Evening star., 1938-01-27

Is infantile paralysis a new disease
which hrst appeared in the world about
$50 years ago when the earliest descrip-
tions began to appear in medical utera-
ture?
Or has it been lurking In the shadows
ever since the beginnings Of the human
race, pouncing upon victim now and
then but not frequently enough to draw
attention to Itself?
There is no way of positively answering
these questions. says DR.. J. B. Leake. in
charge Of poliomyelitis work Of the Public
Health Service, but fair presumptive
case can be made out for the second
alternative. Almost throughout medical
history there are scattered descriptions
of syndromes which look suspiciously
like this malady. The fact remains that
polio has covered its movements in the
past with extreme secrecy and when 1t
has appeared in public has mingled SO
inconspicuously with the crowd Of para
lytic diseases that no attention has been
paid to it.
The history of the disease is quite
obscure. At the University Of Penn
sylvania is an Egyptian mummy with q
shriveled leg which looks as II 1t might
have been caused by infantile paralysis.
In the government museum at Copen-
hagen is an Egyptian stele which shows
a king Offering an oblation to the gods.
One of the Pharaoh's legs is considerably
shorter than the other. These men may,
or may not, have been polio victims.
There can be no positive diagnosis. It
is highly probable, however, that the
disease has been in the world long
time without being recognized as =
pathological entity.
The distinction of being the first victim
diagnosed, says DR.. Leake, belongs to Sir
Walter Scott. He himself described in
considerable detail the sickness in early
childhood which left him cripple for
life. The symptoms are unmistakable.
There is also a possibility that SCOTS
rival poet. Lord Byron, was q polio
victim. Byron went through life with q
"club foot" It is generally supposed
that he was born with this defect, but
the congenital deformity can be closely
mimicked by infantile paralysis.
The polio virus, 1t must be noted, has
paid back in a roundabout fashion q little
Of its enormous debt to the human race.
It played considerable part In making
Scott great poet and novelist. Had it
not been for the physical defect the
disease caused, it may be conjectured,
he would have lived and died unknown.
But the crippled child was driven from
play to books and to dreaming, out OF
which grew his literary career.
II Byron's club foot actually can be
attributed to an attack Of polio In early
infancy, the cause and effect is still more
pronounced. The deformity exposed him
to ridicule Of his fellows and even of
his own mother in her fits Of temper.
It drove him to the secret vices, which
he did his best to hide from the world
all his life. Of study and reading and
dreaming. It set up wall between him
and the worthless British aristocracy of
his generation. It threw him into the
great surge Of democracy which was
sweeping the world. His poetry was his
defiant answer to those who laughed at
him and to those who pities him. It
was part Of the same pattern as his
defiance Of convention and deliberate
acting Of the genius Of evil.
There are probably scores Of other
cases. This disease, like tuberculosis,
seems 70 have a aMnity fer geniuR. e