Too Expensive a Place

1895

Paul Lacroix, a French writer and bibliophile, was at one time seriously out of health and took refuge in Italy. Bronchitis had fastened itself upon him, and his pallor and general feebleness of appearance were so marked that he sometimes saw people point the finger at him in the street and say to each other in an undertone, "A consumptive!"

He had taken lodgings in Rome, when, one day, the proprietor of the house mounted the stairs, rapped at the door and came in. Lacroix was just then in a coughing paroxysm.

"Signor," began the householder, "who is responsible for you?"

"What do you mean?" asked the astonished Frenchman.

"If you should die, who would pay the expenses?"

"I hope not to die yet awhile," answered Lacroix. "Besides I am not very ambitious. A modest burial would suit me."

"But who will pay me?"

"Why, man, I pay you myself every week!"

"No, no. I am speaking of this bed, this armchair, this table, this carpet — everything in the chamber. Everything will have to be burned after the death of a consumptive."

"My dear sir," said Lacroix, "I am not rich enough to die in Rome. I will go to Naples."

The next day, indeed, he set out for southern Italy, but he lived for many years to tell the story of his banishment from the Holy City. — Youth's Companion.

The Diseased Rich at Baden-Baden

The Diseased Rich at Baden-Baden

1901

A great deal of grandeur always makes me homesick. It isn't envy. I don't want to be a princess and have the bother of winding a horn for my outriders when I want to run to the drug store for postage stamps, but pomp depresses me.

Everybody was strange, foreign languages were pelting me from the rear, noiseless flunkies were carrying pampered lap dogs with crests on their nasty little embroidered blankets, fat old women with epilepsy and gouty old men with scrofula, representing the aristocracy at its best, were being half carried to and from tables, and the degeneracy of noble Europe was being borne in upon my soul with a sickening force.

The purple twilight was turning black on the distant hills, and the silent stars were slowly coming into view. Clean, health giving Baden-Baden. In the valley of the Oos, with its beauty and its pure air, was holding out her arms to all the disease and filth that degenerate riches produce. — Lillian Bell in Woman's Home Companion.

Practical Trick of Tramp

1910

Money He Received on Leaving Smallpox Hospital Is Declined by Restaurant Proprietor

"I have not come to solicit alms, madam," he said to the restaurant proprietress; "I have just called to make a small purchase, and, at the same time, to show to you man's inhumanity to man, and what a cold, hard world it is in which we live. In the meantime, would you kindly put me up a nice beef sandwich, with a plentiful supply of mustard, etc., for which I will tender the equivalent in coin of the realm?

"As I was saying — thank you, madam, that will do admirably — 'tis a cold, cruel world. For instance, these few bronze coins, with which I am about to pay you for my sandwich, represent my worldly goods, and they were given with a niggardly hand this morning on my leaving the smallpox hospital.

"What! You won't accept them? Nor take the food back? I may take them and go? Thank you, madam; I wish you a good morning!"

Aged Ice Regarded Safe for Health

1910

PHILADELPHIA. — The Natural Ice Association of America, including dealers in natural ice in Philadelphia, has begun a "campaign of education" to inform the public that aged ice is free from bacteria.

Bacteria are the little wigglers in water that get into the insides of people and often give them typhoid, diphtheria and other diseases. A quart of water contains a million or two of these bacteria. Some of them, not all, are dangerous to health.

But the natural ice men say — and they produce scientific argument to support their assertions — that although the bacteria are frozen into the ice when the water congeals, they are killed off so rapidly that in 24 hours 90 per cent of them are dead, and within a few weeks the ice is sterile — absolutely free from bacterial life of any kind.

One Philadelphia natural ice dealer said recently: "Natural ice is cut in December, January and February. Seventy percent of it is used between June and September, when it is anywhere from sixteen to twenty weeks old, and when the bacteria are frozen in it, and have been without air, motion, warmth and food from four to five months."

A paper recently sent out with the endorsement of the national body of natural ice dealers says:

"The buyer of ice should really be as anxious to obtain, and the dealer in natural ice as quick to advertise, that he sells old ice, as the green grocer is to seek trade on the strength of the freshness of his tomatoes or peas, and the butter and egg man on his new-laid or freshly made products. Old ice is pure ice, sterile ice, free from bacteria harmful or helpful."

