Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1882 — DIPHTHERIA. [ARTICLE]

DIPHTHERIA.

The Ht. Louis Doctors Tell What They Know of the Disease. [St. Louis Repuolican ] At the weekly meeting of the Med ical Society Dr. Walter Coles read a paper on “Diphtheria/' which is so prevalent in some of the city wards just now. He dwelt upon the dangei of muscular exertions in persons weakened and debilitated by the disease and the impropriety of employJng methods of treatment calculated to provoke a struggle on the part of the patient. The doctor does not believe that medical men have yet discovered the essential cause of the disease, and showed that it prevails in healthy rural districts and crowded cities alike. He reported a case of sudden death from paralysis of tz.e heart in a child apparently couvalescent. Dr. Coles denies the existence of a specific germ in diphtheria, but admits the existence of bacteria, which howevor exists in other diseases. Dr. Bernays, Jr., indorsed the theory of Dr. Coles that the origin of diphtheria can not or has not been determined; it is contagious, but not altogether epidemic. Two years ago. said the Doctor, thore was a diphtheric epidemic in Denver and most of the children effected died; it was subst-qir tiilj ic .i’ned that the same milkman served the parents of the children afflicted and the deduction was that the diphtheric germ emanated from the milk.

“I want to say.right here, Mr. Chair man and gentiemen, that no healthy child can possibly catch diphtheria—the child it attacks must first have what is commonly called a cold or a catarrh. A small piece of diphtheric poinon may be placed en a man’s eye, and unless there is an abrasion of the eperdernais he will not be affected I am promulgating very advanced ideas, 1 am aware, but I insist that neither diphtheria, measles or scarlet fever can be acquired unless the conditions! have named exist. I believe that cholera might be traced in its infection to improper diet. In the Sixth Ward, where I livr, diphtheria is very prevalent, and three cases kaye terminated fatally within 10u yards of my residence, and just before coming here I read the statistics of a physician whose ability for ob servation can not be questioned, that out of 568 cases of diphtheria 508 had ended fatally; these 568 eases were taken from epidemics of various severities. in the northern part of the city some ot the children died within twenty-four hours of the development of the disease. There is one thing which is due to ourselves and friends that we make understood; manv physicians call diphtheria what is simply some other threat disease, and having cured the throat disease they lay claim io having cured diphtheria, and the result is that Mrs. Br wn says to Dr. Blank: ’Dr. Dash cured Smith’s child of diphtheria but my child died on your hands.’— It’s an advanced idea, but it should be known that a thaoat disease which was cured was no diphtheria.” Dr. Scott said that for this disease he usually treated with calomel, bicarbonate of soda, iron and quinine. In the norther part of the city twothirds of the blocks were not in a proper hygienic or sanitary condition. In the tenement districts, where the houses formed a huge square, there were wells and cisterns in the midale of the squares, and these wells were surrounded by outbuildings whose vaults and cesspools unquestionably affected the water. He had treated two cases in whic’ one was the child of fairly well-te-do parents who co’d give it all the attendance, care and cleanliness desirable; the other was the child of j the washwoman who worked for the family; in the case of the washwoman she lived in an old house built perhaps forty years ago and the surroundings were squalid; the crib in which the child slept was dirty and so were the bed clothes, and yet the child of the comfortablysituated parents died, while the child ot poverty lived nnd thrived. Membranous croup and diphtheria might have similar symptoms, but they are entirely different diseases; diphtheria is contagious while membranous croup is not. The doctors, nurses and ib others who wash the throats of children suffering from diphtheria are apt to catch the disease should their fingers come in contact with parts of the body, but this was not the case with croup. In Berlin a Boston physician had lost his eye in this manner.

Gillam Township, Dec. 13, >B2. Ed. Sentinel—The campaign has passed, qnietude again reigns, and bust-' ness has resumed its wonted activity in this locality., Our Commissioner, Hon. Asa C. Preyo, has been in attendanceon Commissioners Court the past week, and judging from the length of time he was away from home we suppose a large amount of business was transacted- Though we did net support Mr. Prevo, we nevertheless think him an honest, upright man, one wbo will look well to the interests of the county, and one who will not be forced into unjust measures by the 'ring' at Rensselaer that controls Republican politics in Jasper county, Re will h»ve|many bosses to antagonize—-bosses who work for the spoils, and will demand their reward, Just now*, I understand, that prociaimer of temperance and supporter of whisky advocates, ‘lroquois,* desires to be Secretary of the County Board of Health, at fl»0,00 per annum, and the ‘ring* de, i maud it tor him, notwithstanding there

are o’her physicians who v ould perfor the duties tor >125,60. Oh, the working of the ’ring’ Is a stupendous thing. Let Messrs. Burke. Prevo and W y mire heed it not, but devote their elicits to the interests of the whole people. Odd ■ 1 Albums cheap at Sears.