Successful Serum for Scarlet Fever
(Copyright, 1903. by Samuel Wlllets.)
Si mta ineir outer aisappoioimeni
I oyer the failure of Koch's tu-
mrvuiiM u m cure lor consunip-
Mon, In 1891, medical men hare
been somewhat conservative
about the scrum treatment as a specific
for disease. In the luramtr of the same
year, when antitoxin waa placed before a
medical congress In London aa a apeciflo
for diphtheria, it waa scoffed at by emi
nent skeptics. It took three years to get
this discovery beyond the experimental
stage Into the clinics, but no one now dis
putes Its efficacy.
The greatest discovery In the. field of
medical science since that time has been
the scarlet fever serum, or anti-streptococcus,
as the doctors call It. True, a Jap
anese student In Derlin, Dr. Kltsato, has
dropped In during the Interval with his
serum for lockjaw, and It baa proved aa
successful In Its results aa anti-toxin for
diphtheria; but It doea not compare In Im
portance with the serum cure for diph
theria or for scarlet fever.
The scarlet fever serum, like the serums
that precede It, waa discovered by Berlin
medical scientists. The Marmornek scsrlet
fever scrum wss experimented with seven
years ago, and found wanting. Some of It
was sent to America and experiments made
with It by Dr. Louie Fischer of the Wlllard
rarker and Riverside hospitals. New York
City, associated with other physicians, for
the benefit of the New York board of
health. The serum proved as weak and
disappointing as Koch's tuberculins. A re
port was made to the board that the phy
sicians were not Justified In either using
or recommending the use of the scarlet
fever serum, and that the Indiscriminate
sale of It should be prohibited until clinical
experience) established Its true therapeutic
value.
Now there Is a different tsle to tell.
Within the past few weeks a higher de
velopment of the scarlet fever serum has
been experimented with by Dr. Fischer,
and with nnqualllfled success.
The result," said Dr. Fischer In an In
terview, "takes the scarlet fever serum out
of the experimental and puts It Into the
clinical stage. It proves, In my opinion
and in the opinion of many other medical
men of my acquaintance, that the serum
cure is the therspeutle fcgent of the future.
It Is a triumph for the prophylactic tend
ency of modern medicine that, la, a ten
dency to prevent dlseaae rather than to
euro It.
"In a very short time I firmly believe the
value of the scarlet fever aerum will be
aa undisputed as the diphtheria serum Is
now. I believe thst It will be adopted by
boards of health throughout the country.
I . have tried its effect on two cases, one
of them which appeared to be hopeless,
and the results were all that could be desired.
Episodes and Incidents in
OT many are aware that Sonator
Quay of Pennsylvania won' a
reputation for bravery in ths
civil war. Hs was a volunteer
aid at ths charge upon Marye'a
Ths line showed signs of break-
N
Heights
Ing end Quay called out
"D n It, boys.
what are you dodging forT
If I can sit
on my horse and ths bullets go over my
head they certainly csn't hit you." His
presence of mind stopped the panic.
When Secretary Wyndham met the repre
sentatives of the Irish landlords and ten
ants and laid before them his land pur
chase scheme William O'Brien pushed his
chair back from ths table and exclaimed
"For the Brat time In my life I ssy. 'God
save the king!'" Lord Clsnrloarde, . tbs
most unpopular acd most unmerciful of Irlrh
landlords, capped this uttersnce with tho
words: "For the first time in my life 1
ssy, 'God ssve Ireland!' "
Not long ago a newspaper man called on
Secretary Hay to question him regarding a
diplomatic incident of rather a delicate In
ternational character. The newspaper man
wss afraid ha might make some injudicious
Inquiry and said: "Mr. Secretary, I am
afraid my questions are not proper from
a diplomatic staudpolnt." "My desr sir,"
answered Secretary Hay, "I don't think
any question you may ssk will be Improper.
The Impropriety depends on whether or not
I answer It." $
Viscount Tadaau Hayashi. Japanese am
bassador at London, was recently initiated
Into Freemasonry st ths Empire lodge. The
ceremony wss a unique and Interesting per
form see, Inssmuch ss he Is not only the
. first foreign ambassador to be Initiated
In aa English lodge, but he Is believed to
be the ftnt of his countrymen, who are
mostly Phintolsts or BetMhists, to be in.
strueted In the srts and mysteries of the
craft. Although there are two lodges In
Yokohama, one In Toklo end eae In Yeddo,
thsy are all under the grand lodge of Eng.
land, and all the members are British.
