Omaha daily bee., 1919-10-19
Roasting Places of Influenza.

II was reported the other day that
a liner had arrived from Bombay
with some hundreds Of cases of in
fluenza on board. writes the medical
correspondent of the London Times.
The cases were segregated. and so
far no spread Of the disease has been
notified. Yet the incident should
serve to remind the authorities that
the return Of winter means a return
of danger. A great epidemic IL apt
to recur when conditions favorable
to it are prevalent. In this case
there can be no possible excuse for
failure to take precautions in ad-
vance.
The subject of epidemics is at pres
ent greatly interesting the medical
profession. 1t is very difficult, and
no very definite knowledge exists.
Recently Flexner suggested that, as
each epidemic has some "home" in
which it is endemic and from which
1t goes out periodically to vex the
world, much might be achieved were
these roosting places Of disease to be
attacked and cleared up. He cited
the work on yellow fever as an exam
pie, and went on to argue that prob
ably influenza also possessed a home
in the regions Of the east. cholera
another, and so on.
The idea is interesting and may
prove useful. For, If it were posi-
Bile to concentrate upon such an en-
demic area and to render it sterile,
great results might follow. On the
other hand, before such steps were
taken a great body Of evidence ould
be necessary. 1t is by no means easy
to trace the beginnings Of wave OF
disease, and there is always the
chance that these beginnings may
not be found in the same area on
each occasion.
Hypnotism and Shell Shock.
In the psychology subsection of
the British Institute DR.. w. Brown
gave an address on hypnotism and
mental analysis as applied to SOL
diers suffering from shell shock, gun
shock. and other maladies.
In 1915, he said. he was appointed
neurologist to one Of the armies In
France, being the first person to be
in charge of a nerve hospital In the
and more convinced Of the great
value and Importance Of hypnotism
in nerve cases. Many of the men
had been hypnotized by sheer ex-
plosion, and he found that on send
ing them to sleep the suggestions
given while they were in that state
were effective. All the patients suf-
fered from loss Of memory, SO or so
per cent being severe cases. He used
hypnotism to clear up their memoir
ices, and then went on to add sug-
gestions.
One of the most common symp-
tome, he continued, was loss of
voice. He had 121 cases in 16
months. and in every instance he
found that by hypnotizing the pa
tient and suggesting that he lived
his experience over again, but
without saying anything about his
voice. the man recovered his
speech. He had tried five cases which |
came to the hospital in a single
evening, and in each case directly |
he put his hand on the patients |
forehead the voice came back. |
the malady disappeared |
not by suggestion but by unlocking |
the bottled-up emotions. A man |
who had become deaf and dumb in |
Gallipoli and suffered from extreme |
loss Of memory was unable to re- |
member anything that had happened |
applied to him appeared |
to be inadequate, but after he had |
rolled out of bed he found he could |
both speak and hear. In another /
case an educated mechanic who had
been blown up by bomb found on |
consciousness that every |
thing was twisted round, many |
things being at right angles as he |
saw them This, it was learned, was 1
a recurrence Of childhood expert |
ences, and he put the man through
them again with the result that he |
became clear, and was able to be
gunner formerly a gamekeeper, who
hand, which had been going on for
memory. The man> was hypnotized.
him that he should live over again
woke up he saw that his hand was
cured" On the following day he
razor for the first time since his
said, was simple way Of carrying
man to talk about himself and his
then he obtained relief.
necessary. AS far as possible it was
sleep, ordinary sleep, that was
wanted.