The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-01-24

The epidemic of scarlet fever in
Hartford gives me the opportunity to
say some things that have been long
incubatfng in my mind. What I am
about to say will probably be scohed
at by the dominant powers; but you
know that 'tthe blood of the martyrs
is the seed OF the church. and it may
be also the seed OF preventative medi-
cal science. In 1854, my father, a
physician, had a family very sick with
scarlet fever next door to where we
lived in Gl1ilford. AS preventative
he gave to my brother and myself at
tenuated doses OF be1ladonna tincture.
A cousin of mine sent me to the house
of the sick family while one boy was
dying, and although I remained some
time before I found my mother. there
did not contract the disease. At
ter 1871, when I began to practice
m edicine, had a number OF families
with scarlet fever In New Haven, al
ways protecting myself successfully
with be1ladonna.
A Personal Experience.
In 1873 I was on a walking trip
around East CRANKY and ran into
house where man was in the peel
ing stage, and caught a fearful attack
myself. In thirty seven years since
have been in steady practice. have
made use OF this remedy constantly as
a preventive many times limiting the
cases to one in q number of children
of family. I believe 1t Is safe and
so simple that it is worthy Of being
used Systematically as a preventative
or protective medication. The eclec-
tics mostly Use the assayed tincture
made by Lloyd Brothers of Cincinnati
ii, as the best on the market But
the homeopathic pharma cies carry
many fine preparations OF less strength
than the ec1ectics. Ordinary drug
| ttnctures are not always reliable. The
dose is to put six to ten drops to four
ounces OF water. giving of this one
teaspoonful four times day. To ekAl-
dren under years of age five drops
| is enough
Sulphur Smoke.
The second proposition In the pre-
tentative use OF sulphur su1okA Tkie-
ty. years OF constant observation leads
me to believe that neither the germ Of
| scarlet fever nor OF diplBtheria can
pass through the smoke of moist sui
| phur and retain it's infective vitality.
Very many times I have isolated one
case of very severe diphtheria in one
room and burned sulphur constantly
before the door of the room, the door
| being open, and none of the family
living in the rooms adjoining has been
attacked. OF course, it IL needful to
get the first case affected, and to keep
strict asepsis Of all food and the dish
es used by the sick person. But. in
the days before attf-toxin and quar-
| antfne. I have maintained this re-
| gime successfully, and consider it bet
ter than a later funnfgation with for
fna1dehyde, as more surely catching
| migrant germs. In scarletina the
whole body OF the patient should be
1 rubbed freely twice q day in lard,
either plain or earbolated- This will
ease the itching OF the patient, but
more than all it will catch the des-
1 hi nf
floating in the air. It will fall into
4 the sheets and be more readily deE-
| troyed.
Teacher as Well as Medical Director.
1 For many years Z have considered
| it a shame IL any second family be-
| came infected from one of my cases.
The doctor should be the teacher as
well as the medical director.
F'umigat1on.
| Now q word about ft1rnigation:
Many of the most dangerous cases
as regards injecting centers occur in
houses where the rooms are Few, and
all occupied. In such houses very
often the. spare clothes are hung near
to or within reach Of the smoke of
cooking. While I cannot prove it
| yet, have long believed that none OF
| by ordinary smoke, but that when
they are caught in the smoke of
graasy cooking they are rather pre-
served. Consequently all these pieces
of clothing that IN reaFh of both
the cooking smoke and the exha1ing
germs are rendered infectious When
later, it may be wee4ls later, in resist
ent germs ass scarlet fever or dfph-
liberia, these clothes are worn they
renew the infection again and the
diseases get a new focus of growth.
For this reason as long as the disfn-
lection process were left to the indi-
| vidua1 doctors. [ personally saw that
everything was well smoked with wet
sulphur steam and dry smoke.
Such has been my observation for
more than a third of century and 1
do not feel at all ashamed of the re-
suits, and doubt if modern disinfec-