Omaha daily bee., 1919-05-25
Home Health Hints
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PrediSpOSition.

ITcuIspOsltIOn.
The absence of resistance to dis
ease, j. e., susceptibility. has beer
given the comprehensive title pre-
disposition, and we characterize as
predisposing every influence or cause
which tends to weaken the vita
forces and therefore predisposes to
disease. In every infection such
| causes always play an important role
usually more important than the in
fictitious agents, a fact to which toe
little heed is given in the hurry
burly Of life. The attitude of the
world in this respect is not unlike
| Its greater faith in the curative pow
ers or drugs. than disciplinary reg
ulation of its habits. If we should
symbolic infectious agents as a spi-
der, and humanity as a fly, then the
web would represent predisposing
causes. for only when the fly is en-
tangled in the web does the spider
attack its victim. 1t will be observed
That this conception of diseases does
not undervalue the part that in
fectious agents play as direct or ex-
citing causes of disease, but it fur
Their recognizes fully the preponder-
ating influence of those accessory
auxiliary, or predisposing causes
without which the animate agents
cannot act.
Heredity-Race.
Our knowledge Of race as infiu-
encing infection is Of comparatively
recent date. This knowledge, be-
sides having an important bearing
upon etiology, is of historical inter-
est in explaining the errors of judg-
ment which in the past led to great
crimes. In many notable epidemics
the Jews were singled out for perse-
cution, because they escaped the pre-
vailing scourge, their immunity be-
ing ascribed to a special knowledge
of the epidemic disease. During
cholera epidemics, the relationship
to drinking water which was recog-
nized, they were accused Of poison
ing the wells, and the brutal terocity
of insensate mob-violence was Wis
tied upon them. But the dispas-
sionate reasoning of scientific in
vestigation has acquitted them of
those charges by explaining their
insusceptibility to injection as a Pc
culiarity of the Hebrew race. Thus
by far fewer Jews are victims of
pulmonary tuberculosis than Gen.
tiles, and Asiatic cholera is so rare
among them as to lead some authors
to doubt that it ever occurs. Fur
thermore, they suffer less severely
from other infections, and less from
animal parasites than other races.
We should err greatly did we fail
to take into account a races Gus
toms and habits. For instance, other
things being equal, the Jews are bet
ter housed, eat more wholesome
food, are more clearly in their ha-
bits, take better care of their chill
dren, and are less given to intoxi-
cants, than their Gentle neighbors;
while all of them are still Influenced
more or less by the Mosaic sanitary
and dietary laws. Their standard
of life, if adopted by any people,
would tend to strengthen vital re-
sistance and, in some at least, would
lead to the establishment of the
antithesis of predisposition, immun-
ity.
Another factor which exercises it's
influence upon races susceptibility
or immunity is the length of time it
has been in contact with disease.
The first conflict Of race with an
infection often proves highly dis
astrous, as witness the terrible raw
ages Of measles among the natives
Of the Farce Islands in 1916, when
out of 1882 people 5000 were at
nd oil inv IF
the Fiji Islands in 1875 by the same
malady, during which 10000 of its
10000 inhabitants died. Nor is it
necessary to cite examples Of distant
peoples; in our own country we have
an object lesson in the Negro and
the Indian. The Negro is three
times as susceptible to tuberculosis
as the white inhabitants; and the
North American Indian has been
well-n nigh decimated by this great
white plague" Generally speaking,
the longer the contact Of a race with
an infectious disease the less is it's
predisposition to it. tuberculosis
we'll illustrates this point in the
respect that the most ancient races,
the Jews, suffer least from it; other
races in inverse ratio to their an
tiquity. elimination in susceptible
ity through contact is probably
brought about by large numbers of
individuals in successive generations
surviving an infection, and transmit
ting to succeeding generations their
own individual resistance, together
with that acquired by passing
through an attack Of the disease.
Animals also vary in their sus-
ceptibiity to various diseases.
Among cattle Jerseys are most sus-
ceptible to tuberculosis; and dogs
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