The only ex-officer of the confederate
army who cling to his uniform Is Geaeral
Oeorge F. Altord of Dallas, Tex. He hss
never discarded his colors since he donned
them to go Into the army In the early '60s.
Pedestrians turn to look at him, peering at
his badges, scanning his gold belt and try
"Perhaps, at the Fourteenth International
Medical congress, which will be held at
Madrid next May, some of the Derlin bac
teriologists will tell or their progress with
the scrum, and the world will hear some
thing more of another great discovery In
medical science. I am going to the con
gress, and It Is my intention afterward to
go to Berlin and see Dr. Hsns Aronson, .
with whoso serum I have been recently
experimenting.
"In order to make the subject more In
teresting to the lsy reader," continued Dr.
Fischer, "suppose I give a brief review of
the serum treatment and the principle that
underlies It.
"Many years ago Professor Ehrllch of
Berlin discovered that abrln and rlcln, both
deadly poisons, could be Injected In small
and then In Increasingly large dosos into
animals, until they had acquired a 'toler
ance,' to uae a medical term, for these
poisons. In other words, large doses could
be Injected without fstal effects. These
animals were called Immune. Then he rea
soned that If the blood of Immune animals
could neutralise these specific poisons,
probably the serum from the blood of ani
mals would contain healing substances.
Thus he learned that in some Instances
small quantities of blood, or serum, when
Injected Into another animal, would pre
vent It from dying after receiving an other
wise fatsl dose of poison. This same prin
ciple has been applied In producing Im
munity from toxin generated by disease
germs.
"The tuberculins serum, or Koch's lmph,
as It was called, created more of a sen
sation In the medical world, and in all
parts of It, thsn anything since Harvey's
discovery of the circulation of the blood.
It was the first of the serum discoveries
aa applied to human bslngs. But It was not
a sound product; and After a brief ex
perience In the clinics, it waa a keen dis
appointment. But Dr. Koch is still work
ing on it, snd he may yet make it as dis
tinct a success as he diphtheria aerum has
provsd, snd, aa I firmly believe, t he scsrlet
fever serum is destined to prove. Ons never
knows.
"Dr. Hans Aronson, a distinguished bac
teriologist of Berlin, Is too man who has
brought, the scarlet fever serum to Its
present perfection. One of the reasons that
we have bsen so late In getting It In this
country Is that it wss not perfected nntil
recently, and that it is very slaw In de
velopment. Even now, scientists do not
all agree that the real germ has been
found, but the majority sro of the opinion
that the atreptococcus la the bona fide scar
let fever germ. '
"Coccus means a micro-organism that is
round, and streptococcus means germs In
spiral form, like a man'a watch chain.
There are numerous varieties of strepto
cocci. Some grow In pairs and are called
ing to decipher the letters en his eld army
hat. General Alford has been a judge, a
banker, a legislator snd a congressman.
When Prince Henry of Prussia visited the
United States about a year ago persons
were surprised to see how quickly he picked
up American Idioms. To those associated
with hiin it was not uncommon to hear such
phrases as "made him feel like 30 cents,"
"out o' sight" and "go 'way back and alt
down," with other current slang of twelve
months ego, come trtpp'ngly frm 'he royal
Hps. Therefore no one here Is surprised to
leern that In speaking of a statement he
deems particularly direct and appropriate
Baron von Sternburg frequently says: "It's
bully right off the bet."
President Ramsey of the Wabash railroad
was not much perturbed over the strike
which threatened his system a few weeks
ago. "I suppose," he said philosophically,
"the men will quit, the clorks will be given
a vseatlon, I'll dlschsrgs their duties ant
then attempt to Are an engins." "Will
the sympathy of the publd; be with the men
or the road?" asked sn Interviewer. "I be
lieve with the rosd." said President Ram
sey. "We'll Issue passes to all who apply.
When these people find that the road la tied
up they will condemn the strikers. By ths
time operations sre resumed the time limit
on the passes will hsve expired."
One of the lets Tom Reed's friends and
colleagues was telling a story the other
dsy Illustrative of the distinguished speak
er's opposition to the Spanish war and In
terference in Cuba. -About the time war
was declared Reed came out of -his hotsl
one morning boiling mad. To a friend he
declared: "I would not give a drop of
American blood for all the 'dagoes' and
negroes In the Island of Cuba. I would not
give the lite of one American to aave 8.000,
00 of them. No. sir, I would not, except
perhsps" here's smile spread over his big
fsce and he relapssd Into a "down-east"
drawl "yes, I believe I might sscrtfice Sen
ator and he named a senator whom
he held responsible for much of the feeling
that resulted in the war with Spain.
.
