Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-28

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2S;-Have
you such symptoms as frequent
sneezing. blocking of the nostrils due
to ewolIen mucous membrane, watery
discharge of the nose, slight eleva-
ton of temperature, followed by a
tendency to subnormal temperature?
Are you full Of tears? Is there an
Itching of the inner angle of your
eye and of the roof of your mouth
in the region of the soft palate? DO
you find il difficult to breathe
through yopr nose when you are
lying down and does breathing be-
come easier when YOU are eXereis-
ing?
DO you have that FEELING Of gen.
eral depression that from sub
normal temperature and difficulty in
breathing? Are your mouth and
throat constantly dry?
Having answered all of these ques-
tions-or most of them-in the af-
irmative the doctor will inform you
readily enough, Eyes, you have it,
without a Doubt"
Tt in this instance is, of course,
hay fever. This is the height of the
season for that pestilential ailment,
and unless you are so fortunate as
to be able to make a quick journey
to a more salibrious cline, or as to
have been immunized by the innocu-
lation treatment, about all you can
do is to lay in a plentiful sup.'y Of
handkerchiefs and find such CO ola
ton as you can in the thought that
you have plenty of company in your
misery.
There are at least a million and
probably as many as two million hay
fever victims in the United States.
Accurate statistics are not available,
but the American Hay-Fever Pre-
vention Association estimates that
from 1 to 2 per cent of the entire
population of the country suffer from
hay fever at some time during the
year. Included in the estimate is an
Understandable number of adults and
children who never learn what is
really the matter with them, but
think they are suffering from bad
colds. The question of susceptibility
is a complicated subject, but in this
respect does not differ materially
from susceptibility in other diseases.
1t is we'll known, for instance, that
while many persons are extremely
sensitive to poison ivy, others can
handle 1t with impunity. In diph-
liberia also, it is found that some
persons, known as Carriers" act
ually have the germs of the disease
in their Threats without being infect
ed thereby.
So you may be immune from hay
fever and regard it as a good deal
Of a joke when your friends COM
plain of it. However, your immunity
] mo Ia nnIy o@Y,,-ar# 49,. R,AalA--
from attack being due to insufficient
exposure and one Of these days you
may visit a place where the air is
full Of hay fever pollen. Thereafter
you Will be less likely to treat the
subjec. az a joke.
Find Your Own Weed
E~ighty-five per cent of the cases
of hay fever are caused by the pollen
of the different kinds of rag weed,
That is why there are more victims
in late summer and early fall. Var
ious grasses, including even timothy,
Will cause the disease, and in addition
to the rag weeds the chief offenders
are the chenopods and the worm
woods.
Now it is extremely interesting to
note-and important as well-that
every victim has his own particular
kind of pollen to which he is sus-
ceptible and will not react 10 any
other kinds. An individual sufferer
is usually subject to the malign in
huence of a single botanical group,
That gives one a sort of exclusive
feeling. 1t is almost like having a
complex, which the psychoanalysts
have made so fascinating. OF course
IL your pet pollen demon is the COM
mon or fence corner variety of rag
weed perhaps you can't put on SO
many airs, but you may be able to
strut a little over the thought that
that is evidence that you should not
associate with common things.
But the important feature connect
ed with this phase Of the hay fever
problem is that you must first dis
cover your own brand of poisonous
poIlen before you can be treated ac-
cording to modern methods and
probably rendered permanently inn
mune, or partially so. The diagnos-
tic measure consists in vaccination
with extracts of the pollens Of the
various weeds or plants to determine
which one Is the noxious agent in
your particular case.
The incubation test, made with a
hypodermic needle or by scratching
the skin and rubbing in the pollen,