Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1901-07-19


Pox-Physicians Disagree as to its
Nature.
An eruptive disease has appeared in
this village. Is it small box? If not.
what is it? DR.. H. D. Holton of Brat,
tleboro, secretary of the state board
of health has pronounced it small
poX. Dr. G. S. Caverly of Rut-
land, president of the state board
of health, refers to it in a letter to
Dr. Munger as mongrel small pox.
The victim is Marion Russell, 12-year-
old daughter of Prof. and Mrs. John
E. Russell of Williams college, Will
Jamestown, Mass, and whatever may
be the nature of the disease she is not
and has not been seriously ill.,
The little girl and her sister,
Frances, who is two years older, came
to Putney June 20 to spend the sum-
mer with their grandmother, Mrs.
Fanny Baker. Five days later the
older sister was taken i'll with an
eruptive disease. She was not serious
ly i'll, was in bed only brief time and
was well again in one week. DR..
Munger was called soon after she was
taken i'll and found that the eruptions
not form into papula. He pronounced
the disease chicken pox
On Tuesday of last week, after
Frances had entirely recovered.
Marion was taken ill with headache
and in few hours eruptions appear
ed. They were much more numerous
than in the first case, and although no
papulR appeared DR.. Munger was sus-
picious that the disease was not
chicken pox and he sent for DR.. Hol-
ton, who came Saturday morning. Dr..
Holton said the disease was the same
as that which recently appeared in
Hardwick and other Vermont towns,
which was called small pox, but that
it was in very mild form as both pa
tients had been vaccinated. The house
has been quarantined for small pox.
Medical science has established the
fact that the minimum period of incu-
baton in small pox is 10 days, or, in
other words, that a person exposed
to small pox cannot possibly be taken
i'll with the disease inside of 10 days.
The disease then appears in the form
of a fever, which continues several
days before eruptions appear. DR..
Munger thinks the older girl was ex-
posed on the cars, which was only
five days before she was taken i'll.
Eruptions then appeared without any
fever. DR.. Holton thinks she met a
case of small poX on the street in
Williamstown, but the child's parents
think this is not possible.
Chicken poX sometimes developes
in five days after person is exposed,
and this fact, together with the fact
that the first case of the disease close
ly resembled chicken poX, led DR.. Mum
ger to believe the disease was chicken
pox. He is not certain, moreover, that
the present case is not chicken poX
as that is distinctively a children's
disease and none of the persons ex-
posed have thus far showed any in
dication of illness.
There is no alarm in the village on
account of the illness of the girl, there
have been few vaccinations and no Sc
riOus results are anticipated.
The North Adams Transcript of
Tuesday evening reprinted from the
morning papers a story of the appear
ance of the disease in Putney and pub
lished the following in addition. "The
Williamstown board of health held a
meeting last evening before the fact
that the children of Prof. Russell had
taken i'll was known and it was decid-
ed to act in the matter of ordering
vaccination without further delay.
When the secretary of the board of
health was informed of the despatch
in the morning papers today he said
that the matter would be hurried and
that action would be taken at once,
He said that he did not believe that
the disease was contracted in Will
Jamestown since there had not been an
indication of it there and he discred-
tied the report to that effect. The
physicians state that they have not
had any cases which resembled the
disease and they are positive that if
the Vermont cases are small poX they
were contracted after the family left
Williamstown."