Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1905-03-22
POINTS ABOUT PNEUMONIA.
Causative Elements Difficult to Han.
dle-Best Remedy Recon-
mended Is Air.

The Increased prevalence OF pneu-
| mOnia, especially at this season, is
/ matter of the deepest concern. With
mortality that is frightful as compared
| with other infectious diseases, the death
rate keeps in the high figures in spite
| OF the best direct efforts of scientific
medicine. The alarm of the situation.
| says the New York Herald, is centered in
| the apparent impossibility of absolutely
| controlling the causative elements of
| the disease. The specific microbe, the
climate, our habit of living join hands
| in the work of devastation. To cOun-
| teract the influence of all these appears
as an almost impossible task.
We are told that the pneumocuccus,
which is the active source of infection.
is carried in the threats of most of
those who are the subjects of ordinary
wlnetr colds. 1t awaits its opportunity
as does the thief outside the gate The
severe and changeable climate of our
winters lower the vital tone of resist
ance, often in spite of studied precau-
lions, and the waiting microbe takes
due advantage of the occasion. Even
II 1T were possible to annihilate the
speclnc germ we cannot hope to con-
troll the elements. We may guard against
the transmission of the poison from
one person to another, but can neither
Danish 1t from the air nor tackle the
lurking enemy in the air passages of the
prospective victim
The only thing left us is to meet con-
ditions as We find them. and do the best
we can to resist the disease On gen.
eral hygienic principles. Too much
care cannot be taken to keep the body
at this time in the highest point of
health. Even if nothing else is left to
the individual he can at least to some
extent control the situation from the
purely defensive side. No argument
is stronger for such a course than the
fact that during an epidemic of any kind
the weak ones are always the first who
are attacked. 1t is further proved that
in pneumonia it is not the mere clog
ging of the lungs that kills. but the
direct toxic effect of the pneumococcus
IN the blood. All of which goes TO
show that the victim must by means of
his low tone of vitality, from previous
tible to the poison.
In robust health there is always Wig
orous resisting power to all morbific
influences, and toxines of every kind are
readily thwarted by natures efforts to
maintain compromising vital equilib-
rum. Under such circumstances the
army OF invasion is no match for the
1egions of protection. Man, however,
in striving to adapt himself to adverse
conditions of climate by the modern
habits OF living is not always sufficient
Iy on his guard. and suffers in conse-
quence. He is apt to be careless in his
feeling Of security. The initiative cold
or the mild attack of grip is not suf-
f1ciently considered. The stitch in
time is not taken, and he rapidly goes
to the bad. He overheats his house,
and thus directly heightens the differ
ence between the atmosphere indoors
and outside The hot, dry air of his
room, with its deficiency of moisture,
gives him his first start
Coddling of any kind, while necessary
for the sick, is positively harmful for
the strong. No one dies of too much
pure air. A full inspiration of oxygen
is the best of all pulmonary disinfect-
ants. The one who can face cold blast
and feel the IMMIGRATION of health Civ
ing influences is always on the safer
side. Nature has her own heating ap-
paratus within our bodies, and the one
who keeps it in good trim by outdoor
exercise, good food, plenty of sunshine,
pure air in his living rooms and the
like, can balk the best-directed efforts
of the invading microbe even during the
most inclement seasons. May it not
be possible, then, to believe that we are
more scared over the micrc;oe than we
are OF ourselves? The fundamental and
practical lesson is to give our common
enemy the least possible chance of at
lacking us. So much, at least, is with
in the reach of everyone who cares to
he on his guard