The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1905-10-13

Recent discoveries of German eci-
entists for the prevention and eradlcu'
ton of hay fever nre from time TO
time announced by United States Con
sui General Guenther at Frankfort.
From recent lecture by Professor
w. Il. Dunbar of the Hamburg Hy-
glenIc institute the consul reports the
opinion that the influences OF pollen
toxin upon hay fever patients Is that
Of nm extremely strong acting poison.
oven when administered In the most
minute doses. On account of this fact
Professor Dunbar remarks:
feel justified In stating that the hay
fever appearing In the spring is an aetlo-
logical disease. The same IL the case
with the American fall hay fever. only In
this the cause ia found In the pollen OF
ragweed and goldenrod.
Professor Dunbar endeavored to find
specific antlpolson. He describes
the many experiments to obtain an
antipolson from animals and reports
that the blood serum of some animals
showed clear antltoxln effects within
few weeks. A mixture of pollen
toxin and the serum prevented the lrri-
tating effects OF the former. Professor
Dunbar continues:
I do not consider such a serum as alb
soutely necessary. / consider 1t. how"
ever, as a very special advantage of the
hay fever antltoxin that success Is at
tained without resorting to injection.
Hay fever differs from those diseases
where SO far, specific antltoxlns have
been employed mainly in thls-that infec-
ton takes place not only once and where
the infection matter continues to develop
In the body, but that for the duration OF
several weeks the poison floats to the
patient without interruption. subcu-
taneous treatment would in such case
be very desirable IL the patient thereby
would be made perfectly insensible to the
pollen toxin for longer duration than,
say, of one to two weeks. This does not
seem to be possible at this time. l also
had to abandon the experiments for active
lmmunlzation of the hay fever patients
as being wholly unsuitable In practice.
Under such circumstances a mode of APP
plication had to be found possible for ev-
cry patient at any time. 1t was, there
fore, a pleasant surprise for me when /
one drop of the serum to the conJunctiva
or into the nasal canal sufficed COM
pletely In rendering these main entrances
Of the poison completely insenslble and
also to remove irritation already existing.
for one, in view of such facts, have no
desire for another remedy. for n more
simple application can hardly be found.
In cases where the nasal canals are en-
tirely closed the desired end will be at
tanned by applying the pollentine repeat
eddy to the conjunctiva. 1t then acts
from the lachrymal canal upon the mu-
cous membrane of the nose. IT, in addi-
sprinkled with antitoxin is introduced into
the nasal canal most afflicted, II can be
made perfectly free again in the course
of about half an hour, and then the treat
ment can be applied to the other side. 1t
appears to be very judicious. during the
worst days of the hay fever, to soothe the
mucous membranes of the nasal canals
and to treat them prophylactically by al
ternately closing the nasal canals by
means of cotton.
The remedy, which is called pollen
tine" is pulverized, and patients have
been kept entirely free from attacks
during whole hay fever season by
the use of fifty grains. Among 500
patients treated 60 per cent were
free from attacks during the whole pc
riOd