The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1921-04-21
Two MALADIES
HIT new YORK
"HiCcupS" and Sleep Sickness
Battle Health Officers.
MANY HUNDREDS AFFECTED

Medical Profession at Sea a, to
Whether hieeups Are Part Of the
Re'tiess Aspect Of Sleeping Sick.
ness or a Manifestation Of Some
New and independent cerr-There
Have Been HIoeop Epidsmies for
Centuries.
Besides typhus. New York has been
visited By two oew ana altogether
amazing epihemics this year One of
Them Is sleeping sickness and the
other Is thnt common and heretofore
insignificant malady known as "hic-
cups Al least. so they are called.
our neither Is running true to- type,
writes Frederic j. tiuskin in Chicago
News.
For the sleeping sickness, which 10
now so prevalent in New York. Is not
the same rs the famous sleeping sick
ness Of Africa. the cause Of which In
wen understood. MOI is the present
epidemic OF hicCups IN any way re-
lated Ia those gentle attacks occasion
ally experienced by everyone, more es-
pectaly since the pocket flask has be.
come SO popular. The new hiccups
are Singulariy malignant and persist
ent and are moi at ali humorous. They
attack their victim every few seconds
during the day. and are not always 10
be suppressed by deep breaths. drinks
or water. chunks Of bread and other
wellknown devices. Sometimes hic..
cup spasm lasts for more than an
hour, aud the hiccup series extends
for weeks at u stretch.
Both epiielniCs, affecting hundreds
OF persons, have completely baf1lcd
New York medical men, and all other
medical men, for that matter. No one
has been able to discover how or
whence they came what to do for
, them while here. or how 10 get rid
| of them.- From the great medical re
search laboratories OF the city, such
as that of the Rockefeller Foundation.
have come various theories as to their
cause. none Of which has proved con-
| yincing.
Two Are Connected.
The most interesting one recently
advanced is that the two affections
are In some mysterious aud subtle
way cOnneCted-that prolonged at
tacks Of hiccups are merely one Of
the many Irritating symptoms Of sleep
Ing sickness yet this Is by no means
unanimously accepted.
The only fact accepted without chai.
lenge concerning encephnlitis lethar.
gica, which Is =. SIS impressive scien.
life name, Is that II does not spring
from the same cause as the African
| malndy OF the same name. The latter
Is known to be produced by the bite
Of the tsetSe lily, whose chief diet 10
the blood of The crocodile
SIN, Il. Lethnrgica must have a
cause, and the medical profession Is
striving calamity to supply It. Some
| Of Its members firmly believe that IL In
merely an arter-effect OF influenza, bur
this does not help much, because the
influenza germ remains to be identi-
| fed. Besides this, many others among
the profession are equally certain that
influenza has nothing to do with The
| new afilictIOn,
II Is all very bewildering, even TO
the doctors. and now comes the hic.
cup epidemic to cOmpliCate matters.
| Are hicCups part Of the restless as
| pect OF sleeping sickness, or are they
manifestation Sf some new and in
dependent germ working on It's own
erratIc course? No one knows. We
do know that cases OF sustained hic-
cups have suddenly sprung MP both
IN Europe and this country, and that
sometimes they occur alone and un.
accompanied by any other disease.
"PathOloglCally. this prevalence Of
hiccnps seems TO he associated with
Irritation Of the phrenlc nerve from
gastF0-inteStinal dIsturbGhce;' from
neuroses, or frOal remote disturbance,
of the central nervous system not YET
determined, says one authority, writ
Ing for a medical journal.
I'm pneumonia or typhoid fever, HE
cups, perhaps due primarily 10 the ef
fects OF bacterial toxins, may be n So
riOus complIcating factor, even caus
ing death.
Lasts Week or Longer.
I'm the epidemic through which We
are now passing many cases have Oe
CURED In which patients hiccupe6
every three or four seconds for peri
DDS OF week or longer.
"Thcrmitte points out mat the tirst
appearance OF the epidemic OF which
he knows occurred In Vienna In thu
winter OF I9l0-l920. Large numbers
OF persons were suddenly attacked
with spasms OF hiccups and did no
respond to treatment. In most easel
they ceased Of their own accord afte
few days,
This authority also asserts Ina
there have been hiccup epidemics 10
A. D, h...s "a