Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1900-02-10

"Three weeks In the Pest Housed"
What a vision Of loathsomeness and
horror the thought presents TO a
plague-frightened eommunity-frlght-
ened needlessly and almost universal
ly. as Salt Lake has been, at the pros
poets OF an epidemic that was so re-
mote as to cause stald and conserya-
tive people to halt and ask each other,
why this fear?'
But the danger OF the occaslon-ac-
tual or fancied--ls not to be the theme
OF this article. Rather Is 1t calculated
to inform the public as to what the
Pest House Ga barbarous designatioh)
is: how 1t is managed; the treatment
that is accorded smallpox patients
from the day they are, by the firm hand
Of health-protectlng law, snatched
from family, friends and freedom and
borne 10 a spot of obscurlty, Stunned
and dreaded by human beings almost
as much as were the leprous surround
ings OF the Inflated mother and sister
Of Ben Hur, until the disease with
which they are afflicted has run its
course, and the mark 'unclean" has
been officially removed from them. and
they are permitted TO go back and
mlngle with society once again.
pest HOUSE" A MIsNoMER.
The term, pest house is mis-
homer as applied to the Salt Lake In
stltution. Why the name Is used al all
is difficult TO understand except on the
theory that having come down from
the dim and distant past II should be
tenaciously adhered to Notwithstanding
its own appropriateness. True. dis
ease turks within its walls, but when
that is said all is said. The shocking
chamber Of horrors which many per-
sons picture TO themselves as existing
there exists only in their imaginations,
so far as external conditions are con-
cerned. And right here It Is We'll
enough to emphasize the fact that the
up-to date pest house OF modern times
is not the reeklng, grimaclng cavern OF
death that the ancients often used. In
fact medical science aud advanced
thought say that II is not a pest house
Al ali. what is il them the man OF
doubt Immediately inquiries Let the man
~. ha
language OF his own profession. II IS
an Isolation Hospital or place OF
detention for those who are stricken
with any contagious or Infectious DIS
ease" The Individual OF hypercriucal
proclivitles may tell you that Is 'aes-
theticism." Indeed II Is not an
swered a leading Salt Lake physician.
1T is simply less brutal, less horrify-
ing than the old term. which is sufficient
in itself to make many timid people
ILL.,"
PEEP INTO THE HOSPITAL
But TO the story-'Three weeks in
the Pest H. Isolation hospital That
Is the average period Of detention. That
is Il has been In Salt Lake. A peep
into the institution yesterday afternoon
disclosed fourteen patients, all doing
well and only three seriously ill-Blood.
Sterling and Rose, the two former
from Coreys camp In P1rley's canyon,
and the latter transient from Kan
sas. who was taken from the Valley
House a few days ago. All these have
smallpox in the continent form and
Blood and Sterling were dangerously
near deaths door. The others have had
the disease In much lighter form. Some
OF them have hardly been III at all,
but having been exposed were de-
talned under official authority. About
forty patients have been treated at the
Isolation Hospltal and all have been
sent away well with the exception OF
those who are now there, and at the
present rate OF decrease another fort
night will see the Institution well nigh
denopulated.
The peep into the hospital showed
that cleanliness was absolute sovereign
in every room. The linen was spotless-
ly white and the oil cloth floors showed
the frequent application OF soap and
water There was but little furniture In
evidence Just enough to do; and that
was plainness itself. Not piece Of 1t