Bisbee daily review., 1910-12-01


 spices of the Y. M c. Al
 The theme assigned to me by the secretary Is a very broad one and in seeking suitable application of it I have determined to consider the 7k per cent of the men who be- come i'll and die of pneumonia: for. of all deaths, more than ten per cest are due to that disease and three-fourths of the number are men.
 Pneumonia has been known and studied since the time of Hippocrates, who Is considered the founder of med ioane, and who lived in the fourth century B. c. It is probably the disease that was known as the plague of Athens that caused the death Of onefourth of that ancient city. and, a sthe Black Death, swept away one half of Europe in the fourteenth cen tury. It appears both epidemically and sporadically. Probably no other dABease is more far-reaching or dis astrous to the human race.
 You have all seen cases of it, and doubtless some of you have been at- tackled with 1t We are so accus- toned to its presence that its dan
 
 preciated, and it is not generally known that as regards fatality it Is not even exceeded by tuberculosis. vet statistics so estimate it. Like tu- bGrculosis. it is found in all peoples and in all cltmes: but unlike that d g. ease, croupous pneumonia, which Is tho form in which it is generally known. either promptly kills its vic ,s~ %a kfo Ia hc only word that can be said in it's fsvUr.
 In Cook county hospital Chica- ss. 37 per cent of those attacked with pneumonia die of it In 1902 an epidemic visited Bisbee and Can aneA- The death rate was very high, amounting in Bisbee. I am informed by my friend and colleague, Dr. H ok mAA. who was there ar the time, to nearly Se per cent In Caranea i's ravaees were so pronounced that some of the medical men believed if to be a new sort of plague and called it "Bleck Heart" the name being i indicative of the autopsy findings in which an intensely congested heart was the most marked lesion
 It ie particularly worthy of consid- . YOU men. because it occurs most ire luently during the winter and spring appears to be more yirulent in high. dry attitudes than in the low. wet ones: and attacks adult men more frequently than any other class.
 Why do we have pneumonia, and aow may we avoid it2 The answer oF hn zs and the conditions that favor its prop l gation.
 The cause of pneumonia is a micro organism which was discovered and by Frankel in 1884. and Ia honor of it's discoverer is most ire luentiy called Freukels pneumococ- sas. although it is often spoken of as Ianceolatus. This micro organism does not confine it's work to ung tissue only, but is a frequent cause of other affect ons; such as, pleurisy, infiammations of the heart, brain and spinal cord. intestines, peri toneum. eye. ear, nose, throat, ton sils and is often met in abscesses and joint affections. And not only Is it net in pathological conditions, but tn sound bodies as well.
 
 in an apparently we'll person does not necessarily condemn that person to the disease with which under ce-- tain conditions it may be the chief cause. It appears that its presence, while a menace, does not become se- rious unless by strength of numbers or by weakness Of the tissues that II attacks, it is able to overcome the normal resistance of those tissues In hundreds of sputum examinations l have rarely failed to find this casual germ of pneumonia. and I have no doubt that sufficient search In the se- eretions of each of your mouths, noses and throats would reveal its preesnce It is even probable that through th's constant presence in small numbers in our bodies 1t has brought about a certain amount of i'm munity in us. just as we may accus- tom ourselves, little by little. to other poisons. This may partially answer the question that often is asked: Why, if these germs are so constant ly in us and about US. ready to de your us. do we not all succumb t. them?
 They gai, entrance into our bodies through our mouths and noses and begin their work on the mucous mem brane which lines the respiratory tract. or, are absorbed into the sys- tenn and circulate in the lymph and blopd vessels in search of a weak spot in the economy where they may starr disease. They are almost in variably associated with catarrhs, and inlammat on Of nose. throat, ear and other respiratory and ac- cessory organs In praparing for this talk to you l was anxious to secure a good specimen of this micro-organ- ism, in order that you might see 1t under the microscope. While waiting for a case of pneumonia a young lady su1erfnx with acute tonsilitis oppor- timely presented herself and from bcr throat I prepared the slide which yod see under the first microscope and which shows an almost unmixed specimen of Fraenkers pneumococ- cous. Under the second microscope is the stained sputum from a case = .x-o<1oy t.rcvunnnso wbfrb you will