New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1920-04-23
DR.. Simon Flexner Proposes
Combating Dread Disease
at Its Origin.
EASTERN EUROPE PLAGUE spot
Many Recorded Epidemics Shown TO
Have Eliminated From That Area
-Dioease Claims More Victims
Than European War.

New Notwithstanding to DIR. Simon
Flexner, Director of Laboratories of
the Rockefeller Institute for Medical
Research, further occurrences OF the
influenza epidemic can be prevented
only by wiping out the disease at Its
source. In n recent address before the
Congress OF American Physicians and
can Medical Association, he outlined
the path of the disease through Its
different stages.
There are excellent reasons for re-
gardlng the endemic home of Influenza
to be Eastern Europe" he said, "and
I'm particular the border regions be-
tween Russia and Turkestan. Many
recorded epidemics have been shown
more or less clearly To emanate from
that aree. while the epidemics OF re-
cent history have been traced there
with a high degree of conclusiveness.
From this Eastern home, mt intervals
Of two or three decades, a migrating
epidemic influenza begins, moving east
ward and westward, with the greater
velocity In the latter direction.
Uneanny In Action.
ITO the casual observer there Is
something uncanny in the way influ-
enza strikes down its victims. While
other epidemics proceed from bad to
worse. with at least progressive In
creases in intensity, influenza seems to
overwhelm communities over even Wild
or stretches Of territory MS by n single.
stupendous blow. While in the one
case the gradually a%ccelerating rate of
speed OF extension may be taken to
Indicate personal conveyance of the
provoking micro-organism. In the other
the sudden wide onset appears the
very negation of personal communion
ton.
Hence the invoking Of mysterious
Influences. the revival OF the notion OF
miasm and similar agencies, 70 account
for this phenomenon. Indeed. the pub
lie mind IN general lends itself readily
10 such formless concepts. for the rea-
son that there still resides In the mass
Of the people. even IN the more en-
lightened countries. n large uneradi-
Gated residue Of superstition regard
ing disease. One does not need TO look
far " dig deep in order TO ncover
the source Of this superstition. We
have only recently emerged from n
past In which knowledge Of the origin
Of disease was scant. and such views
as were commonly held and exploited
were mostly ~fallacious. II Is. indeed.
very recently. II the transformation
ran be said 10 he perfect even now.
that the medical profession as a whole
has been completely emancipated. All
this IL very far from being n matter
Of remote Importance only. since in
the end the successful Imposition Of
sanitary regulations involves wide CO.
operation and until the majority Of in
dividuals composing a community is
brought TO a fair level of understand
ing II and belief in the measures pro-
posed. serious and sustained endeayor
TO enforce them Is scarcely to be ex-
pected
Eoutine a Bueaboo.
And yet no better instance Of n
communicable disease could perhaps he
invoked than Influenza TO exercise the
false idea Of the mysterious origin of
epidemics. To dwell solely on the sud
den and overwhelming stroke of the
disease is wholly to overlook the
significant incidents that precede the
mass infection. because they are Of
such ordinary nature and lack all dra