The sun., 1916-09-06
MORTALITY RISES IN
PARALYSIS CASES
Yet Health Board Insists Usual
Children's Ailments Are
Not Mistaken.
DISEASE STILL MYSTERY
Epidemic Rapidly Passing and
Federal Officers Will
Soon Depart.

A the cases Of infantfle paralysis BE-
gin p~erceptively to decrease despite an
upward movement at intervals. which 10
not considered alarming. there has been
q noticeable advance In h mortality
ratio. The last figures announced By
the Health Department hxed the death
rate at 81 per cent. while since maj
time there has been . slight advance In
the rate, data on which will be sub
mitted by tho Board Of Health thA week.
Commissioner Emerson. commenting
on this yesterday. Issued two state
ments designed primarily to silence "a
rious critics Who have steadily main
tanned that the growing ratio Of deaths
to the number Of new cases has been
Inaccurate, due partly to incorrect dag
noses.
II would can attention." saad d. I'm
erson, ITO the fact that deaths In this
disease follow 20 shortly AFTER the onset
and report OF the cases a. to Justify
using the weekly report list a. . basis
| Of calculating a weekly death rate. and
| that although there may BE- isolated
| cases Of o wrong diagnosis. We nave
| checked UP 20 thoroughly on The subject
| that We do not believe the criticism quite
q Just n
Deaths Are cAaracteristsa
.our Investigation into the causes OF
Deaths show hat in practically every
| case Of death attributed to infantile pa
| ralysis the death occurred from respira-
| tory paralysis in a way 20 characteristic
as to avoid all possibility Of confusion
with deaths from diarrhoeal diseases
In the t~wenty-four hours ended yester.
day morning. forty-three new cases OF
poiiomyelitis were reported to the Health
Department, an increase Of four over the
previous day, but thirty less than last
Tuesday, Deaths totaled twenty-ore. an
increase Of nve. This slight increase
was anticipated and q further increase
IL looked for to-day. Manhattan 10 now
leading all the boroughs In the number
Of new cases and deaths. recording
fifteen and nine respectively yesterday.
The epidemic on Manhattan 10 proving
. hard n to stamp out
FEDERAL stan e withdraw
Yet 20 optimistic was DR.. Charles z.
Banks Of h United States Public
Health serv!ce that tina epidemic Is
really on the wans that he said most OF
his stan would leave the city within ten
days or two weeks. Or. c. II. Lavinder
Of the Federal Research bureau. who 10
working In cooperation with the city's
bactcriologists. has made little Roadway
in determining tho cause or spread Of the
disease, although most Of the experts
have agreed that II gradually burns
itself put Of available material. Beyond
this science has not penetrated.
License Commissioner Bell said ys0tss~
day in reply to statements OF confusion
In the r%eopen!ns OF tho motion picture
theatre TO children that his office had
issued the requisite permission and he
could not understand why all the man.
ayers did not receive permits
The Health Department announced
that there seemed no reason to believe
that the schools would not be opened on
September 26. the tentative date set
Disease wanes In Newark.
Health authorities Of Newark were
jubilant yesterday over the decrease OF
tho paralysis epidemic. there having been
only four new cases reported In the last
t~wenty-four hours and one death. In the
rest OF New Jersey twenty new cases
were reported. making n total OF ?.77s.
Five municipalities. heretofore unaf-
fected. appeared IN Yesterdays list.
The New York State Board OF Health
announced figures showing a total OF
1904 cases and 243 deaths since the be-
ginning Of the epidemic. Poughkeepsis
leads with the highest proportion for its
population. One death and four new
cases were reported from there yestsr-
day.
DR.. Earl c. PECK. assistant resident
physician at the Municipal Hospital.
Philadelphia, died yesterday from infan-
tile paralysis. lie had attended hundreds
Of hid patients. Or. Peck was - years
old and lived In Newton. Mass.
Horace A. Quimby. member Of last
years Harvard varsity crew, developed
~infantile paralysis at his homo In Spring.
field. Mass. yesterday.
The opening Of the Doseoa public
schools has been postponed to September
:5 on account Of the epidemic