Hopkinsville Kentuckian., 1901-03-19
pRBvHETIvI WHDicIR1s
Trend sf Rsssnt Discovery IN the Inter
ssts Of Public Mealth.

to it? | should say, says the Con-
temporary Review, the obvious an
swer is, the study and cultivation of
natural immunity of resistance.
There clearly is such thing,
though it has never yet been
thought worthy of much scientific
attention; and the trend of recent
discovery rather goes to show that
it plays q more, not less, important
part, than has been commonly sup
posed. The very ubiquity of the in
fective agents disclosed by modern
research suggests that a very large
number of people must be constant
ly exposed to danger with impunity.
1t is probable, indeed, that most
Of us encounter virulent germs
every day of our lives. There has
been Il tendency on the part of sci
entiGc theorists to attribute the
power of resistance wholly to
some acquired or inherited prop
erty conferred by previous spe-
cific attacks. That may be the
case with some forms of par
asitic diseases, but it is quite GER
tainly not the case with others, for
the very sufficient reason that at
tacks render the subject more OF
less susceptible. Take tuberculosis,
by far the most prevalent and fatal
of all bacterial affections. Attacks
increase susceptibility, and if any
thing is inherited in a consumptive
family it is a predisposition, not
power of resistance. Yet the mi
crobe is everywhere; vast numbers
of people snlust be exposed to it
every day with impunity. In this
case, the power of resistance can
not depend on any acquired prop
erty of a specific character; it must
lie in the natural healthiness of the
tissues. That it is so proved by
the new method of treatment by
pure air. AS soon as the tissues are
rendered healthy they are able to
resist the attack. 1t is exceedingly
probable that the same simple con-
dition of healthy tissues constitutes
an effective protection against 9th
erinfective agents-the pneumococ-
Gus, for instance, and the whole
race of bacteria that affect the in
testinal tract, and cause the various
forms of disease ranging from simple
diarrhoea to enteric fever and chol-
era. 1t has been repeatedly OBJ
served that in great epidemic out
breaks of these diseases there is a gem
eral prevalence of similar but minoI
symptoms among those who are moi
counted as actual cases. | suggest
that such persons do not escape in.
fe0tion, but resist it by virtue Of hav.
ing more healthy organs than those
that succumb, and that persons with
perfectly healthy organs show nc
symptoms at all. When / was in
Hamburg studying the great out
break of cholera in 1892 / convinced
myself that no one escapes infection
and that every one who could have
the disease did have it in some form
or another. The great protection /:
a healthy stomach, the acid secre.
tiOn Of which Immediately kills the
micro-organism. On the other hand
the extreme susceptibility Of habit
ual drunkards, whose stOmachs are
ruined, is well established. 1t wa:
observed at the post st-mortem exam.
nations made in st. Petersburg hos.
pitals that all the fatal cases suffered
from dilatation of the stomach, indi.
eating chronic dyspepsia.
III Would De Deyond my present pur.
pose, however, to elaborate these
speculations. I merely wish to lay
stress on the factor of natural resist.
ance, and to suggest that it is in part
at least dependent on general health,
In this direction there is room for in
definite progress; this is the true goal
to aim at It brings us back on the
practical side to the older and broad
or methods Of public health work, to
which the diminution of mortality
achieved in the last half-century is
due. Air, light, dry soil, pure water,
good food, effectual disposal of waste
products and refuse, cleanliness of all
kinds-these things, combined with
healthy personal habits, moderate
eating and drinking, sufficient work
and cuff o,o,,t ,.o,t ,.,;1 fo,.,,, n ,,,o,,,.