New-York tribune., 1901-01-12
ARMORIES AS HOSPITALS.
MAY HAVE TO BE USED IF GRIP CON
TINUES TO SPREAD.
SICK WARDS OVERLOOKING PECULIAR
NERVOUS EFFECT OF THE MALADY-
PATIENT DIES IN AMBULANCE

According to the opinion of many well known
physicians, the grip bacilli multiply RAPIDLY
under such weather conditions as prevailed yes
terday If weather unfavorable to the spread
Of the germs Of the disease does not arrive soon
Il is thought that temporary hospitals may have
20 be opened So great was the number of per-
sons suffering with grip. pneumonia and pull
monary troubles at Bellevue Hospital on Thurs
day night that seventeen improvised beds were
placed in the medical wards and three in the
surgical wards for the accommodation of pa
tients. The congested condition of the hospitals
is considerably worse it is said than It was in
previous epidemics of grip. Superintendent
Blair, of the Outdoor Poor Department said
yesterday that if the epidemic continued 1t
might become necessary to use, If possible, the
armores hospitals
A man died from the grip yesterday while be-
ing taken TO hospital. He Louis Metzger,
forty years old, butcher. living with his wife
and three children at No. 629 East One-hundred-
and forty -first-st. He died yesterday afternoon
in a Harlem Hospital ambulance. 1t is alleged
that his family insisted his being removed
in the ambulance. though the surgeon said he
feared the man would die on the way to the
hospital
In speaking about the prevalence of the grip
DR.. A. B. Cannon. superintendent of the Belle
vue Hospital dspensary, said that the number
Of persons calling the last few weeks for all sorts
of cough mixtures and medicine for bronchitis.
grip and throat diseases had been so great as to
keep everybody in the dispensary working hard
from o'clock in the morning until . o'clock
at night.
Dr. John T. Kennedy a we'll known practising
physician, of No. 107 East Twenty-ninth-st..
when asked if he had noticed a marked increase
in the number of persons afflicted with grip.
said: Il have been called upon to treat an un-
usually large number of grip cases. One of my
patients, a result of the grip, is suffering with
extreme sensitiveness of the nerves of the face.
His supraorbital nerves and the nerves of his
scalp are very sensitive. His facial nerves are
so sensitive that he feels the slightest breeze
against his face. He keeps his head covered
with a shawl. He is constantly restless, and
would like 10 be walking about every moment
OF the day. II the grip should affect the central
nervous system it might cause paralysis of the
special organs OF sense one OF my patients
who is suffering with the grip cannot tell vinegar
from water, and can hardly feel pain. such a
case as that borders stupidity or coma. If
there was a fire in his house he might show no
inclination to leave the place. Another patient
has lost control over the muscles of the throat.
/ have noticed that grip is much more intense
and much more general than on its previous visit
10 this city"
Dr. Eugene Monahan, Sanitary Superintend-
ent for The Bronx said yesterday that although
grip and pneumonia cases are not reported at
the Board Of Health ne knows from his own
observations and those of other physicians with
whom he has talked that physicians all over
the district are crowded with grip cases, and
they working day and night TO overcome the
disease.
The records of the Board of Health show that
the number Of fatal cases Of grip in the month
OF January 1900. was twenty-eight, and for the
week ending January s. 1901, thirty-six.
On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday OF this week
deaths from grip occurred in this city. but
on Wednesday and Thursday thirteen deaths
from grip occurred IN Manhattan. Reports for
Wednesday and Thursday from the other bor-
oughs have not yet been received.
Among those who afflicted r. Fulton
Cutting, of the Citizens Union; Joel B. Erhardt
Austen G. Fox