-. General Herman Haupt, a classmate of
General Meade at West Point, Is M years
Id and lively as a kitten. He has been
building artilleryman at Washington on
diplococcl. Others grow In bunches, like
grapes, snd sre called staphlococcl. Then
there Is the pneumaococcua, or the germ
from pneumonia, and the meningococcus,
the germ from menningltls.
"Dr. Aronson took some streptococci
from the tonsil of a severe case of scsrlet
fever and produced a pure culture of the
same. He then genersted the toxin there
from and by laboratory experiment dem
onstrated to his satisfsctlon that he could
neutralize the deadly toxin by adding to
it some of the serum which hs produced.
Dr. Aronson Injected several horses with
fatal doses of the streptococcus derived
from scarlet fever esses. When they were
made Immune he withdrew some of the
serum and successfully utilized it for heal
ing purposes. Then what was possible In
the laboratory wss transplanted to the
hospital ward.
"But the credit of first disseminating the
vslue of ths serum belongs to Prof. Adolph
Baglnsky, the director of the Kslser and
Kalserln Frcderlch Children's hospital of
Berlin. It should be understood that
scrum, when injected Into a child or grown
person, does not kill the germ of disease.
The serum simply neutralise the toxlnes
generated In the body. The toxlnes are
the cause of death In the human system
by producing paralysis or degeneration of
the heart muscles, or by preventing the
proper action of the kidneys, they cause
death by a process which we call toxaemia,
which simply means blood poisoning. Thus,
the object In Injecting scarlet fever serum
is not so much to Inhibit the growth of
disease germs as to prevent blood poison
ing snd the usual complications arising
from poison circulating in the blood.
"Now let me take up my own case, and
another in which I was consulted, upon
both of which I have recently used the
scarlet fever serum with success.
"The first waa a 7 months child of
healthy parents, brought up on a patent
baby food after her first four months' of
life. Although only 6 yesrs old, she had
already recovered from one case of pneu
monia and Is susceptible to tonsllitia and
bronchitis. When she was stricken with
scarlet fever early last February I had
grave doubts that any treatment whatever
could save her life. As Is usual In this
disease, the kidneys and bowels refused to
work altogether. I gave her an Injection
of Aronaon's serum and from that time on
these organs worked naturally. The usual
aesccptlc method was carried out to avoid
local Infection. The child's condition Im
proved gradually and today ahe Is as well
as she haa ever been.
"The second case. In which I was called
In consultation with another physician, was
an 8-year-old girl, who had been sick three
days, snd. whose temperature was 104 de
grees. Her pulso was weak and rapid. A
very Intense eruption covered the entire
body. Large necrotic patchea covered the
the Lives of Noted People
what he calls "balanced ration. Here Is
his dally menu for the artillerymen:
Breakfast, four or five milk biscuits, one
spple; lunch. Graham bread and cheese,
two or three milk proteld biscuits; tea, two
or thr?e milk proteld biscuits; supper, one
vegetable (spinach, for example), four or
five milk proteld biscuits; just before go
ing to bed, two or tbreo glasses of water
and one apple. The cost of this ration Is
$1.89 a week. The general is a strict
disciple of his own teschlngs and now at
86 is ss sound as a whistle, with his mind
as clear aa when be led his class nearly
seventy years ago.
$,
The clerks of the patent office at Wash
ington, D. C, began several years ago to
keep a systematic account of the patenta
Issued to Thomas A. Edison. They hsve
his vsrlous Inventions tsbulated and In
dexed, so that they can put their hands on
rsch different Idea he has protected by
patent from the beginning of bis marvel
ous career of Invention. When a pending
claim Is allowed, as It no doubt will be
this month, Mr Edition will hsve received
791 patents In all. He Is not adding to the
list ss many Ideas nowadays as hs did some
years sgo. Up to 1895 he had taken out 711
patents. Since then he hsd added to the
list from three to twenty-three pstents
each year. Last year he took out nine
teen. This year, so far, he has received six.
In ordinary fees for patents Mr. Edison
has spent over $fl,000.
During their visit In St. Louis to attend
the dedication of the world's fslr President
Roosevelt and ex-President Cleveland will
sleep snd est st the same house. President
D. R. Francis of the world's fslr company
hss msde arrangements to entertain both
the president and the ex-prestdent at bis
handsoms hame at Newstesd and Maryland
avenues. Members of ths cabinet will be
entertained at the homes of William H.
Thompson, treasurer of the fair, and ex
Governor E. O. Stanard, one of the di
rectors. Senator Depew will be the guest
of Corwin H. Spencer, vice president of
ths exposition. d
Prcbabty It was at this time (1877). writes
Ida M. Tarbell la McClure's. that there
took place the little scene between Mr.
