Greenwood daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1919-1926, 1920-04-30
Dr.. Simon FIexner Proposes
Combating Dread Disease
at Its Origin.
EASTERN EUROPE PLAGUE SPOT
Many Recorded Epidemics Shown to
have Emanetsd Frem That Area
Disease Claims More Victims
Than European War.

New York.-According to DR.. Simon
Flex1er. Director of Laboratories q
the Rockefeller Institute for Melica
Research. further occurrences OF tn,
influenza epidemic can be prevented
only by wiping out the disease at 1t:
source. III d recent address before tht
Congress of American Physicians ant
Surgeons. later published by the Ameri.
can Medical Association. he foutlined
the path of the disease through its
different stages.
"Ehere are excellent reasons for re-
garding the endemic home Of influenza
to be Eastern Europe" he said. ''and
In particular the border regions be-
tween Russia nj Turkestan. Many
recorded e~Didemics have been shown
more Or less clearly to nan from
that urea. while the e%pidemics of re-
cent history have been traced there
with a high degree of conclusiyeness.
From this Eastern home. at intervals
Of two or three decades, a migrating
epidemic influenza begins. moving east
ward and westward. with the greater
velocity in the latter direction.
Uncanny in Action.
Tt the casual observer there is
something uncanny in the way inf'u-
enzt strikes down its victims. While
other epilemics proceed from bad to
worse. with at least progressive in
creascs in intensity, influenza seems TO
overvhe!m communities over even wild
err stretches of territory aS by Il single.
c%,, ~,,r LJ~ YrH -
case the gradually accelerating rate of
speed of extension may be taken to
Indicate personal conveyance Of the
provoking micro-organism. in the other
the sudden wid onset appears the
very negation Of personal communion
tion.
"H"nce the invoking Of mysterious
Influences. the revival Of the notfon Of
miasm and similar agencies, TO account
FOR this phenomenon. Indeed. the pnb-
Tic mind in general lends itself readily
to such formless concepts. for the rea-
ss'f, that there still resides In the mass
of the people, wen in the more Ell
frightened countries. q large uneradf-
Gated residue of superstition regarr;-
ing disease. One does not need TO hook
far or dig deep in order to nco
the source Of this superstition. We
have only recently emerged from .
past In which knowledge OF the origin
OF disease was scant. and such views
as were commonly held and exploited
were mostly f%aIlacfous. It is. indeed.
very recently. If the Transformation
can he said to be perfect even now.
that the medical profession as a whole
has been completely emancfpated. All
this is very far from being a 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 of and belief In the measures pro-
posed. serious and sustained endeayor
to enforce them is scarcely to be ex-
pected.
eutino q Bugaboo.
And vet no better Instance OF a
communicable disease could perhaps be
invoked than influenza to exercise the
false idea Of the mysterious origin Of
epidemfcs. 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