The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-11-21

estimated that we have something
like $4,000 cases OF il. One caught
it lasts a long time. 1t is frequently
fatal, but there are instances In Italy
where people have been afflicted with
il as long as twenty-five years. Soma
suppose II to come from a poison.
which affects the nervous system. II
frequently causes insanity, and in It's
various stages brings dlarrhoea. a
weakening of the muscles, headache.
insomnia. jerking of the knees
ard partial paralysis. 1t at
fects the skin, the tomach and the
whole physical organization. In Ala
bama in 1907, there was an epidemin
of it at the Mount Vernon Hospital
for Colored Insane, in which there
were eighty-eisht cases and fifty
seven deaths.
No one Yet knows just what causes
~pellagra. 1t has been thought TO
come from the eating OF cornm~al
but this is doubtful. DR.. Anderson
tells me they have traced back many
cases where corn was no part Of their
diet. Moreover the scientists of the
hygenic laboratory haye fed rabbits.
mice, guinea pigs, and ether animals
upon the diet said to cause the dis
ease and tina withou any effect
whatsoever. DIR. c. II. Lavinder, who
has investigated the subject in con
nection with the laboratory, does not
think it can come from maize. ana so
far its origin is practically unknoNa.
During the present year the labor
atory has been attempting to give
monkeys pellagra. 1t has taken the
blood and spinal fluid OF p%ella@ra pa
tients and injected them into the
blood of these little animals. Or.
LaVinder has done the same, but SO
Tar their experiments have not been
successful. although valuable inform
if1Olf has hpan nhTajnn6
Typhoid Mary and Mrs. Y.
Some Of the most interesting work
OF Uncle Sans hygienic laboratory
has related to typhoid fever. The
corps Of doctors here are ready To re-
spond to any call from q typhoid ep-
idemic provided the State or city
where the typhoid is, makes the cau
At such times they go to the site of the
epidemic and investigate its origin
DR.. Anderson tells me that typhoid
can only come from the typhoid pa
cillus, and withou his is present it
cannot exist. One might eat bad fish
or bad meat which die not contain
this bacillus and in such cases he
could not have typhoid fever. How
ever. this little being exists in most
forms OF sewage, it multiplies at an
enormous rate, and it goes forth on
its career of destruction like an army
with 1t is not true that il is
comma In oysters, although it some
times comes from such shell fish as
nave been k from the salt water
and laid in brackish water to make
them swell up and look bigger.
The great danger of infection from
typhoid fever lies entirely in that
which comes from the patient when
ne IS IN certain stages Of the disease.
and as a rule this danger disappears
as soon as the man RECEIVERS. 1t has
been found, however, that there are
certain human hajn0S urhn ORC poPjt-
lus carriers. They are loaded with
typhoid and other diseases but the
disease has no effect upon them and
they keep in health. By disease 1
mean that they have in them multi
tudes of bacilli which causes the dis
ease. One case of this Kind was that
or a cook known as Typhoid Mary"
She went from place to place, and
wherever she went the people got the
typhoid fever. There were several
dozen or such cases, all caused by
this healthy Mary.
Similar instances have been discov-
cred by the Germans, and it IS now
found that there are certain people
who are carrying about the cholera
bacillus in the same way. For this
reason all the immigrants who are
now coming from the Mediterranean
are carefully examined, even to the
makln of q archaeological analysis.
A number of cholera carriers have
been already discovered and sent back
to Europe.
One OF the German doctors speaks
Of a female typhoid carrier who had
been distributing this disease for for
ty years, and another, the manager Of
an estate, who had been giving il out
for ten years. During this time six
teen cases Of typhoid had occurred on
that estate. In the German statistics
it is found that in about 400 female
carriers 800 were houSakeeperS and
DO domestic servants. One was con
nected with a dairy.
Typhoid From Dairy Milk.
And this brings me to one Of these
chronic bacillus carriers who once
spread a blanket of typhoid fever over
a large part Of West Washington. h
epidemic occurred in the fall Of 1908.
and in less than three weeks the Dis