Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-11-18


efforts of last year taught them
little.
What do these hundreds Of physi-
clans of Massachusetts who under the
| guidance of the state board of health
studied cases in 1876 towns of the
state, know of the disease?
Pitifully little.
Disease Has Proved Contagious.
Dr. S. F1exner of the Rockefeller
hospital of New York, and his con-
frere, DR.. Lewis, proved that the dis
ease was contagious by inoculating
monkeys with virus from the spinal
column of a victim of the disease. That
was one step forward.
| 1t taught the doctors to quarantine
| the disease
In this virus, that paralyzed the
monkeys, Dr. F1exner looked in vain
through the most powerful lenses
known to science, hoping to see the
tiny, dreadful germ. He knew it was
present, but the lenses were too weak.
The disease begins in the nasal
membrane" declared one doctor after
he had Treated and studied % cases.
You're right" said another doctor,
within a few days, speaking from his
own experience. He had treated n
curly headed baby boy of three years.
Then he had been called to attend a
cousin of the boy, girl of three, who
had called one day to see the sick boy
and had kissed him. This little girl
died in agony.
Begins in Nasal Membrane.
Other stories of fatal kisses began
to come Then the doctors learned
that healthy persons might carry the
germs. DR.. J. J. Hassett of Lee was
called to attend a baby of IS months,
both of whose legs became paralyzed.
One day an aunt OF the baby called
and, in pity. kissed it. Then she re-
turned to her home and within a
month her own baby girl was stricken.
Thus, little by little, the doctors
proved FTexner's theory that the dis
ease was contagious
Then they began to study symptoms.
1t was almost a hopeless task. The
physicians were rarely called until
paralysis had set in. The patient al
ways Sad had a little fever; the back
of the neck had been sore, perhaps;
there had been pains in the back. But
these symptoms came almost immedi-
ately before the paralysis.
Called Form of Ia Grippe.
IT'S a form of la grippe" announced
one physician. "The sore back, the
infiamed membrane in the throat, sore
tonsils, tenderness, fever, are all symp-
toms of la grippe, as they are of in
fantile paralysis"
This physician gained many follow
ers. Swedish physician, who had
studied 300 cases in his own country
agreed with this theory.
But the treatments that are given
for la grippe did not stop the epidemic
in Massachusetts. Paralysis was al
ways present.
The disease began to attack adults.
One morning a lad of 10, at Pittsfield,
who had felt "grippy" for several days,
awoke and stepped out of bed He
fell. He got up again and fell again.
Then he discovered that he could not
use his left leg. After two days the
Illness had passed away, and he return
ed to work. but today he has to drag
his paralyzed foot.
Cases like this began to indicate to
the doctors that many patients /
thought the falls had caused their i'll /
ness, when instead the illness had /
caused the fall.
Bit by bit the physicians began to
learn a few minor facts in regard TO |
the disease. These were:
It was contagious
A kiss might cause it.
Drinking from public drinking cups
might spread It.
Healthy persons might distribute
the germs, without suffering them
selves.
Adults might be taken with It.
But
The doctors don't know what the
germ looks like.
They don't know how to kill it.
They don't know how long it lives.
They don't know why it works only
IN cold weather or in cold climates,
and they don't know where it lives in
he warm weather when it isn't work
ng
lansf L~Aur ~. -1.-~- 81 !