The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-07-26
set Out the Extra Hankie and Prepare
to Sneeze Now That Weeds and
Golden Rod are Flourish
ing.
VICTIMS CONVENTION
In New England They Have sneeze-
less City Where the Ones Most
Affected Gather and Enjoy
Life.

ITO be out of style is to be out o
The world"-therefore all Keokuk PEG
pie desiring to keep pace with the
times should make immediate prepare
tions for the "aristocratic" hay fever
season which fast approaches. The
time for the sneezefest is at hand
logged in close fitting goggles to
protect their eyes, with cotton filters
in their noses, and with lips tightly
closed against invading irritants, the
old guard of the hay fever fraternity
are already preparing to do battle with
the flowers that bloom in the summer
and fall
OF course they know that they will
be unsuccessful in their resolve not
to sneeze once this year. They know
that they will soon be saying, IDS a
beautiful bording," instead of talking
in their usual bell-like tones. They
even foresee that their eyes will be
pulled up like frogs, and their noses
will be red, and their faces in general
will suggest traces of violent emotion.
But they prepare to suffer with the
dignity BETTING one who is afflicted
with an aristocratic ailment.
For the high character of hay fever
is now universally acknowledged. Doc
tors who have studied the disease most
carefully testify that it attacks only
the superaesthetic. 1t is malady of
distinction and one which you can
well afford to cultivate if you don't
mind being thoroughly miserable while
displaying your superiority.
Whom bav faver first hpcarnc rrar.
alent, about the time of the civil war,
sufferers went about suffering and
weeping and weighed down with a
sense OF appearing ridiculous Hay
fever was then joke and a mystery.
Now that science takes it seriously,
the million or more people who sneeze
at the mention of weeds are coming
to glory in the idea that they are
souls apart, endowed with hypersensi-
tive noses and periously high-strung
nervous systems.
Aristocratic AiIment
Some of the Fl. f. ". (Which stands
for hay fever victims), claim to be so
delicately balanced that they lose their
equilibrium completely if stalk of
ragweed sprouts within half mile
Others go them one better by insist
ing that they have had attacks OF
sneezing brought ON by looking at an
oil painting of goldenrod and daisies.
1t IS a well established fact that the
exciting cause of hay fever is the pol
len of any of hundred or more 4,
plants and grasses carried about on
the wind. Because the wind cannot !
be depended on to carry each grain !
OF pollen to the right flower to pro
mote fertilization, great many ex-
ira grains are produced, SO that some /
will be sure to fulfill their purpose. /
Thus, in the case of ragweed, it is |
estimated that several million grains !
of pollen are scattered on the wind ,
for every grain which lands on rag ,
weed plant. !,
These straying atoms of pollen
sometimes travel five or six miles on
the wind. They are in the air we
breathe. Ninety-nine people in a
hundred have them in their nasal pas !,
sages, and the membrane is efficiently !
proof against irritation, so that no /
harm is done. But in the hundredth !
nose the mucous membrane is extra
sensitive. The poison enters the
membrane and starts an irritation.
the possessor of the hun
dredth nose is getting wireless mes
sages to his brain about violent con-
fict in his nasal passage. He sends !
back an order not to surrender, but
by this time the attacking enemy is
reinforced by some more pollen grains
and defeat is inevitable. I
Susceptibility to hay fever is mys- d
cry. Some people respond only to |
'agweed; others to the pollen of corn -
and rye. A great many think that Z
soldenrod is their particular nemesis, L
but science has showed that the pol !
en- is so heavy that 1t cannot be Il
blown any distance by the wind, and {
hat therefore goldenrod can cause a .
lay fever spasm only when the pollen !.
s inhaled from the plant itself AS p
ew hay feverites ever allow them
elves to come within this danger
one of goldenrod, the plants evil 9,
equation is obviously undeserved. ~
Weeds to Blame
Some people are victims OF hay fe- f.
er from childhood. Many, however. \
evelop the disease later, some as late b
S fifty years of age. One reason for m
his seems to be the fact, just men
Toned, that different people are sus- iiv
eptible to different plants. Thus,
eople whose noses would not think II
r having Mysteries ever field grasses te
r honeysucl1les, and who are invulner- t.
BILE to the deadly cocky bur, may &C
be laid low if they traye. 81
, different section of the country 'bt
here the air is loaded with different sc
ollen poisons
Whether every nose is vulnerable K
some pollen toxin is not yet known 81
is certain that a great many peopIe
scape hay fever only because thew lit
ever happen to get within range If
ollens which would affect them.
once the malady attacks you, the flu