The evening times., 1900-09-24

of the germs of the bubOnic plague. So
far as the health officials here know 1t win
be the only laboratory in the world en-
tirely devoted to that purpose. Certainly
it will be the only municipal institution
OF the kind in this or any other country
and while the need for its establishment
may not be fully realized now, with no
case of the disease very near its value,
should the plague appear here, would be
inestimable- And Glasgow is less than
eight days from New York.
Laboratories are not built and equipped
in week and in this case the health de-
partment took time by the forelock. Ever
since last November when the cotfee-laden
steamer Taylor brought cases of the plague
here from Santos. Brazil the boards ply
sicians. under Instructions from President
Murphy, have been studying the disease
ard the best methods of meeting il should
it appear within the city. A general pla..
for a laboratory was devised by DR.. Her
man NJ. Biggs the boards pathologist; DR..
W. H. Park and DR.. Frederick H. Dilling-
ham. Assistant Sanitary Superintendent of
Manhattan. The plan Was endorsed by Col
onel Murphy, approved by the board, and
on Tuesday last the board of estimate ap-
propriated S2SG00 for the construction of
the building. Two months will be requif>
ed for its completion. BY the end of De
will be in working order.
Rubouic BaciIIi Dangerous.
The health board has a'~eady three Ia
boratories for the study of disease germs.
but the plague germ is no ordinary bacil-
lus, and it would be dangerous to handle
it in any of the existing buildings. In Lis
bon and Vienna deaths have already 0c
CURED from just such attempts. The most
deadly form of the disease is contracted
from inhaling the bubonic bacillus.
The new laboratory is. designed to re
duce TO the minimum all danger of con-
tagion. 1t is to be placed on the East
River front in distant part Of the
grounds of the Willard Parker Memorial
Hospital where contagious diseases are
treated and it is to be so constructed
that no germ shall escape Its windows
screened to keep out flies and mosquitoes
Will be placed only in the safer parts of
the building. The walls, of steel and ce-
ment will be rat proof, and the surface OF
the interior will be so smooth that there
will be no pinhole in which stray germ
may lurk. The building viii have its pri-
Vate sewer to the river and even that
will have a patent disinfecting trap at
tached The doors will be double and
stringent regulations viii be framed
which viii exclude from the laboratory
every person except its own stan The
iceman will call, but he will fill the ice
boxes from the outside without even d
peep inside the building,
The laboratory is to be a two-story
building and small one only twenty-five
by thirty feet and it will serve double
purpose. The ground floor Will he taken
up principally by eight stalls for the
horses which viii supply the anti-pest Sc
rum. In this floor there will be Compar-
atively little danger of Infection. but all
the same il will be barred TO everybody
but the bactoriologist and his helper, IN
der whose care the horses Will De II is
on t,e floor above that the plague germs
viii be kept and experiments underta-
ken. and the two floors do not Communt-
cate staircase from the outside of
the building will lead to the top floor.
Room for incubation.
At one end of this will be the room in
which are the healthy animals, rabbits,
rats and guinea pigs destined for plague
experiments. After inocuIation they viii
be transferred to another room at the
other end of the building. When dead
their bodies Will be sterilized, then ere
mated. No unlucky rat. rabbit o. guinea
pig that ever enters the building viii ever
leave it except in ashes. The rest Of the
SPACE in the top story will be taken up by
the culture room, sterilizeTs. in which
the preventive serum Will be stored. and
two rooms for microscopical work.
One of the few things made clear by
studies of the bubOnic plague on this side
of the world is that the only way TO dag
nose positively cases OF the disease IS
from q mfcroscopical examination of Sc
rum taken from the patient. The present
outbreak of the plague in Glasgow pro-
ceeded for days before the nature of the
disease was recognized. dock laborers 5
wife was the first victim stricken She
died it was believed, of pneumonia, and
a wake was held over her body. Two days
l. I l,44 FT.aA y
wake were stricken, and in these cases
for the first time the presence Of the bu-
banjo plague was suspected One of these
died two recovered, but they rad spread
the infection before il had been positively
demonstrated that the disease from which
they suffered was the dread bubonic
plague.
The ore unmistakable sign of the plague
is the presence ii the patients blood OF
the plague bacillus, tiny creature which
usually IS in the form of a short rod with
rounded ends. After infection for twenty
four hours the formation of colonies can
be seen with the naked eye Cultured in
other substances the bacilli take other
forms. in bouiIlcn they grow in chains.
Dried, the bacillus can still live for weeks
Sunlight and air Kill him usually in eight
days. Wrapped away in the damp and
dark, as in clothing, he can live for a
month or more. To kill him within the
patient 5 OfgdnlSn-Jldj Is, 10 cure the
pIague-he is treated with his dead breth-
ren. This is where the horses and the an
ti-toXin serum come in.
An Anti-Pest Serum.
One of the best-known anti-pest serums
is that discovered by Prof. Haffkine of the
Pasteur Institute, and it is made of cult
ures of the plague bacillus killed by heat
at 20 degrees centigrade. II eonfers i'm
munity from the plague for from twelve
to fourteen days in an organism not af-
fected. Its advantages are that vaccina-
tion is not painful, is never harmful and
that the serum can be kept long without
its activity being impaired Its disadvan-
tages are the short duration of immunity
in person inoculated, the cost of pro-
duction and the small quantity that can
be produced in a given time In treat
ment of the disease it has proved sue
cessful in from 10 10 30 per cent of the
patients inoculated.
The French Government keeps supply
OF TINS serum on hand. There are other
anti-toztn serums and their comparative
value can only be learned by such experf-
ments as viii be carried on by the bac-
ferlolsgists of the health boards new lab
oratory OIL the small animals which in
the interests of science, will be sacrificed
on the top floor The serum viii he oh
tanned from the blood OF the horses kent
below
Much has YET to be discovered in regard
uIaeuA intact ion and tho lfFo -