Vandrrbilt and Mr. Rockefeller and his
colleagues of which the former told the
throat. I gave an injection of the scarlet
fever sernm. On the second visit, I no
ticed the entire disappearance cf necrotic
patches of the throat and the dlssppear
ance or the obstruction of other functions
Identical with my own case. I am Informed
that the child has almost recovered.
"I do not hesitate to say," continued Dr.
Fischer, "that, given proper food, proper
nursing, and proper hygenlc surroundings,
patients may be cured of scarlet fever with
the new serum ss surely as they sre of
diphtheria with anti-toxin. All of us can
remember when diphtheria was a disease
all parents dreaded. It was regarded as
surely fstal. Now, by the use of serum,
we see children in the last stages cured In
a few days. This is the case at almost
every hospitsl.
"Dr. Baglnsky has kept a careful record
of his success with the scsrlet fever serum.
In the first group of cases, nineteen in all,
he had only one death. In the second group,
five cases, he had no death. In the third
group, eighteen cases, he had one death,
and in the fourth group, sixteen cases, one
death. Thia makes a total of fifty-eight
cases and three deaths, or 4.2 per cent.
"I understand that a number of physi
cians In this country have sent for some
of the Aronson serum and are experiment
ing with it. In careful and expeiienced
hands, I see no reason why the results
should not be as satisfactory here as they
have been ab-oad.
"The specific action of antl-toxln In
diphtheria is far greater, comparatively,
than the action attained from the use of
this scarlet fever serum. It Is too soon
for me to form definite conclusions upon
the after effects of the treatment, based
upon an experience of only two cases. But
the clinical results were certainly striking.
The effect of the serum on the tempera
ture shows that It did Inhibit bacterial
products.
"Another Interesting observation. In
both cases, was the almost melting away
or the necrotic membranes after the fourth
day. The temperature came down grad
ually. The glands of the neck In both cases,
were swollen and subsided with the disap
pearance of throat manifestations. Dr.
Baglnsky maintains that, all In all, there
are no disagreeable effects from thla new
serum. The fever, even In severe forma,
declined stesdlly and without interruption
from complications.
"It Is too early yet," concluded Dr.
Fischer, "to form- an opinion on the value
of the new riexner serum for dysentery
and cholera Infantum, experiments on
which are going on at the Rockefeller In-.
stitute In Baltimore, and also In Phila
delphia. Let us all hope that successful
results may come from it. Professor Flex
ner is not a man to make unwarranted
statements. K he can work out his dis
covery, it will be the means of saving
thousands of children from death."
Hepburn commission In 1879. The Standard
people were after more rebates. They af
firmed other roads were giving larger
rebates thsn Mr. Vanderbilt and that their
contract with htm obliged him to give as
much as anybody else did.
"Gentlemen," he told them, "you cannot
walk Into this office and eay we are bound
by any contract to do business with you at
any price that any other road does that is
In competition with us; It Is only on a fair
competitive basis, a fair competition for
business at a price that I consider will pay
the company to do it."
Soon after this Interview, so rumor says,
Mr. Vsnderbuilt sold the Stsndsrd stock he
hsd acquired as a result of the. deals msde
through the South Improvement company.
"I think they are smarter fellows than I
am, a good deal." he told the commission,
somewhat ruefully; "and it you come In
contact with them I guess you will come
to the same conclusion."
Mayor Low of New York Is suffering from
a surplus of banquet. His digestion has
gons on strike against the rich anj highly
spiced foods served at elaborate functions
and Mr. Low is now dieting strictly. He
had srranged to attend a dinner given by
the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, but has
sent a letter of regret, In which he says:
"I hsve been Indulging in so many miles
of dinners during the last few -months that
I have had to cancel all of my outstandng
dinner engagements for this mouth. Even
St. Patrick, I fear, could not hold me
harmless if I were to violate the dictates
of prudence in this regard."
Before leaving Washington for Cleveland
to take part In the mayoralty campaign
there Senator Hanna called on the president
and was escorted to the cabinet room. Sec
retary Root also came and was shown into
the ssme place. Judge Halls of New York
and "General" Dick of Ohio were in the
ante-room at the time. They heard a crash
as of something falling to the floor, and
Judge Halls exclaimed: "What's that?"
Mr. Dick replied easily: "That la ths
first failure of Roosevelt and Root In their
attempt to put old man Hanna on the vice
presidential shelf, which you and the
president know so much about They had
Just hoisted him up on the shelf, but he
haa wriggled off."
