Waterbury Democrat., 1902-04-16
FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
Dr Lodge. a Reputable Physician, Asks Some Pertinent Questions About the Small.
 pox Outbreak in Waterbury
l Editor of Democrat.

Iat? This may enable Us to hring order out ol tie medical chaos tlat is rob blng the city and seriously injuring the business and health Of the people. And first Of all, let me discuss tlis
 question:: "Is there Il single case of smallpox in Waterbury,"
 It is strange that the disease should
 be confined to the French element, for 1t is hard to believe that smallpox
 would know Frenchman from a Yan- kee or an Irishman from a German or an Italian. The French residents are in constant contact with those of other nationalities in the factories, the churches, the schools, the tenements, the stores and on the streets, exhaling the virus of this dreadful epidemic
 God save the mark! Why, then, are not the other races attacked by the disease? Smallpox is no respector of persons, and if this bit of measly rash were really smallpox the people would be afflicted without regard to race or locality, on account of the extent fo which the different races mingle un- avoidably in Waterbury. But we don't hear of Hitchcock or Murphy or ! Schwartzman or Antonio being isolated or quarantined. It is true that Coffey was Irish and Dunham, the Lord knows what. Both were tramps, worn to the shell, and ready to enrich our mother earth ali any moment. Vaccina- ton did not improve the condition of these decaying shells. and when he good angel carried off his precious bur- den we have reason to believe that 1t didn't make him humpbacked.
 It is said that several French fam flies have had this terrible smallpox i within the last three months without knowing that anything serious was the matter with them To be sure a French baby, months old, has died at the isolation hospital, and some woman without French name has been found I with headache, and an Italian child has something on it's skin that with careful attention may yield results. Isn't it time to drape the city hall? X thousand dollars would do it. and as 1 pr kilmartin has found an undertaken who will bury a tramp for $500 it ig dirt cheap, and the taxpayers have th3 chance of a lifetime.
 No disease requires so careful and l thorough an examination as smaIlpox. because the patient is deprived of his liberty, both by the sickness and ylle law of the land, the people with whom he Is known to have come in contact are quarantined in the absence of q pull, the injured are frightened away 10 other cities, and hundreds of thoIl- sands of dollars are lost to the owners and employees of our factories. For these reasons the examination of sus- pect should be thorough Each synn- tom should be given it's proper value III the diagnosis. One symptom found ID every smallpox patient from the nfst day to the thirteenth is fever Any one of the other symptoms such sas headache, backache, vomiting of the pfoIound prostraticn may be absent nur the fever is present in every case durlng the Is days And this fever is alWays present for three full days be- TOT the rash appears. There was fasn on Diamond when he was arrest- ed; put how much fever had hes " nat was the mans temperature Whe,1 tne glant fagan was marching hin, aiong Harrison alley to be tenderly uuFseu III an old chair out of doors in tue Dllzzard, with three feet of snow on the ground, and an atmosphere that would drive Polar bear to sfeaf ! horse blanket! No one knows. No ona put q thermometer into his month to see II he had the fever that inyariablv accompanies smallpox. Wa frst learned his temperature when he had peen Tour days i'll the pest house and tnen on the authority of the health oHlcer. He had no fever at all, "Dia- nlondS condition is that of a man rast. ing comfortably and his fever Is gona ', Dianonu was sent to the pest house because he had a rash on his faaa every pImple of which contained br;J- liant and S50 gold piece Now if neo- ple are to De dragged from their homes or imprisoned there on account of bif oI fash on their faces or bodies fhis smallpox bonanza can be kept gofnr n dennlteiy, because people with rashes can always be found in manufacturino i cities' Where chemicals are largely tlsed, and particularly if you want to -Hnd them and have committee for tba purpose Of running them down.
 some people eat q lot of cauned f3ss, ana salt pork, and these articles TilI produce measly eruption on the skin mat can be christened any name fo sult the circumstances. And n nerson Wllh rash is Just as likely to gef . colti or the grip and have headache aud Dackache and fever as those who bava no rash at all on them.
 The alleged case of smallpox in va,n Haven Jail lends coIcr to the idea That ! we have smallpox in Waterbury ha- cause Greenwood was among the afar- antlned at the shelter on South Main But Greenwood has no smaIIpox and | ale need not lose it's head over # greenwood was vaccinated on Fehr1,- | ary 24, and there was not q suecJx cn nls body at the time He was sucoass- Iuily vaccinated. but very little or uo | matter ran out of the sore on his ar1h put rash began to appear on him as Iast as the pus was absorbed into his piood. The rash began first on his yac- elnated arm and spread gradually This fash being found on him in iail if vvas | pronounced smallpox And the fail onar, antined- Of course 1t Is the rash If vaccination. -
 NOW, sir, as this bit of rash is con- med to the French people. why not Drlhg specialist here from Canada who naturally understands diseases na- cui1ar to the French rlaoy,Io 1,<44- - 41