The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1916-07-27

cultivated outside Of the body Is SUI al
| undecided question
The spinal cord OF a paralyzed monkey
| always contains the virus we are consid
| erng If cancels hair pencil or pledset
| of cotton Is covered with some Of the
| broken up tissue of such cord and
| painted upon the mucous membrane OF
monkeys these animals will develop in due
| time the paralysis and other symptoms
| Of polomyeltis.
| The chief terror Of the disease lies In
| its appalling power to produce detormiteS
When death does occur Il Is not the re-
| suit, as In many infections. of a process
Of poisoning that robs the patient OF
strength ard consciousness before its I'M
minenCe, but IS caused solely by paralysis
OF the respiratory function, sometimes
with mercifltl suddenncss, but often with
painful slOwncSS, without In any degree
Ohscuring the consciousness of the sGfo-
eating victim until just before the end Is
reached No more terrible tragedy can
be witnessed
The employment for treatment Of the
immune serum. taken from monkeys or
from human beings. exercises a definite II
not very strong protective action upon IN
oculatcd monkeys Either the disease Is
prevented altogether, or It's evolution is
modified I'm such a manner as to diminish
its severity when the virus used for In
oculation is highly adapted to the monkey
and thus very vrulcut II Is more difficult
TO control the result than when 1t departs
less from the original type and Is less &C
tive.
How II Acts.
The immune serum has thus far acted
best when II was injected into the sub
dural sDaCe on several successive days
This Is In conformity with the fact that
however introduced into the body the
virus establishes itself In communication
with the cerebrosplnal liquid where It
prOpagates for time Later the virus
locaizes In the nervous tissue Itself and
becomes accessible not from this liquid
only but. probably. from the general blood
also
The serum introduced into the subdural
space soon escapes into the blood; and
thus double action is secured, on tho
one hand II reaches the nervous tissue di-
rcCtly from the cerebrospinal lquid, and
on the other indirectly with the blood. An
immune horse serum at first gave dsap-
pointing results. but latterly its employ
ment by intramuscular injection has given
more promise
The point Of departure which we have
adopted Is the drug ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Wrotropinl which possesses a degree OF
autiseptic action In the body and Is known
10 be seCreted into the cerehrospinal
liquid When the drug is adminlstrated
by mouth II can be detected by chemical
tests in the liquid in "A short ;lme. When
incubation Of virus and administration
Of the drug are begun together and the
administration continued for some DAYS
afterward. the development of the para
oil az
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS lends Itself TO mOdi-
ficatiOns by the addition OF still other
antiseptic groups to its molecule. We have
tested a large number of such modltca-
t0ns and have found certain ones to ex-
coed the original compound in protective
power. and others to promote the onset
Of paralysis None Is wholly without some
degree OF injurious action upon the SEN
sitiye and vital organs Of the body. But
manjpulatIyp skill has already succeeded
I'm eliminating the objectionable and i'm
proving the valuable features Of certain
drugs SO that they exert action but little
upon the organs and severely upon the
parasite, when they become Useful thera-
peutic agents.
Power May Return.
I'm the less severe cases of infantile
paralysis only a group Of muscles I'M
dergo complete paralysis and atrophE
ana there is always hope of some re
turn of power in rarayzed limb. As
~ocinted wit. the withcrcd condition of
the limb due to the muscular atrophy
is un cufccblcd circulation, rendering
the limb cold, blue and liyid; the nu-
triton of the bones and other parts is
involved. so that Il limb paralyzcd in
early infancy does not grow and *
shorter than its fellow.
In scandinavian countries the di
scase is prevalent and sometimes as
sunncS an epidemic form, whereby one
is led to believe that 1t is due to an
infective organism.
Beginning in 1907, or thereabout, a
pandemic of the disease arose. The
United States, Austria, Germany, and
latterly France have certainly had cpl
demic outbreaks. II is considered Il
matter Of significance that the original
foci of the epidemic disease in the
United States, occurring in the summer
nine years ago, were among the At
lantic Scaboard states, and that the
two centcrs Of population most seri-
uuSly affected We're Greater New York
and Boston. The particular point of
Importance in this respect arises from
the fact that those two ccnterS Of pop
ulation receive first and in most con-
ccnlrated way the immigrant popuIa-
lions from northern and eastern Eu-
rope,