Dr. Edwin Jordan, professor of bacteriology in the University of Chicago and at Rush Medical College, says:

"Experiments have shown that when water freezes the great majority of typhoid bacteria that it contains are immediately destroyed. Those that survive die off progressively. According to Park, not one in a thousand lives in ice longer than one month, and at the end of six months all are dead. Relatively few epidemics of typhoid fever have been proved to be due to the use of ice."

Dr. Charles H. Lawall, chemist for the Pennsylvania dairy and food commission, said that bacteria can live without air, and that a temperature of 32 degrees was not fatal for a long time to many kinds of bacteria.

—Oelwein Daily Register, Oelwein, IA, Sept. 27, 1910, p. 2.

Insects Carry Disease

1917

Our knowledge of the connection of insects with diseases is a very modern acquisition. In his presidential address to the Washington Academy of Sciences, Dr. L. O. Howard noted that standard medical works of a score of years ago made no mention of the subject, but recent literature records 226 different disease germs as known to have been carried by insects to man or animals, 87 organisms as known to be parasitic in insects but not known to be transmitted, and 282 species of insects as discovered causes or carriers of diseases of man or animals.

The transportation by wind of the body-louse, the carrier of typhus fever, is among late discoveries to which many writers have given attention. Tick paralysis is another novel subject, the disease occurring in Australia, Africa and North America, and 13 cases have been reported by a single Oregon physician.

Progressive paralysis of motor but not sensory nerves follows the attachment of the tick. The disease is not infectious, and it has not been decided whether it is due to a specific organism or to nerve shock. Infantile paralysis is believed to be one of the diseases not carried by insects.

Lazy, Dirty Panama

1905

Although there is a new flag in Panama, and the affairs of state are in new hands, life rolls on in its accustomed way. The bells in the old towers keep calling the faithful to prayer; long files of venders parade the narrow streets, eternally crying for sale their frugal wares; buzzards soar in the hot air or hop on foot in their never ending search for offal; the same horde of quarreling women crowd the market place to chatter, to barter, and to fight; polite men drink in the cafes and busy themselves with political plot and counterplot; and dusky senoritas lounge in cool patios, dreaming the dreams that southern maidens dream.

The south is always the south. Its idle, shiftless children play and parley their hours away, and the years bring little change for them. They are as aimless as the winds that play in the palms. It is no wonder. The word tropic sounds narcotic. It is of no use to resist. You may summon all your powers of will, but drowsiness touches you with its gentle fingers and you drift softly out on the sea of sleep.

Soldiers Eat Ice Cream

The sweet tooth seems to flourish in a hot climate. Children gnawing at pieces of sugar cane is always a familiar sight in tropical lands. Sometimes they get little else to eat. On a former trip to the tropics I had in my employ a little black by the name of Domingo, who ran errands for me. Necessarily I became quite familiar with the habits of my young assistant. I found that, aside from sleeping a great deal, he was quite an eater. His blouse was his larder, and he kept it well stocked with eatables, mostly sweets. If he were disturbed while eating he would chuck the unfinished morsel inside his shirt to await a more favorable opportunity to consume it.

Domingo's tendency toward economy was commendable, even if his idea of cleanliness was not praiseworthy. There was always a noticeable bulging in his blouse, and I frequently heard a rattling sound as he moved about. One day I said to him: "Domingo, what is that in your shirt which rattles so?" He replied: "That's my ice cream dish, sir."

It was a well battered tin cup, and, after some contortions, he brought forth a crooked, much abused metal spoon. "For two cents I get this half full of cream, sir. It is very good. May I bring you some?" I did not avail myself of his generosity.

Domingo is a soldier now. The salary he gets for being a fighting man amounts to about 40 cents per day, American money, and he boards himself. This is a satisfactory arrangement to Domingo, because feeding himself is an old habit. He does not have to put up with whatever rations the head of the commissary department may see fit to issue.

