The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-05
MAJOR "TOM" AGAIN ON THE FIRING LINE Takes Issue With Lieut.. Putney on Virtues of kntI- Typhoid
 Serum

The following from the pen of Ma jor Thomas Boudren shows that the mental acumen Of the doughty major is as keen as ever and that his fight ing blood is as responsive as it was in the days of '61.
 '1n a recent issue of a Bridgeport newspaper a communication from First Lieut. Edward w Putneys of the us Army, appeared as a reply to a recent article of mine against the pro posed 1noculation of the members of our National Guard, with anti-typhoid serum. Lieut. Putney frankly states that his object is not to enter into a personal controversy, or to attempt to convince me that I am in error; but, instead, his object Is to try to dissi- pate any fears which I may have caus- ed, particularly in the minds of the Bridgeport members of the National Guard. concerning anti-typhoid inoc- ulation-
 However. without intent to force g. controversy, I feel that Lieut. Putney s criticism of my article demands re- reply; and I feel, also, that the mem bers of the National Guard, and your readers in general, are entitled to \ know the grounds upon which base 4 my. opposition to serum, vaccine and anti-toxin inoculations of all sorts.
 The best Lieut.. Putney has to offer Is medical statistics. Army and Ma " if you please, in support of, and in an endeavor to show the efficacy and harmlessness of anti-typhoid inocula tions but, from my experience with medical statistics pertaining to small pox and vaccination. am fully con- vinced that such statistics are utterly worthless, and people with common sense require evidence of a different < kind. to arrive at. correct conclusions. 2 a The evidence presented; regarding the absence of typhoid fever, in our Army. is negative, in fact proves nothing, because no one can say with certainty that any one of the men in ocuiated. that Is, immunized, would have developed typhoid fever if they lad not been inoculated at all In 3 other words according to medical req soning, the men were inocuiated, no typhoid fever occurred, hence the in oculation is responsible for the a,b- Eence of typhoid fever But, what protects the host of people never in ocuIated, and who never have typhoid fever. Is never explained, and the in fuences of improvements in sanitary conditions is never given due credit, if mentioned at all
 We hear practically nothing about the elaborate precautions taken to in sure sanitary conditions in military encampments of to-day. Lieut. Put ney does not tell us that when the Ar my was mobilized in San Antonio,
 
 vers and camps had been carefully se- lected, in one of the hea1thiest sec tionS of. the country; that the soil was dry and would not retain drainage; that the purest water was obtainable; that the. food was of the best. and that aH refuse was destroyed by fire every day.
 Besides, 1t was a picked body of men, as regards age=and ID f1ysical per lection, and they were not engaged in actual warfare, but in playing at war, and under the most perfect conditions obtainable- Surely, had typhoid fe- yer developed among the men so carefully safeguarded, even though they had not been subjected to inocu- 1ations with anti-typhoid serum, it would have been enough to warrant Bringing charges of incompetency against every officer in command, for only neglect in maintaining the really hygienic measures could have been the cause of any kind of serious ill., ness among the men.
 wish 1t were possible for my friend. Lieut. Putney. and for all men, to realize that wholesome food, pure water, pure air, thorough proper ven tilation. cleanliness of the body, with out and within and correct sanitary environment. will prevent not only ty- phoid fever but all so-cal1ed filth dis eases; and, contrarywise that pure
 
 health, to pollute it, by inocu1ating filthy and poisonous serunns and vac cines, cannot be of benefit; and it Will be difficult to furnish proofs to 4he sscontrary, acceptable to the man Of average sense.
 notice that Lieut.. Putney thinks the Boer War not sufficiently recent and that he questions the authenticity of my figures However, I have ad- ditionaI data which may be consid- cred more authentic, because taken from a U- s. Government Bulletin, No. z7gS issued by the Dept of Agriculture Dec 21, 1911, and entitled How to Prevent Typhoid Fever
 On page 6 in -ea5sB5II eth, we read
 Tt lanti-typhoid inocllIstion) failed in the English Army during the Boer War. when there occurred 57,6S4 cas- es of typhoid fever and s,o2o deaths" It would be interesting to find some official figures as to how those fared who did not avail nselves Of i'm Hunization, but all is silence on this point
 However. the failure in this instance Is readily accounted for, and I beg you to mark we'll the explanation giv- sn in the Bulletin. which I will quote in full:
 .But, the cause of this failure is now well known It was supposed at that time that the inocuIated men were protected by the inoculation, but it is now known that the temperature at which the typhoid cultures were killed for these inoculations was too high (sO to 65 degrees O. It has been demonstrated repeatedly since that date that cultures killed at this high temperature lose almost all their protective power, and the bacterial cultures now used are sterilized at a e-~eRe<zture 1e degrees lower l5a de- -E-S6s C. for one hour).' .''
 Now this means, first, that a thing can be deader than dead, and, second, that by killing the typhoid cultures at a temperature of 50 to 55 degrees C. they are killed altogether too dead, and that by killing them at a lower temperature of 53 degrees C., for one hour. they are not killed quite so