The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1920-05-07

municati0n of the near future, we may
predict that the next pandemic, should
one arise, will extend with the swift
ness of an airship.
Moreover, not only is this rate of
spread determined by the nature of
the transportation facilities Of the re-
gion or the era, but towns and villages.
mainland and island. are invaded early
or late or preserved entirely from,
attack according as they lie within
or without the avenues Of approach or
are protected by inaccessibility, as In
instances of remote mountain settle
ments and of islands distant from
ocean lanes or frozen in during winter
periods.
To Avert occurrences.
ut Is desirable, In the interest OF
clear thinking, to carry this considera-
ton of the characteristics of epidemic
Influenza a step further. A feature
OF the epidemic disease of particular
Significance Is the tendency TO recuS.
that is, to return to stricken region
after an Interval. usually of months Of
relative quiescence.
"Thus the beginning of the last pam
dernic In Europe and the United States
has been traced TO sporadic cases APP
pearing i'm April. May and June, pos
sibly even earlier In certain places.
while the destructive epidemic ragged
during September. October and Novemr
Der Of 1913. There are very good rea-
sons for believing that in itself in
flnenZa Is not serious disease, but
that its sinister character is given by
the remarkable frequency with which
IT is followed. under particular circum-
stances by concomitant or secondary
pneumonia infection, to which the Sc
we're effects and high mortality are
traceable."
The manner In which to fight dis
eases Of this nature Is. according to Or.
FlcNner. one Of central rather than
peripheral control" that Is. fighting
the disease at its source rather than
waging series of campaigns against
ID after II has spread to distant cen
tiers. To quote:
According to this proposal. an eff
fort at control amounting even to even
tual eradication Of the diseases In the
regions of their endemic survival would
be undertaken. an effort indeed. not
occasional and intensively spasmodc.
as during the pandemic excursions.
but continuous over relatively long
periods, In the hope that the seed
beds, as 1t were, Of the disease might
be destroyed
THAT such IN effort at the eradica-
ton Of n serious epidemic disease may
be carried through successfully. the ex.
perience with yellow fever abundantly
proves. In attacking that disease, the
combat was not put off until its cpl
demic spread had begun and until new
territory. such as New Orleans, jack
sonville and Memphis, had been in
vAded; but the attack was made on its
sources at Havana, Panama and now
Gunyaquil, to which endemic points the
extensions into new and neutral terri
DRY had been traced.
More Victims Than War
"Tn proposing to strive for the high
achievement, not merely of parrying
the blows struck by destructive cpl
denies. hut of rendering them i'm
potent to strike In the future, we may
pause for n moment to reflect on the
different ways In which peoples reac.
TO great caiamitles, such as those
brought by war and by disease. AS the
results Of cruel and devasting war.
revolutions In governments supposed
the most stable may occur: no such
result follows on still more devastat-
Ing epidemics. The recent epidemic Of
influenza claimed possibly. more vic.
Tins than did the great war and the
losses to the world In emotion spent.
treasure consumed. and progress I'm.
peded are incaIculable; yet, through
fortuitous circumstance of psycliol-
oSy. from the one calamity the world
may emerge chastened, perhaps even
bettered, while from the other, because
OF Q depth of ignorance amounting oft
en- to fatalism.. mankind may largely
miss the deem meaning of' tho 1oeeon