Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-02
Malady Finds Greater Number of Vic
tins Each Year.

From the New York Tribune
The commission which was appointed last
year by the New York board of health to
study pneumonia, and whose preliminary
report has just been summarized by the
press, is composed of men of high profess
sional rank. Yet the problems involved In
the inquiry are so serious that there Is no
danger of securing too exalted a grade of
talent for their solution. The disease
winch the commission has been considering
mas risen into peculiar prominence of late.
AT one time consumption caused more
uea'aS 'hah any other malady, and pneu-
-, .roiti0 ranked second as cause of mortal
itv. Within the last ten or fifteen wars
the Two nave exchanged places In some
parts OF the United States, If not in the
metropolis. CONSUMPTION. as a res,,1+ 90
the more enlightened methods of preven-
tion and treatment, works a little loss
havoc than formerly. Pneumonia. on the
olher hand, nnds grea ter number of VIC
tilns' IN proportion to the population. There
Is ground for the belief that the grin he's
contributed materially to this result, he
natSe ~ Is oIten prelude TO an attack of
pneumonia, and it sadly disqualifes a man
Tor successful resistance to an Illness Of
another nature. However, whatever the
cause, the increased prevalence of pneu-
mona has excited the graVest alarm and
perplexlty in the medical profession,
me commission is convinced that like
tuberculosis, the more acute type of lung
dlSease is attributable to the presence Of
microbes, and that the latter are disseno
mated by the drying of sputum from ma
TENTS The organisms are not easily
borne about by the air so long as they
are moist put afterward they are easily
circulated as dust PARTICLES This funda-
mental tact shows the desirability of deIug-
ing a SICK room with sunlight, promoting
Tree ventilation and using a broom only
when the floor has been sprinkled
Some puzzlng facts have been elected in
the course or the investiga ton conducted
by Or. Daritngton's experts. One is that
pneumococci the supposed cause of the
disease, are sometimes carried In tbe
mouths of persons for weeks without pro-
duclng any apparent effect. In like man
ner they are observed in the secretions of
patients who have recovered for a cnnsid
cradle interval after the disappearance of
other symptoms. This second phenomenon
resembles one which often follows an az
tack of typhoid fever and gives rise TO
the question how long such persons NAV
threaten the health of their associates and
nelghbors Perhaps more light on this mat
ter may be afforded by further observation
Such information should prove useful in
the devising of sanitary precautions for a
community in which pneumonia prevails
prevention is Infinitely preferable to cure:
but good generals consider what to do If
their first line of defenss fails The only
remedial agent to which the commission
refers is blood serum derived from ar i'm
mune animal. Experiments were made.
evidently with view to obtaining hints as
to the value of an antitoxin of this kind
other ventures of the same character hay-
ing been made repeatedly in the last few
years. The verdict rendered is a little OBJ
scure, but, while the commission seems to
have found that a serum, as now prepared.
might be serviceable for purposes of dag
nosis, 1t appears to be silent about the
remedial and protective qualities of the ar
ticle. However,-if the serum which few
physicians even now employ is not all that
could be desired. improved methods ma
yet develop one that can be more heartily
recommended.