Year: 1875

People, in their innocence, are not
aware of the manner in which conta-
gious diseases NAV be communicated by
public conveyances, articles of dress, by
dwellings, by the very atmosphere. On
a late occasion, at a fashionable dinner
party in London, as many as eight or
ten of the guests and seven members of
the household took scarlet fever. Obyi-
ously the infection must have been
caught at the dinner party; but hoIo
was the puzzling inquiry, for no one in
the family of the host was known to
have been affected with the disorder.
Was the disease brought to the house
by waiter? Was it conveyed in the ia
BILE linen from the washer-woman? Was
it somehow incorporated in the cream
that had been used in the dessert? An
investigation on these and other points,
as we understand, was made, but not
with any satisfactory result. The cream
was thought to be the most likely vehicle
of infection; but how could any one be
certain on the point? The cream en-
ploved in fashionable dessert in London
is possibly made up of half dozen
creams from as many dairies, and in
quiry ends only in vague conjecture.
Rather hazardous thing, one would
say, going out to dinner where you may
run the chance of being killed. in man
ner so very mysterious.


Some time since lady, with her lit
tie daughter, was visiting a friend in
the country, and, by luckless incident,
the child became affected with symp-
toms of scarlet fever in way wholly
unexpected. In walking out, the moth
er and daughter sat down 10 rest on the
trunk of an old tree that lay along the
roadside. This tree had been ha5itu-
ally visited by some village children just
recovering from scarlatina. From this
simple circumstance the little girl ear
lried away the infection. She was for
some weeks i'll, but happily recovered.
Instances are known of contagious
diseases being communicated by cats
and dogs. One of these animals may
carry in its fur infection from one house
to another. Mr.. w. Lattimer of Car
Isle, in a pamphlet on the subject of
contagion, mentions the case of a neigh
Dor whose child died of scarlet fever of
| lHill NhluC " JCs dl'Cl O"Nh'1 - ~
hours illness. Puzzled to account for
the origin of the Infection, he says: - /
requested my neighbor to see if there
was any thing in his hOuse-any old
clothing or other matter seriously
charged with the seeds of cOntagion-
that was doing mischief. He could find
nothing; and after carefully disinfect-
inc every thing, he hoped that the evil
was ended. But in two months another
child took the same form of the disease,
and died after twenty-five hours illness
becoming convinced that the poisoning
agent was lurking somewhere, he made
another investigation, and at length dis


covered that it was a retriever pap


which he got about three months before


which had been reared in a friends
| house where Scarlatina was present, anC
where, very probably, the pup, through


being fondled by the scarlatina convale


scent, had got its woody hair so charged


with the contagious matter as TO pro


duce the malignant form of the disease


in these two children. In reply to my


inquiry if they were in the habit ofplay


ing with the pup, the father said, 'They


were never off its back, rolling abOu


on the floor with it from morning t.


night"