St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-06-04
TUBERCULOSIS PREVENTIVE
Vaccination Suggested as an Effective
Means Of Warding Of the
Dread Disease.


Means Of Warding OFF the
i Dread Disease.
| 1t is safe to say that there is no sub
feet in which the general public ha
a greater and more abiding interes
than that bearing on the prevention ant
cure of tuberculosis. No malady i!
more prevalent and none more fatal il
It's ultimate tendencies The dreadful
faint OF its hereditary influences ha!
left its trace alike on rich and poor
and there is scarcely a family which has
not lost one or more of its members
by Its direfu and relentless ravages
Nothing that has any bearing on thi.
absorbing topic escapes due attention
interest and study, says the New York
Herald. The scientists work for new
facts, and the victims await results with
constantly renewed hope 1t is no won
der, then, that the novel view Of the
Italian expert, Maragliano, that vaccine
ton with tubercle bacilli may prove an
effective remedy will be calculated to
renew the discussion Of some of the
vexed questions connected with one OF
the problems of the age. His theory
Is certainly taking one, and its
FEASIBILITY appears to be founded on
the well-recognized principle of stimu-
1ating the natural vital resistance
against disease in the exposed individ
ual
The law of protection against any IT.
fictitious disease is based on natures
power to resist its poisonous influences.
In strong and healthy persons the sys-
TEN manufactures its own antidotes
against the various toxins that may
fiud their way into the circulation.
Thus persons are rendered immune
against attack. In other words, the in
vading forces are outmatched by those
for defense. Scientifically these repel-
liant agencies have very high-sounding
names, although the antitoxins, which
belong to the group of so-called ANTI
bodies, are familiar enough to the or
binary reader. These antagonistic prop
critics are manufactured in the blood,
mostly as new corpuscles, and are cal
culated to meet given emergencies Of
disease invasion. 1t is with the view
Of reinforcing such protective qualities
that Maragliano advises his method Of
vaccination, and on the same principle
of action as that which governs like i'm
milnity against smallpox.
His method is to prepare cultures of
baeilli Of varying strength, and, by
incubation, to produce an overwhelm-
in the blood of the patient. With be-
coming enthusiasm he claims some very
remarkable results by his procedure. It
only remains now for other experiment.
ers to verify his results in practice
This, according to report, has been
done to some extent, and it is to be sim
cerely hoped that his ingenious theory
may be still further substantiated. At
all events, it seems worthy of more ex-
tended trial in test cases, based, as it
is. on the present accepted views re-
garding natures method of throwing of
disease.
Although, regarding what he calls
passive immunity.in person hereditar-
lily predisposed to tuberculosis, 1t may
be difficult to prove negative PROPOSE
ton that We may prevent thing that
may never happen, the FEASIBILITY Of
the proposition will at least tend to al
lay unnecessary anxiety, especially as
he claims to have actually produced
such results in animals So far as
he has gone along these lines the re-
suits have been very promising, but the
main issue rests upon the fact of posi-
tive cures after the malady has been
fully developed.
Whether the latter shall be ultimately
or not, the new remedy can at
best be considered not much more than
an adjuvant to the other weN-recog-
nized means at hand. 1t may help ma
ture in her work, but cannot be expected |
to supplant her. Fresh air, good nour-
abundance Of sunshine and the
Increased strength gained thereby are,
after all, the main elements of disease |
and it Is eminently proper
that such should be the case, as, accord
ng to the general law of compensation,
those things that are of the greatest
good to all should have no restriction in
heir dispensation. Thus, We can the
more compiacently await any new de-
in the vaccination theory.