The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-03

l2X&I can contract il from another, 1t
- has been a subject of much dis
cussion among the physicians and sanitary
officers, and all over the country they have
been devising means to prevent it's spread.
DIR. Theodore Potter, professor of bacteriol-
ogy at the Indiana Medical College, who
was seen in his office by a Journal reporter
the other day and asked about the infec-
ton of pneumonia, said:
pneumonia is one of the diseases Of which
the exact cause was unknown until recently.
1t has ordinarily been thought to be due to
exposure to the cold. The reason the disease
has been attributed to this is because a Sc
we're cold so often precedes it. There were
some things, however, about the theory that
were not consistent with this explanation.
For instance, arctic explorers. who undergo
the greatest exposure, seldom catch cold,
much less neumoni Therefore, the cause
was something more than exposure, and
with the .already well-developed germ the
DRY to apply, facts began to come out that
made it more probable that pneumonia was
an of the lungs, excited by
germs.
ut Is interesting to know" continued the
doctor, that the first discovery of the
germ now known as the chief cause of
pneumonia was made in this country by
DIR. Sternberg, at that time surgeon general
in the United States army. He discovered
this microbe in the throat secretions of sew
eral people who were not sick, and proved
by incubation that it would cause a fatal
disease I'm certain animals. He, however,
did not recognize its relationship to pneu-
monia. Shortly after his discovery, the cele-
brated French scientist, Pasteur, discov-
cred, Independently, the same microbes, and
he, likewise, did not recognize their causa-
tive influence in pneumonia. 1t was Fraenk-
ell, of Germany, who first showed that this
particular germ was almost constantly
present in large numbers in the lungs of
those suffering from the most common form
of pneumonia. Since then, all evidence has
tended to confirm the view that Sternberg
and Pasteur and Fraenkel had all identified
the specific cause of the disease"
DR.. Potter was asked if the discovery by
these three scientists was the first inkling
that any one had that pneumonia was a
germ disease, and said:
mo; before these men made their discov-
cries there rose from time to time a suspi-
cion, based upon the observations of prac-
ticing physicians, that pneumonia might be.
in some measure, contagious. Because every
| doctor KNOWS there nave Deen eplQeDnlcS OIL
this disease in certain regions and COM
munities. and outbreaks of it in such insti-
tutions as schools, converts and peniten-
t%iaries, which suggested this element of
contagion. Since the establishment of the
microbic causatiOn of pneumonia this view
has naturally strengthened"
ITS FORM OF INFECTION.
pneumonia is not contagious in anything
I'll - 1900 ans &c --oollra~ conrIa
fever or measles, is it?' was asked.
mo" the doctor answered. Pneumonia
is certainly not contagious in anything like
the degree that such diseases as measles,
scarlet fever. smallpox or whooping cough.
1t is plainly an infectious disease, that is
due to a living poison. in the development
of which, other factors than the germs
play an important role. This is the modern
scientific doctrine of pneumonia, and it con-
firms the everyday observations of physi-
clans and of the public to the effect that
exposure or the opposite of it, mainly too
close confinement. does often. in a special
way, prepare the lungs for the growth of
the pneumonia germs"
DIR. Potter was asked what pneumonia
really was and said:
pneumonia is an inflammation of the
lungs which compromises the breathing ca
pacity and throws great strain upon the
heart. The disease is often complicated by
profound constitutional poisoning. In this
latter respect it is similar to the contagious
diseases which we are all more or less IA.
miliar with. namely, scarlet fever and diph-
iberia And just as a successful agent FOL
counteracting the poison Of diphtheria has
been found in diphtheria antitoxin, so in.
vestigations are now being carried on with
the hope of discovering successful pneu.
mOnia antitoxin. This will provide a means
that will cause a quick cure. because the
constitutional poisoning which is such 9
dangerous factor in the disease will be elm.
mated and. therefore. lessen the danger