Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-06-25
By FREDERIC J.
HA SKIN
THE HASKIN LETTER
THREE BILLION sNEEZEs

try where the air is loaded with differ
ent pollen poisons.
Whether every nose is vulnerable to
some pollen toxin is not yet known 1t
is certain that q great many people
escape hay fever only because they never
happen to get within range of pollens
which would affect them.
Once the malady attacks you, the doc
tors say that you will most likely have
it every year at the same time for the
next decade or so. Of course you may
be able to avoid it by seeking out some
weedless place or if you know what
plants are antagonistic to your eyes and
nose, you have simply to spend your
summers where those particular plants
are unknown. The majority Of II. +.
VS. respond violently to numerous plants.
Some of them seek refuge on the high
seas, or on the top of a mountain peak,
in the heart of city, or in the depths
of our few remaining virgin forests.
A few resorts, notably those at high
attitudes and on the sea coast, do seem
to be comparatively free from wind
borne pollen. Up in New England, the
Fl. T. VS. have a retreat which they
claim is completely organized against the
disease. At the boarding houses of this
village the dining-tables and parlors are
bare of flowers. Not even artificial
suggestion is strong, and, then too, artl-
ficial flowers are great collectors OF
dust No dancing is allowed in the hotels
lest dust start some one sneezlng ana
bring an epidemic of kerchoos. The
swiftest growing weeds scarcely get their
leaves above ground in the neighborhood
before they are destroyed.
A Sneezeiess City.
In this especially treated atmosphere
the convention of the hay feyerites meets
yearly. There is d good deal of fun, for
the delegates can see the humor Of
hay fever-as exempGfied in their fell
low delegates. The main purpose Of the
convention is, however, serious. Talks
on remedies are given. and experiences
are exchanged. Persons supposed to be
cured testify for the benefit of the rest
and others Immediately rise to say that
they tried the same thing for years and
it ia failure.
There are about eighty cures on the
market ranging from the really bene-
ficial to the dangerous. Some Of the rem
edies with the best records for cures
contain enough cocaine or morphine to
make drug addicts of the persons tax
ing them. For this reason the hay
fever brotherhood always advises mem
bers to take nothing without first con-
sulting a reliable physician.
The most important development In
treatment of hay fever in recent years is
the pollen toxin. About fifteen years
ago, German scientist named Dunbar
inoculated horses with the toxin from
grass pollen. and from the counter
poisons which developed be obtained
serum. which he found to be beneficial
in preventing hay fever and in arresting
irritation in persons already suffering
from it,
Since then, Dunbar's experiments have
been carried further, and toxins have
been produced from various combina-
tions of pollens. In some cases these
toxins have cured the patient for the
entire season. Then again, no improve
ment occurred. possibly because the
toxin was composed OF the wrong poilens
for that particular case.
Though the toxins have proved
valuable remedy, they nave not driven
out hay fever as 1t was prophesied. In
fact, the disease is said 70 be "n the
increase. 1t is not contagious, but the
nasal condition favorable to it IS some
times inherited. The advance of hay
fever is ascribed partly TO the fact that
so many city dwellers live in the su-
burbs where weeds usually grow abund-
antly.
Hay fever statistics are vague but i'm
pressiye. Members of the hay fever
association estimate that there are now
at least 100000 hay fever sufferers
in this country, and that during the
sneezing season, averaging forty-two
days. they sneeze on an average, seven
ty-six times day each. Euaipped
with these indisputable estimates the
statisticians proceed to show that these
organized sneezers produce 3,192 900 900
sneezes each year. Luckily for the
United States the sneezers have not
organized to the extent of agreeing TO
set off their seventy-six daily sneezes
at regular times. The reverbation of
a million simultaneous kerchoos would
surely bring cur skyscrapers topping
down about our ears and deafen the
country with their resounding echoes.