He still has his battered cup and crooked spoon, and he buys ice cream and cake as many times a day as the spirit moves him. His fellows do likewise. Around their camp there is a hovering swarm of venders.

Steamer on the Spot

The Panama railway steamer, City of Washington, which rendered such valuable service during the recent trouble, has been an actor in other stirring events. It was in Havana harbor when the Maine was blown up, and was anchored next to that ill-fated vessel.

The Washington's small boats were the first to begin picking up the men from the water, and its crew saved many of their lives. Over 100 women and children were kept on the Washington for two days and nights at Colon. They were given their meals and the best service the ship afforded, and no charges were made at all.

After the trouble was over this boat took the commissioners to New York, and later, took the treaty to Panama to be signed. When it was brought on board, Capt. Jones was given a printed letter of instructions, in which it was stated that his charge concerned $50,000,000 worth of interests.

The valuable document was incased in a steel box made especially for it, and this box was contained in a stronger and larger steel safe. Two smaller steel boxes contained two keys, which were sealed with the seal of the United States. There was considerable red tape to be gone through with in delivering the treaty to the proper authorities at Colon, because it was neither freight, baggage, mail nor express. It was one of those little jobs of Uncle Sam's that, as the saying goes, "had to be done just so."

An incident occurred during the "bloodless insurrection" which caused a stampede among the black population. There are thousands of negroes on the isthmus, who were brought here from Jamaica and other islands of the West Indies to work on the French canal. When that fantastic fizzle spent itself they were left to "root, hog, or die."

Most of them are English subjects, and while they are a miserable, poverty-stricken lot, their one pride is that they are subjects of Great Britain. It stands them well in hand, because it saves them from being pressed into service for military duty. It is to the credit of the English officials that they look after them in this respect, and prevent them from being imposed upon. If the pretenders to authority, or those who have so frequently to defend their position, were allowed to round them up and force them to carry arms, they would not last long.

The stampede referred to was caused by an accident. One of the volunteers, who was not used to handling firearms, while in the act of examining his weapon, allowed it to go off. The bullet went between his toes, and it was all so sudden that he thought the enemy surely had him. He let out a yell and started to run. Several hundred negroes who were lounging in the vicinity, curiously waiting for developments, heard the shot and yell and started a precipitate rush for safety. As they ran they spread the news and gathered recruits. The retreat of Britain's black brigade on that warm, warm morning was not a success from a standpoint of order, but deserves special mention as regards speed. Some of them are probably running yet.

The Shade in the Jungle

Panama has waited long to gain the center of the stage. It is as gray and worn as an old man. It has seen enough sorrow to make a thousand tragedies. Its green swamp is the lair of death, where fever, like a slinking thief, always lurks in hiding.

Yellow Jack is an invisible horror. It advances with noiseless steps and clutches its victims with fleshless hand. Ever as it passes there are dead men and women.

This shapeless, hiding thing, which strikes unseen, is the real defender of the bar that God laid down to mark the separation of the seas. If it is His supreme will that the waiting oceans blend their waters, He must make strong the arm that is preparing to strike the barrier away; He must guard the blow that will shatter the mountains by calling off the shade that stalks so ruthlessly through the jungle.

Easy Company

1900

Frenchmen are born diplomatists, yet in a free and unguarded moment even one of that tactful race will sometimes speak his mind without a tinge of flattery.

Such an ungarnished speech is recorded of a young Frenchman who, during a visit in London, was taken to see Madame Tussaud's famous waxworks.

"What do you think of them?" asked the friend who was acting as guide on that occasion. "Oh," said the young man, with a slight shrug, "they seem to me very like the people at an ordinary English party, only perhaps a little stiller."


Rewards of Fame

The Chicago Tribune intimates that, even if "republics are ungrateful," our great men are not forgotten.

"Still," said the old friend who had called to converse with the venerable sage, "in your advancing age it must be a comfort to know your fame is secure."

"Yes," replied the aged scientist, "I am told there is a new disease and a five-cent cigar named for me." — Youth's Companion.

Serum Treatment

1900

The discovery of the serum treatment of disease was the outcome of attempts to solve the mystery of immunity, or the well-known fact that one attack of an infectious disease, such as scarlet fever or measles, almost always renders a person secure against any subsequent exposure.

