Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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INFLUENZA IS A MYSTEKY. So Far It Has Defeated Medical Skill and Science. \ . (By Frederick J. Haskin.) An experiment that makes the transmission of influenza a more baffling mystery than ever, and which at the same tome places on record / an act of self-sacrificing heroism by about 100 naval volunteers, has just been completed by officers of the United States public health service cooperating with medical officers of the United Staates navy at Boston and San Francisco, v As nearly every one knows, scientists all over the world, in combating the spread' of influenza which is ?till going on, have proceeded on the assumption that it is transmitted chiefly by coughing and spitting. The theory has been that the diseased mucus thrown out by these acts is filled with the germs of influenza, which) tnus nna loagmem iu iiea.im,y usous. All the experiments heretofore made seem to indicate strongly that influenza is transmitted in this way, and it is well accepted that most other respiratory diseases are so carried. The latest experiment consisted in submitting the 100 men who volunteered for the purpose to every possible method of infection with influenza germs through the nose and i ^ : throat. These men risked their lives for the general good, and for the advancement of science. They went through a singular trying and repulsive ordeal. They, and every one else, believed that they were being Inoculated with the dread disease which is destroying millions of lives all over the world. Their heroism is fully equal to that displayed some years ago by the men of the army medical army corps who exposed themslves in Cuba to the bites of mosquitoes in order to determine finally whetfier yellow fever was f r ' transmitted by that insect. The only difference in the two experiments ?$ was in the result. Some of the officers who exposed themselves to the bite of the mosquito contracted yelloy fever, and one of them died, p * * thereby establishing the soundness if of their theory. The volunteers who submitted themselves to inoculation with the ferms of influenza were fully expected to take the disease, and were prepared to die. But not one of them developed any symp E^: toms of influenza. t' \ This astonishing negative result, tfy' which is the sensation of the day in scientific circles should not tempt any one to he careless in the matter of coughing and spitting or ill exposing himself to infection by those acts. As officials of the public health service \ ; point out, it may be that the germs if[ of the disease disappear as soon as or immediately after the symptoms If- > appear. Something like this is true of other diseases. In measles, for p?,v ? for example, it has been found that "ry. the germs which cause the disease \?re all gone within five or six days after the appearance of the rash, and the ease is no longer contagious. The discovery of this fact, which jvas f.. made by Anderson and Goldberger pi-'- v, of the public health service only a p - few years ago has led to ^shortening the quarantine for measles by more y; than half. "These new experiments in the transmission of influenza," said SurpV.1,' geon General Blue, "show how difficult is the influenza problem. They . - by no means indicate that we can afKTtit 'fv'z1 | p|v. , fofd to disregard coughing, sneezing and spitting as common means of ^ spreading diseased and even in the |g - * case of influenza this source of infec tion should always be borne in mind. I Deiieve nowever, iu.hl we uave uui paid sufficient attention to other paths of infection, especially to the % lips, mouth and hands. The fact that the disease was much less common in army camps where the sterilization of all eating utensils and dishes was rigidly enforced, shows the importance of the mouth as an avenue of f infection." There can be no doubt that these experiments at Boston and San Francisco were carried out with the utmost thoroughness. Lieutenant Commander Rosenau of the navy ; medical corps and Surgeon Joseph Goldberger of the public health service were the officers in charge of the Boston experiment, which was made at the quarantine station on Gallop Island. Forty-seven men were the subjects of this part of the experiment. All of them had been more or less exposed to the disease and 39 of them had never had any bronchial disease. This means that some of them may have been natural;;-r ly immune to influenza, but it is not at all probable that all of them were. . The "first experiment consisted in thoroughly infecting the noses of about ten of the men with cultures of Pfeiffer's influenza bacilus, a virulent germ commonly found in influenza. None of the men developed any symptoms. The next form of the experiment was to take the secretions from the noses and throats of influenza patients and place them in the noses and throats of the volunteers by means of swabs and sprays. The 9 NEW COUNTY VOTES MARCH 11. Allendale Then to I'ick Out Officers. Barnwell, S. C., Feb. 22.? The first primary election to select officers for the new county of Allendale, carved out of portions of Barnwell and Hampton counties, will be held March 11th, with a second election two weeks later, if one be necessary. Acording to reports reaching Barnwell, the "wbods are full" of cadidates for the various offices, the rather large assessment not having been a deterrent. At a meeting held in Allendale a couple of weeks ago, the assessments were fixed as follows: Clerk of Court, $100; sheriff, $100; auditor, $55; judge of probate, $50; superintendent of education, $50; senator, $10; coroner, $10: magistrates, $5. The new county also proposes to vote on the question of whether or not bonds shall be issued for road improvement in a sum not less than $250,000, nor more^than $500,000. The road question was one of the prime factors in the new county movement, and this phase in the development of Allendale county will be watched with considerable interest by the residents of the mother county. ^ As Man to Man. "Your wife says you have her terrorized." "Honest judge?" "I do not ask you this in my officlial capacity, but as a man to man. Do you understand?" "Yes, your honor." "What's your secret?"