iege of Physicians and Surgeons. de-
49, The vnn lin nf n 6InUnnGlS
on purely meteorological data is not
permissible" He takes the San Fran
| cisco board of health to task for not
permitting himself and other physi-
| clans to make such examination OF the
| alleged cases of plague as they desir-
| ed to. He holds that The lack of
| clinical history and of recognized post
norton conditions are sufhcient
grounds to reject the diagnosis of
plague"
Editorially the Journal say of Gov
ernor Cages investigations:
The governor awaited himself OF ev-
cry scientific means obtainable to de-
termine whether plague existed here or
not. Competent medical men of unim-
peachable ability and integrity exam
ined every suspected" case to which
they could gain access. They were
present at postmortems. made extern
SlNG microscopic III
researches, and came to the conclusion
that no plague existed. Nor were the
microscopic and bacteriologic examina-
tons conducted by one man alone, but
by three separate bacteriologists OF
~undoubted reputation. ...All showed
no indications of plague in any of the
suspicious" cases We feel
dent that nc plague exists.
IL is further stated that the usual
times from aynnSlra 10 death * from
two to five days.
Even more interesting than the
above is the report. in the same jour
nal of a talk given before the San
Francisco Clinical society. JUNE 20. by
Major S. o. l.. Potter. an army sur-
geon. relating his experiences in Ma
Mia. The report contains the follow
ing paragraph:
THE plague which has been so much
talked of lately in San Francisco. made
its appearance in Manila. but there was
no quarantiuing of districts. Houses
in which the disease occurred were
quarantined, and at the first appear
ance of the disease. n medical de-
partment sent two of its best men to
Japan to study cases of plague on the
very ground where it occurred and to
make themselves familiar with all its
pec%uliarities. c%linically and bacterio-
logically. The first cas- occurred
about the last of December. 1899. At
the end of January twenty-five cases
had been reported and five cases veri-
fed. but not all suspected cases were
claimed as plague. Since hat time
many other cases have developed. The
cooperation of the Chinese was secur-
ed and a house to house inspection
made by inspectors appointed by the
army. always accompanied by one of
the Chinese race. By this method no
cases were attempted to be concealed
and the Chinese were as active and as
earnest in discovering cases and eff
fecting their quarantine as Were h
Americans. The disease has no great
for the people there. particu-
larly when good sanitary practices are
out. There were no cases
among white people"
The report of the same meeting of
the Clinical society also contains the
Doctor Winslow Anderson related
iome personal experiences with plague
N Calcutta. In one day in one hut
here were sever deaths. In this par
ocular house there had been a death
i've days before. He claimed thai il
vas practically impossible for a plague
;ase to be imported to San Francisco.
OUR nearest port is Honolulu. and any
travelling from there to San
Francisco. ven though he had been
just before embarking. would
give evidence of the disease before
this port. We are safe
n declaring to the world that there is
lot. and has never been. a single case
II plague in San Francisco
ANOTHER N akUGACTUQEQ