As so often happens, in the pursuit of knowledge, the object sought was not found — for the true cause of immunity is yet to be discovered; but something of more practical value was lighted upon, namely, a means by which this immunity can be artificially produced.

It was found that during the course of the disease the patient's blood undergoes some change, or acquires some new property, by virtue of which the liability to take that disease is destroyed. Then it was discovered that a little of the blood of a person who has in this way become immune, injected into the veins of another person who has not yet had the disease, will render him immune also.

But this is not all; for the injection of this blood into a person who has just begun to sicken with the disease seems to hasten the cure. It is like a weapon in the hand of a man attacked, or about to be attacked, by robbers. If he has the weapon beforehand he can ward off the attack; or if it is put into his hand just as he is being attacked, he can use it to drive the assailants away.

To cure disease, however, the remedy must be used early, for a weapon is useless to a man who has already been beaten into unconsciousness.

As it is manifestly impossible to use human blood for the purpose named, recourse has been had to animals. Injections of the virus are made repeatedly into a horse, until his blood has acquired a high degree of immunizing power. Then he is bled, and the red and white corpuscles are removed; for the curative properties reside in the fluid part of the blood, that is to say, the serum. This is put up in sealed flasks, and is ready for use.

The serum most in use is the well-known diphtheria antitoxin, although tetanus antitoxin and other serums are also employed occasionally.

Physicians are by no means agreed as to the value of the serum treatment of disease, many claiming that diphtheria antitoxin, for example, has no curative properties whatever; others, again, are equally emphatic in their contention that diphtheria is a much less serious disease since the serum treatment of it has come into general use, and they go so far as to believe that the time will come when, through this serum treatment, Pasteur's saying will be realized, that "it is in the power of man to make all parasitic (or infectious) diseases disappear from the world." — Youth's Companion.

Editorial Remarks — "The Balmy Days of January"

1911

Next June we all may long for the balmy days of January.

Possibly the pet in the cat show would enjoy more keenly life in the alley.

Some people can find a typographical error who never find an idea of their own.

We have yet to discover an egg that has been improved by the cold storage treatment.

"Gaseous imbecility" has taken its place in the hall of fame beside "Innocuous desuetude."

Higher education, too, has its dangers. An Illinois girl started for college, but got married on the way.

Chicago is to have grand opera in English next season. If Chief Steward has his way it will also have it in clothing.

In the Boston high schools 3,000 girls are taking the commercial course. The boys will have to go west or south.

A Denver surgeon was stricken with appendicitis while operating on a patient for that disease. Maybe it is catching, after all.

That Jersey architect who failed to provide a stairway for a new schoolhouse must have realized that this is the age of aviation.

Three and a half billions was the value of the foreign trade of the United States last year. Pretty big country this, isn't it?

Russia affords a big market for American typewriters. To judge from the cartoons we see, Russia is not a big market for American safety razors.

People Retain Belief in Amulets

1910

Superstitions That Once Were General Throughout the World Not Yet Entirety Gone

Faith in the virtue of amulets was well-nigh universal in ancient days; Lord Bacon says the historians had firm belief in them. Indeed, much of the art of medicine consisted in the direction for their employment. Gems, gold, stones, bones, bits of parchment with sacred writing, cylinders of stones, unicorns' horns, all of these would protect against the invading spirits or the influence of the evil eye.

This is the origin of countless popular superstitions that remain to this day. The form has been handed down, while the theories which prompted it have long since been lost sight of. This is why some people carry in their pocket a horse chestnut or a new potato to ward off rheumatism; this is why others tie around the necks of their children a tarred rope as a preventive against all the diseases common to children; this is why others think a gold chain will prevent quinsy sore throat, or a string of root beads worn around the neck will help children to cut teeth.

The coral beads which ease the troubles of teething children and the amber beads which cure asthma are beliefs which are firmly adhered to to this day. Pliny relates that Domitius Nero used to wear the hair of his wife on his neck, thinking it beneficial because it was amber colored. Amulets for teething are of very old date, and as red was a favorite color for an amulet, it can easily be seen how the coral necklace came to be so popular for infants who were teething.

