The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-11-21


certain physicians has caused more
conflicting ideas and reversals of
opinions among doctors in general
than any epidemic of fear that has
been started in a long time. The only
thing that 1t can be compared with is
the crime wave" that a municipal
police department stirs up when an
enlarged appropriation or new laws
giving 1t more despotic power are
needed. On such occasions some or
binary crime is featured" and cover
ed with mantle of mystery. The
police discover new and more sensa-
tional clues hourly and this goes on
until the purpose back OF it all is
achieved. Then the alarming spec
tres fade away and are forgotten.
Infantile paralysis is not a new bug
bear. although 1t has been widely her
aided as the most modern of myster-
ious diseases. AS matter of fact it
was known and commented upon by
doctors so or 40 years ago. No one
worried about 1t very much until late
ly. AS money-maker for the medical
profession it has entirely eclipsed
pellagra or the hookworm.
When this excitement was first
started it was asserted. for instance.
that infantile paralysis sought it's VIC
TINS exclusively among the children
of the poor. This theory received a
setback the other day when the two
daughters OF Congressman Frank O.
Lowden of Oregon, ILL.,, were taken i'll
with what eminent Chicago specialists
called anterior poliomyelitis, which is
the fear-inspiring Greek name for the
disease. These little girls are the
granddaughters of Mrs. George NJ.
Pullman. and it is said will inherit her
vast wealth. Congressman Lowden.
their father, is very rich also. So
the poor children" theory was drop
ped overheard.
Hardly a day passes without theory
after theory being exploded and others
more picturesque taking their place.
It reminds one of a detective bureau
that is avid for advertisement and
while pretending to seek an alleged
criminal spends more time in thinking
of fresh ways to keep in the days
news.
1t is unethical for doctors to ad-
vertise, but certain class of physi-
clans get around that very cleverly
by taking advantage Of the excite
ment over every much-talked-of dis
ease. He let's It be known to the news
papers that he has made some i'm
portant discovery or has evolved some
sensational theories in regard to it's
origin. treatment or cure. He allows
himself to be interviewed. reluctantly.
of course. The adherents OF
the "medico-political" school scorn
the "old fogy" methods of the doctors
of the past generation-the men who
placed their skill and humanity above
all else and to whom pecuniary re-
ward was only incidental. The ex-
cuse of the doctor OF this school is
that his profession is overcrowded and
that the man with the most imagina-
ton gets the business. 1t is this same
commercial spirit that is back Of the
movement to form national depart
ment Of health, with its head cabinet
officer. which would place the direc-
ton of the doctoring of the inhabitants
of the United States in the hands OF
one particular school of medicine and
give it a practical monopoly.
The history of this infantile paral'
yisis scare is one of the most interest.
ing of any OF these alarms. It dis.
plays a breadth of Imagination that
rises above the mere picturesque. The
conflicting theories OF methods OF the
various eminent experts who have
permitted" themselves to be inter
viewed on the subject show with
startling clearness how absurd and
impossible 1t would be to direct a ma
tional health department with such
physicians at its head.
The cause Of infantile paralysis has
been assigned to scores of different
things. Last summer 1t was gravely
asserted that germ-laden dust was at
the bottom Of the whole matter. Hard
ly had one set of eminent physicians
announced the dust discovery before
another, jealous of their fame. said
chickens were to blame. They point
ed to several cases Of infantile paraly'
sis in Montgomery county. Maryland,
and to the deaths of a large number
Of chickens in the same region, both
apparently from the same cause. This
chicken idea was a brilliant one and
1t was speedily followed by other
equally fanciful surmises as to the
origin OF anterior poliomyelitis. II
was successfully ascribed to tree
blight, soothing syrups, heredity,
dampness, chilled food. Buffalo gnat
dissipation, and a score of other
things.
The District Medical association OF
Washington, D. c.. became SO alarm
ed about the epidemic" that a resolu
ton was offered at one of its meetings