The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-03-14
URGES PRECAUI1ON
AGAINST C()NTAGION
DR.. [. B. Wilson Discusses the
Citizen ID Relation to
Public Health.

= 5
Train your aldermen not to be too
wise in their own conceit," said DR.. L.
b. Wilson, of the University of Min
nesota, last evening addressing the
Gannett Unionsof Unity Church. This
remark had no direct local application
TO 81. Paul, but was intended to per-
tam generally to measures of precau-
qon against communicable diseases.
| DR.. Wilson coupleds with the admoni-
ton above quoted the further advice:
Teach your young men and women
that contagion is; a danger to be fear
ed; and that ai1Eeare Should be taken
to prevent its spfead's
The topic which had been assigned to
DR.. Wilson was: "The Citizen in Re
iatlon to Public Health" And after
pointing out the broad scope of the
| subject, he said he would confine him
self to that branch pertaining to prop
er preeaution as to infectious diseases
| To show the serious results which
may follow any disregard of the rec
ognized safeguards against the spread
| of a disease, he related the history of
number of cases that he had traced
! in the meteorological work of the state
board OF health and the state univer-
slty In setting forth these examples
| ne Withheld names and locations, stat
ing only the circumstances.
Neglect Results in Death.
He told of a case of rabies in the
| pet dog of family living in one of
the towns of this state, which resulted
in the death Of one child and the ne
cessity of three other children being
sent to the Pasteur institute at Chi
'cago for treatment at an expense of
5000 each. Besides this, cattle and
other stock of the total value of 81 800
were infected and died. The family
that owned the dog, he said, knew
that he had been bitten by a strange
dog, and believed that the strange dog
was mad; but they did not believe
that their own dog could go mad and
! so they took no precautions.
DR.. Wilson spoke of a wealthy
stock breeder the owner of farm in
the suburbs Of one of the cities, whose
cattle became sick. This man, he said,
privately called in a veterinarian, and
learning that the cattle had tubercu-
1osis, held a sale of Jersey cattle and
disposed OF the. diseased animals to
| his nelghbors. The cattle were traced
to seven different herds, six of which
Were dairy herds, and they carried the
| loss of cattle, the speaker said, was
large but 1T was of slight consequence
beside the spread of tuberculosis in
! the milk from affected cattle.
Epiden,ics Due to careIessness.
DR.. Wilson told also of an outbreak
| of scarlet fever in one of the colleges
!, of the state, just after Thanksgiving,
/ and the sending of los students from
"A fa =,
| different communities in Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Iowa, Montana and the Da-
kotas. He said that seventeen out
breaks of the disease and thirty-two
deaths had already been traced back to
| that college, and reports not all in
yet. He referred also to a general cpl
den1ic of diphtheria in a small town
Started by boy who went home there
from a visit suffering from sore
throat that never became serious and
was diagnosed by the only physical n
| Of the place as tonsilitis. This epi-
demlc caused fourteen deaths.
Another example which he cited was
the present epidemic of typhoid fever
in a city which was easily recognized
as Minneapolis. This trouble, he said,
could be traced directly to the use Of
water from, the two lower pumping
stations in the river where the stream
is contaminated by sewage; but mem
bers of the water works department
and city council quoted physicians of
| the city as saying that typhoid fever is
due to electrical and climatic phenome-
ma. And those people believed that to
be true.
Too Much Optimism.
! zone great trouble with u.s." said DR..
Wilson, lis optimism. We are too ready
to believe that it cannot be so in our
| case. Very few of us believe that we
are ever going to die; and until we
| really are sick we believe that We can
not get sick. Optimism is a great
virtue, but in such an application as
this it can be a great evil.
another trouble is greed, and abse-
lutte carelessness because of it, but the
greatest of. them all is ignorance-or-
binary, everyday, downright ignorance.
This last can be cured by education.
am not prepared to say that it ought
to be taken up in the public schools,
for every reforner has something to
add to the bardeps of the school
teachers; but IIbefieve that such or
CARNATIONS as this, and eur clubs gen
orally, should dol great deal.
"a broad, scientific knowledge of
bacteriology is not necessary to show a
person the necessity of precaution
against communicable diseases. There
are a few simple facts that everybody
should know First and most import
ant of these is that bacteria are not to
be fooled with Bacteria do not act
everytifne like poison. When we give
a dose of strychnine we know it Will
kill every time, but to communicate
disease we must have the virufent bac-
terra and the susceptible person. The
percentage of natural immunity and
the immunity that comes of having
had a disease, makes some people care
less in exposing themselves to conta-
gfon and they endanger the lives Of
others.
Reckless disregard for quarantine
is a great source Of danger. We can all
see the justice of quarantining the
| other fellow; but we rebel against it
ourselves. What we need is a new
golden rule to read something like
this: Submit to- be done unto thy
self that which thou can'st see should
fbe done unto thy brother
WAGE CUT OR NO WORK
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