Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-07
RY' THOMAS r. HENRY.


The icy hand of the flying white
death" may have fallen upon the vii
lagos of the Meuse Valley.
This semi-legendary malady, hitherto
reported only in the United States and
unrecorded in medical literature, re-
sembles closely the mysterious epidemic
described as having caused 81 deaths
in the neighborhood Of Liege during the
past few days
The United States Public Health
Service few days ago, 1t was learned
today. received request for informa-
ton which baff1ed the experts. The
unnamed inquirer wanted to know
about the fog fever, pogonip. or white
death. The surgeon generals library,
one of the most complete medical
libraries in the world, failed to yield
single reference.
Known to Indians.
Then the Weather Bureau was con-
suited and search of the files showed
old references to an obscure meteoro-
logical condition known by an indian
name, "pogonip," and also as the white
death" It was well known to some
Indian tribes who used to flee before
it, trying to hold back the death-laden
yellowish- white mist with appropriate
incantations. Nevertheless it is reported
to have wiped out small tribes.
Whether this diagnosis might be APP
piled 20 the Belgian endemic, 1t was
pointed out, would depend on more
exact information on the meteorological
conditions which obtained in the chok-
ing blanket of fog. Death presumably
Is caused by breathing Ice particles into
the lungs.
The pogonip itself is recognized by
meteorologists. THE white death" ac-
companying it, If it is not altogether a
phantom OF the imagination, has es-
capped the attention of medical science.
But since descriptions Of 1t would be
those Of pneumonia caused In an I'M
usual way it may actually have been
treated BY physicians without getting
into the literature.
Fog Perfused With lee.
The pogonip, which is meteorologically
| extremely complicated, comes about
under certain circumstances when warm
air from Q valley rises into . cold wind
that generally is blowing lengthwise of
the valley. The fog becomes perfused
with extremely minute bits of ice which
will penetrate the lungs without melting,
causing = condition very similar to
| pneumonia.
The single report Of q scientific OBJ
| servation of such q condition was in
Washington, November 10, 1891.
Whether there were any deaths Is not
! recorded. There are unconfrmed re-
ports Of the occurrence Of the pogonip
isolated areas Of Northern Colorado
| Wyoming and Montana 1t would not
be apt to occur in any place where the
stage was not set for it.
The following presumably authenti-
Gated report Is recorded In the hles OF
the Weather Bureau:
About two years ago (the report was
for 1900 q party Of three women and
| two men were crossing North Park in
q wagon In February. The air was
bitterly cold but dry as a bone and
startling brilliancy.
| Woman Feels Sting
Suddenly one Of the women put heI
hand to her face and said that some
thing had stung her. Then the other
members Of the party did the same
although not an insect was visible.
moment later they noticed that the
distant mountains were disappearing In
4 y
gentle wind began to blow and the air
became filled with fine particles OF
something that scintillated like diamond
, dust
They drove on until they came to
q cabin and q man signalled them To
stop. With his head tied up in a bundle
Of muffiers he rushed out and handed
the driver bit Of paper on which was
written: Come into the house quick
or this will kill all Of you. Don't talk
outside here
In less than an hour the whole party
were sick Of violent coughs and fever
The next morning one of the women
died with all the symptoms Of pneu-
monia. The others were violently ILL.,
The man said: That stun you saw
in the air was fine particles of ice
frozen so cold 1t goes clear down into
the lungs without melting. One Winter
about eight years ago, a whole Indiar
tribe across the wyoming line died Of
it, The Indians are more afraid Of Il
than rattlesnakeS and call 1t the white
death."'"
More Than Superstition.
There Is also a reference to thu
white DEATH" feared by the Indians
in the off1cial handbook of the Burea,
of American Ethnology, but with M
comments. II appears 10 nave Deer
much more than a superstition, al
though of rare occurrence.
While pointing to the impoSSibilty o
reaching definite conclusions on tn,
slender reports at hand, Government
medical experts were loath to accept tn,
theory of Prof. j. s. B. Haldane, on,
OF Great Britains foremost biologists
that the Meuse Valley outbreak nigh
be q return of something similar Il
the black death, the pneumonia form
Of the bubonic plague, which kil!et
almost a third Of the population o
; Europe in the fourteenth century.
Some such ida might haze arisen,
was pointed out, by the recent appear
ancs Of three cases Of bubonic plagu
at the port of Marseilles In its pneu
monte form, similar to a very y.rulen
form of umonia. the black dealt
J would be favored by fog and woult
spread without the bites of insects from
infected rats. But the white death"
: more plausible diagnosis than tn
J black d.ath.'
Scouts War Gas Theory.
. DR.. Ales Hrdlicka Of the Smithsonian
Institution, who Is familiar with tn
ciiff-iined valley where the naaiady