Red was considered very potent in warding off the evil eye. In time of trouble, when the evil eye was especially triumphant, all the red tape in a certain county in England was brought up to ward off its baleful influence. The remains of this superstition still prevail, for many people believe that a red string around the neck is an excellent remedy for asthma, measles and mumps. The preservation of faith in red still exists, as is shown in the great virtues of red flannel, and the belief that the milk of the red cow is better than that of a cow of another color.

The German peasant, if he cuts himself, thinks he stanches the blood better with a red ribbon. This may be accounted for not only by tradition, but by the fact that blood would not form so startling a contrast when wetting a red ribbon as when wetting a white one.


They Really Believe It

Some people cling to the old-fashioned idea that a man must be a genius if he goes about with hair.

Drinking Cup Sediment Kills a Pig

1910

CHICAGO — Public drinking cups are dangerous. They are excellent mediums for transmitting the germs of disease. Especially is this true in public and parochial schools where a large number of children are compelled to use the same cups, according to the health bureau.

Statistics show about one person in sixty has tuberculosis, and among school children there always are those who have some of the communicable diseases in light form, and these undoubtedly are communicated by the use of the common cup.

So fully is this understood that several states have passed laws abolishing the public drinking cup, and compelling railroads and public carriers to supply individual ones. The plan also has been advocated in schools, but the better and safer plan is believed to be the installation of what are known as "bubbling" cups with the water flowing over the rims all the time.

A cup used in a high school for several months without having been washed was found to be lined inside with a thick brownish deposit. Under the microscope this deposit proved to be composed of particles of mud, thousands of bits of dead skin, and millions of bacteria. Some of this sediment was injected under the skin of a healthy guinea pig and forty hours later the pig died. An examination afterward showed that pneumonia germs had caused death. A second guinea pig was inoculated with some of the sediment from the same cup and developed tuberculosis. Careful inquiry showed that several pupils in this school from which the cup was taken were then suffering from consumption.

An agitation is urged asking the school board to install the "bubbling" cups in all schools.

Doctors Who Die Early

1906

The Principal Cause Is Said to Be Excessive Nervous Expenditure in Practice

The diseases which claim the most victims among physicians relatively to all males are gout and diabetes, and there is a high relative mortality from diseases of the nervous system, circulatory system and kidneys, says American Medicine.

From the nature of his habits the physician is not subject to accidents, and, though he is brought into contact with infection to a greater extent than other men, his preventive means are successful and his mortality from infection is very low. Freedom from prolonged muscular strains and high blood tension apparently saves him from arteriosclerosis, but suicide claims many, and so do the drug habits acquired by the nervously exhausted. It has been said that three-fourths of French morphine users are physicians.

The cause of the physician's early death is evidently the excessive nervous expenditure, insufficient rest and defective nutrition, inseparable from his calling, with its broken and restricted sleep, irregular hours of work, rest and meals, the worry when lives depend upon his judgment and the lack of a day of complete relaxation in each week. The physician who sees his patients every day in the week month after month and cannot learn to forget them when he goes home, merely burns the candle at both ends. He violates the law obeyed by every other animal, that there shall be short periods of moderate exertion interrupted by longer periods of rest when repairs are made. It is not too much work as a rule, but scattered work which prevents rest.

Singular New Disease — "Soul Blindness"

1906

Man Afflicted with "Soul Blindness" Cannot Bead or Recognize Pictures

Berlin. — The latest thing in the line of diseases is soul blindness, the name having been devised by Prof. Schuster, of Berlin. It appears that the professor lately had a patient under his care suffering from a lack of mental association. The man was educated and spoke coherently, but could not read; the printed characters conveyed no meaning to his mind. His senses all appeared normal, and there was no indication of physical disease.

He could recognize and name all the objects around him; but printed words, or sketches of the simplest objects, he was utterly unable to name; in fact, to quote the words of the professor, "He could not tell a boat from a tree or a house."