?Kansas City Journal. time occupied in removing the diseased mucus from a sick man and putting it into the nose and throat of a well man was reduced to as little as 30 seconds. Yet none of ths men so infected developed any smptoms of the disease. Determined that the test should be exhaustive, the doctors next submitted a group of volunteers to infection by actual coughing and spitting. For this purpose ten volunteers were selected, and ten bed pa tients who had recently come dowr with severe attacks of influenza Each of the volunteers leaned ovei the bed of each of the sick men, con versed with him for a few minutes and allowed the patient to cough di rectly in his face, so that then should be no doubt of a transmissior of diseased tissue. Each volunteei . was thus exposed to ten differem cases of influenza, and was in clos< proximity with them for not less than three-quarters of an hour. Yet not one of these volunteers developed any symptoms of influenza. The experiments in San Francisco which were carried out under the direction of Surgeon G. W. McCoy ol the public health service, and Lieut De Wayne Richey of the United States navy at the Angel Island quarantine station, were very similar ir method and in result.* The men whc volunteered for these experiments had been vaccinated with Pfeiffer's influenza bacilli t r and pneumonia germs. n, European reports would indicate, influenza is caused by an ultra microscopic germ, such vaccination would be without protection to those so vaccinated. None of these men had been exposed to the influenza epidemic. In this experiment there was no direct exposure to patients, but tthe additional methods of infection were tried of injecting the blood of an influenza patient into that of a volunteer, and of introducing the pure cultures of influenza bacilli into a volunteer's eye. No one of these men developed influenza. The result of this experiment has left the medical world completely bewildered. The theory which has apparently been upset by these experiments was originated by a famous French physician Nicolle, who claimed to have produced influenza with a materia] obtained from mucus excretions. He produced the disease with this material after filtering through a fine porcelain filters showing that a germ was present which was not only too small to be detected with the microscope, but too small even to be held back by the fine pores of unglazed percelain. Foster, an American army surgeon, showed that common colds were produced by equally minute germs. The work of Foster bore so directly on the problems presented by influenza that it may be said to have led to the experiments there described. The only thing which can be considered proved about influenza so far is that it is still a mystery both as tc the nature of its causative germ and as to its means of transmission, and therefore especially dangerous. Authorities, however, still consider influenza a crowd disease, and all unnecessary gatherings of people shoud be discouraged when influenza is prevalent. I ' Automobile batteries recharged by I Delco-Light at Brickie's Garage, adv. rr BUYWAR SAVINGS STAMPS CONSTANTLY 1 I This Space Patriotically Donated Byj Chero=Cola BottlingCoJ Bamberg, S. G. l a% am SS do not aiiow ine mv poisons of undigested BFL food to accumulate in Jk\m your bowels, Where they fl are absorbed into your mtM system. Indigestion, constipation, headache, bad blood, and numerous El other troubles are bound HjJP to follow. Keep your febjL system clean, as thous- |1 ands of others do, by M taking an occasional dose |J|B of the old, reliable, veg- Jafcl etable, family liver mem- |rl Thedford's Black-Draught 1 HE Mrs. W. F. Pickle, of JfRj . Bm Rising Fawn, Ga., writes: mm ' - B|fl "We have used Thed- mfW iJSF* ford's Black-Draught as i a family medicine. My VB! mother-in-law could not U ' take calomel as it seemed Jam too strong for her, so. she |)h 1 mm used Black-Draught as a ji . Br mild laxative ana liver PtW regulator... We use it B in the family and believe g{(y itigtteDest^metiicine ior u n Ph Thedt ?d' ^e2^fnuinek" m 9 ~~ 7 1 PPI ; nrr *r I Here 1 Here Riski ( I i C d | w I ; I ! m i is the time to if you w OR ROYS F. S. ROYSTE Norfolk, Ya. Baltimore, Md. T N. C. Columbia, S. C. Spai Macon, Ga. Columbus I ^^ y/ , Rast^B 's to you boys in khaki, 1 iere's to you boys in blue; 's to the battles you've ancl i n? your lives as though it Were fun Our hats are off to you. ? * * V V V )ur boys are returning victorious. Let's give hem such a welcome as they never had before {ring out the very fattest fatted calf, and [on't forget a few cold bottles of their favorite Chero Cola .1 9M vA Bj gS :*i order Fertilizers 1 . .1 ant tnem. : M %i ' v D E R ; TER'S R GUANO CO. Jj oledo, 0. Tarboro, 1ST. C. Charlotte, . *tanburg, S. C. Atlanta, Ga. ;, Ga. Montgomery, Ala. - .ays-7 T?? ; ; ? IfChgro-Cola)] & jess 'Pure, Wholesome and Refreshing ' " f *'Q % J J'''