The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-19
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

II AND TN4MGS
 A few days ago I wrote about the need
 of laboratory work in properly diagnosing
 certain diseases. I was surprised to learn
 just how much the up-to-date physician
 depended on it.
 1 I've just learned something new about
 pneumonia. Maybe it isn't so, but a med
 ical- man says pneumonia is no longer a
 bacterial outlaw; it obeys the usual rules
 The great point is that pneumonia is not
 one disease-it is four diseases. And these four diseases, although the physi-
 elan can notice no essential differences in their bedside manifestations, differ great 1 ly in their virulence- It is true, as Pas teur and Sternberg discovered, that about 60 per cent of normal human beings con-
 their mouths and thoats. It's. however
 diphtheria that want to write about l I know of quite a curious case. Two boys in the same house were suspected of having diphtheria. Cultures from each | were sent to the Iaboratory-one showed bad and the younger boy was put to bed The other gave no diphtheritic signs and
 so the 6elder was permitted to go out
 to play.
 | Just as a precaution the physician took
 an extra specimen for test. It showed TI1rr hoo oly io h h a he rushed in and asked for the oldest boy. Being told that he was out in the yard playing, he went out and said Young man, come right in the house. you've got diphtheria,' T ain't got noth-
 ing.' said the lad, and it was hard to get him in.
 I don't know the technical name of the stuff the doctor injected into the boy. l was told but have forgotten. Anyway,
 I'm not trying to practice medicine, but interested me was what the father said about his boy.
 It seems his boy is disinclined to work Evidently he had a very light diphtheria touch, for his son refused to go or rather to stay in bed. Very much to the father s
 surprise, his offspring showed unusual
 energy and began to work in the garden and cut kindling.
 He sent for the doctor. Doc" said he, what did you do to that kid of
 mine?" "Oh," replied the physician, q ,t, ori,, the treatment had proved B failure, he said, 'Well, what's the matter, isn't he doing well?" Sure" said the pleased parent just shoot 5000 more into him
 and maybe I'll continue to get some
 work out of him"
 This reminds me of an old bachelor, a society man. met him a few months back and he complained that he had no inclination to work. Said he was getting lazy. I thought it was his nor
 nal condition but he was worried. A while back met him and he was chipper and spry Why the spring in the step, and the general air of ac- tivity? What's happened to you since we last met?" I asked. Here is what he answered.: "Why, man alive, I read so | much about the hookworm treatment
 and the marvellous things it was do-
 ing, I laid off for day or two and | took it.'
 Can you beat it? had always asso- | ciated the cure with pale faced,
 aenemic, underfed men, women and children living on the border edge of poverty, and here was a club man, a business fellow, and something of
 sport, quietly forsaking society to 1 have it out with the hookworm. I do not know just exactly how to end these incidents. I can hardly ad- wise you to give your boy diphtheritic treatment to speed him up; neither will the indolently inclined take kind
 ly to the suggestion that they indulge
 in the sport of chasing hookworms out of their system I'll just leave it to fathers to use the old birch tree rem edy and advise the lazy men to take up athletics or take to golf.