The theory advanced by Prof. Schuster to account for this peculiar condition is, that the connection between the eyes and that particular portion of the brain concerned in the association of ideas has been severed in some manner, and until that connection is restored, the condition will continue.

From what he has seen of the patient, he considers it extremely doubtful whether this important junction will ever be effected.

Rules for the Consumptive

1914

New Jersey Board of Health in Laudable Endeavor to Prevent Spread of Tuberculosis

Acting under a law of 1912, the New Jersey state board of health has issued the following rules, which are to be followed by all consumptives in that state:

1. All persons suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis (consumption) shall effectively destroy their sputum (spit).

2. All persons suffering from running sores due to any form of tuberculosis shall burn all soiled dressings immediately after removal.

3. The room occupied by a tuberculosis patient shall have at least one outside window.

4. No person suffering from pulmonary or other communicable form of tuberculosis shall handle food designed for the use of others except when necessary in the performance of household duties, unless the food be wrapped in such a way as to protect it from contamination or unless some necessary subsequent process of preparation such as cooking will sterilize it.

5. The manufacturing of any kind of goods for commercial purposes or the performance of any work known as "shop work" in the home of any person suffering from pulmonary or other communicable form of tuberculosis, is prohibited, unless the product is such as can be sterilized, and unless sterilization is done in strict accordance with the requirements of the local board of health.

Big Word for Baldness Impressed the Jury

1914

Clever Use of Scientific Term Resulted in Acquittal of Lawyer's Client

The case was one of assault and battery, and one of the witnesses was a local doctor whom the prosecuting lawyer proceeded to bully, suggesting that he was prejudiced in favor of the defendant, and had willfully distorted his evidence in his favor.

The doctor denied this, and went on to say that the defendant was suffering from "phalacrosis." The word caused a sensation in court, and, asked to define the disease, the doctor described it as "a sort of chronic disease of an inflammatory nature which affects certain cranial tissues." Asked if it affected the mind, the doctor said he was not posing as an expert, but he had known some persons when suffering from the disease become raving maniacs, and others merely foolish. Some showed destructive and pugilistic tendencies, while many others had suffered for years and had never shown any mental abnormalities.

He refused to say anything further, and the jury promptly acquitted the accused, because, as the foreman explained, "Doc said there was something the matter with his head."

When the case was over the prosecutor sought enlightenment as to the mysterious disease, and found that "phalacrosis" meant — baldness.

Secluded Veteran Dies After Five Years of Leprosy

1910

Badger Leper Dies

Passes Away After Five Long Years of Affliction

Lived Life of Seclusion in Building Set Apart for Him at the National Soldiers' Home In Milwaukee.

Milwaukee, Wis. — Albert S. O'Gorman is dead. Milwaukee's leper, after nearly five years of retreat in a little brick house on the grounds of the Soldiers' home, is no more. Death came quietly. It was the gradual dissolution of a body wasted by disease, that could no longer find strength to meet the daily strain demanded of it.

O'Gorman was a soldier. He served many years in the regular army, seeing service throughout the east and west. He joined the ranks when the war with Spain broke out, and was one of the foremost in Cuba and the Philippines. It was while with the army in the islands that he contracted the disease which brought his death.

Upon his return from war, O'Gorman entered the regular service in various army posts. Then he was taken ill. He asked a pension, and permission to enter a soldiers' home. The request was readily granted. A monthly income of $72 was allowed him by the government. He was ordered to the Milwaukee national home.

Then, and not till then, did O'Gorman learn the true character of his malady. He was examined by staff physicians, who diagnosed his disease as leprosy. There was no help for him, they said, and preparations were made to arrange for his comfort during his lifetime.

In a corner of the grounds a small brick house, once the home of one of the officials, was set aside for him. It was a two-story structure, with three rooms — a living room, a kitchen and a bedroom. Furniture and books, utensils and regulation clothing were furnished him, and he settled down to live the life of a recluse during the remainder of his days.

That was five years ago. During the intervening time, O'Gorman lived almost happily. Two of his daily meals he prepared himself on the cook stove in his little kitchen. Each day an orderly brought his dinner to him. Tobacco was supplied in abundance. Papers and books were plentiful. He was a deeply religious character, and spent much time reading the Bible, sitting on the low steps of his dwelling, basking in the sun.

