INFLUENZA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2029, 5 April 1890, Page 1

INFLUENZA.

By a careful and most laborious study of all that has been said and written on the matter, I have at least amassed an amount of ignorance on the subject of influenza, almost sufficient to justify me in writing the . letters M. D. after my name, and setting up as a medical practitioner. The disease, I find, originates in the putrid dust of certain dead (but more or less vague and undetermined) Chinamen whose relations have neglected to bury them. This dust is carried by the air into the eyes (hence called “ pink ”) of horses. But once the air has got the dust into the horse’s eye, the' air is functus officio, and has nothing more to .do with the disease, which henceforward is only communicable by actual contagion,: in the first instance between horse and Chinamen, then between Chinamen and Russian, German, Dutchman, Englishmen, and so on. Nevertheless the remarkable complaint partakes very largely of the nature of. ague and malaria, which have hitherto not; been supposed to be communicable by contagion. Furthermore, the disease always goes from East to West, never from West to East. In this point of view, the unfortunate discovery of America by Columbus, and the recent opening of direct steam communication between California and China, must be regarded in the light of unmitigated misfortunes, for whereas formerly we were rid of the disease once it got to Galway, there is, now that the circle of communication is complete, nothing to prevent its spinning round the world perpetually. The disease attacks, preferentially, postmen and princes, owing to the remarkable similarity of their habits and modes of life. Tobacco, though fatal to many of the lower organisms, is not a certain preventive of influenza); nor, on the other hand, are woodpave* ments a direct cause. Nevertheless, the latter ought to be flushed frequently. Influenza always produces violent sneezing, or no sneeze, but a dry cough. It is worse for Irishmen than for Scotchmen, because of the up-and-down nature ” of the Paddies. There js no drug known to medicine that will not cure it, provided always that you send for a doctor, and let the malady (this is absolutely essential) run its course. Crowded centres of population, like country villages are to be avoided. Theatres, fashionable charities, workhouses, and ships in mid ocean, sre for opposite but obvious reasons equally liable to attack, and, therefore, are specially to be avoided. Good food, clothing, and shelter are the best remedies, a fact which cannot be too earnestly impressed upon Prime Ministers and others, whose habit of going hungry, naked, and houseless is notorious. Doctors (also) are very apt to contract the disease from their patients, but once the doctor has got it, there, happily, the mischief ends—, he can’t pass it on to anybody else. Now I believe all this to be true for I have read it, not in the Times, but in most respectable papers; still I have an uncomfortable conviction that a good deal of it applies not merely to influenza, but to all other diseases under the sun. Practically speaking, nothing is known about any of them, except just this—that they all run their course, and whether a patient or a corpse remains at the end depends entirely-on the patient and not at all on the disease. The functions of the doctor are these: To keep up the patient’s strength until he pulls through; to make a post-mortem examination under certain circumstances; to take his fee ; to give a certificate of death.—Truth.