Evening star., 1926-12-11
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

PaSteurS work in saving tho French
crops of grapes and OF sin from th'
diseases preying upon them wa
worth more to France than the cost
of the Prussian war. including the in
demnity. Thousands OF lives ar"
saved annually by means Of his dis
coveries in relation to rabies, anthrax
and other maladies.
g. Won Behring's development "f
serum against diphtheria which today
has annihilated that dread disease
wherever the serum is used.
4. During the Boer War in South
Africa Sir AlmOth Wright studied
typhoid fever and found a serum
against it. In our own Spanish War
of 1898 one soldier out Of every six
had typhoid, from which disease l,oS0
died out Of an army of $4,000. In
the World War only l TO $500 sol
diers had typhoid. and more than
half of those We're in one Camp-at
Chickamauga. Tenn. OF the entire
Army nf more than $500, 900. only
2l3 deaths from typhoid occurred.
). From colonial days to 1899, this
country suffered 90 outbreaks Of vel
low fever. In one epidemic. in 1898.
New Orleans alone lost 900 victims,
and the financial loss TO interrupted
commerce anu lTdNel dIIipult'h ~
hundreds If millions of dollars. Then,
a score Of years ago. il was found
that IL ali came from the female
"Aedes Egypt mosquito. which
could gNot live without its bite III
hlInal. hesh by destroying all pools
of water. or treating them with ker"'
sere or other chemicals. all such
mosquitoes were killed. and for p
years we have had no yellow fever.
The economic value Of that mosqult"
was greater than the entire cost or
our Spanish War. including the cost
Of the Philippines.
6. Ehrlich of Berlin discovered the
germ of certain blood disease, and
a chemical company in Germany mo
nopoIized the patent and charged $4.1"
dose for the specific called '606
so called because that was the SiN
hundred and sixth experimental com
bination of arsenic and Il neutralizer
tested which would destroy the germ
without killing the patient. In the
World War the United states cap
tured that secret and made the medi-
cine for so cents a dose-a loss to Gel
many equal to her entire cost Of the
World War.
I. Until within the last 80 years il
was not known that the disease of
pellagra existed in America. What
was pellagra was diagnosed as tuber-
c1lOSiS, skin disease or malaria. Re
search by the United States Public
Health Service disclosed the fact thai
In 1911 there were in our South morr
than 100,O0 cases Of pellagra with
] coo deaths annually, all due 10 de
fectivp diet-polished rice, mOla sseS
and cornbread-lackiDG vitamines.
There is now to be a "pellaGra-
preventing vitamin." abundant in
milk and milk products. eggs, peas.
beans and meat; also in lemons and
lines.
No vitamin was known 25 years
ago and little was known 10 years
ago. How much is really known to
day as To what is vitamin?
s. Rocky Mountain spotted fever
baff1cd physicians. until a decade ago
a. special research proved it came
from a germ on an infected tick. So
they captured billions Of ticks. crushed
them. attenuated the virus with heat
and vaccinated. That ends the spot
ted fever.
9. Three or four years ago tuls-
remia was discovered. That is q pair.
full disease. quite pde valent I'm parts
of the country. There are four cases
of it now in Washington. To acquire
1t, kill a wild rabbit and dress It your
hunter is poisoned in the process Of
dressing the rabbit. Tame rabbits are
not infected. The wild rabbit has
been bitten by deerfiy. The curs-
tive serum has not yet been developed.
10. one of the greatest discoveries
is toXin-antitoXin as cure of diph
liberia. Toxin is the poison germ,
sntitoxin Is the natural enemy or the
poison. IL child be inoculated with
the toxin alone, it will probably die.
II inoculated with the antitoxiu
alone, it will not get diphtheria so
long as the effect OF the antitoDn
lasts-three or four months. Bur n
given both at the same time. the
antitoxin will nsutralize or prevert
serious effec Of the toxin. while th"
toxin will create within the bodv
sort Of perpetual chemical works pro.
ducing u continuous supply Of ant,
toxin. and the patient becomes ini
Inunc. The doctor declares thar o."
parent ~ eNcua,hlc for ncgl~tiug
such protection for his child. Ncl o.
was unknown a decade ago
since 1900 science has added els lf
wears to the average life Of ell eiVl
lixed humans.
Iessyslsh, ieas. es-psus-A,sneissss