To look at the man, one would not realize that he was the victim of the most horrible of diseases. He was inclined to a pleasant personality. None of the horror or fear of the evident indications of leprosy were shown.

O'Gorman suffered especially during the winter time. Cold weather, he complained, increased the steady aches and pains to which he was subjected. During last winter, he failed slowly but steadily. Spring came, and he rallied slightly; but his system was too far gone, and the convalescence proved only temporarily.

O'Gorman was born in Ireland in 1856 It was in 1874 that he came to the United States. He settled near St. Paul, Minn., and it was from there that he was recruited into the regular army.

The case of the patient attracted much attention throughout the country. He was one of two individuals in the United States afflicted with the plague.

Several times the state department and the secretary of war considered transferring his case from Milwaukee, but there were no leper colonies where he might be sent, and it was decided finally, that he could be best cared for in the little brick building in which he made his home.

—Suburbanite Economist, Chicago, Aug. 26, 1910.

Life in Dreary Iceland; Romance in America

1878

Life in Dreary Iceland

Men and women, masters and servants, all inhabit the same room, while the cleanliness is not much attended to; but poor as they are, and accustomed to great privations, they set an example of cheerful contentment. The beauty of the young girls is remarkable; their fair hair falls in long plaits, partially covered by a black cloth coil, daintily worn on one side of the head, and finished at the top with a tassel of colored silk run through a silver or steel buckle, which floats on the shoulder. It reminds the traveler of the Greek head-dress, but the blue eyes, with their sweet, benevolent expression, soon recall to his mind their Danish origin. The dress is made of the cloth woven in the country, and on festive days the bodice is gaily adorned with silver braid and velvet, while the belt and sleeves are ornamented with silver devices, beautifully chased and often of great value. On wet and cold days the shawl becomes a useful mantilla, completely enveloping the head, and defending the wearer from the effects of the frequent storms. — Chambers' Journal.


Condensed Romance

1878

Who says that there is no romance in practical America? Who says that the days of chivalry and love-making are gone, and that this is a world of ledgers and blue stockings?

Why, the exchange table shows:

(a) that romance begins early: for a Chicago lad of fourteen eloped, last week, with a sweet little miss of thirteen;

(b) that it gets on fast: for a dashing naval officer proposed to a Washington belle last Tuesday, was accepted on Wednesday and married on Saturday;

(c) that it is numerous: for a woman in Coventry, Conn., swears that, like the good wife in Chaucer's tale, she has had seven husbands, and that they have annoyed her all her life by turning up after she had every reason to suppose that they had been hanged as pirates, or carried off by small-pox;

(d) that it is exceedingly uncertain: for "Clara," of Westfield, Mass., broke the engagement the moment she heard that her betrothed had been bitten by a mad dog, on the ground that it would be unsafe to marry a man who might have the hydrophobia;

(e) that it is never too late for it: for a farmer in Massachusetts, who confessed his seventy-third year, hired his neighbor's son to find a wife for him, insisting that she must be young and pretty, and the agent brought to the venerable widower an engaging lass of seventeen, who, rather than work out for a living, professed her willingness to marry him, and to inherit his money in the sweet by-and-by; but the marriage has cost the old man dear, for, besides the commissions charged by the neighbor's son, he has had to give his daughter, who was the bride's senior by eight years, $10,000 outright before she would consent to leave his roof and allow him to enjoy his honeymoon. — New York Tribune.

Automobile Hypnosis Is Latest Disease

1917

Another disease has been discovered which is said to account for so many automobile accidents. It is motor auto hypnosis. Men and women are alike affected by it, and unconsciously lose control of the steering wheel.

Psychologists offer various reasons for the trouble. The term has come into general use only recently, but has been more widely observed since the variety of the phenomenon has been more closely studied.

It might be clearer to use the more readily comprehensive term of "automobile sleepiness."

There is, as most everyone knows, a certain lull about touring in a car. The air, the buzz of the motor, all have a tendency to quiet the nerves and produce a desire for sleep.

Frequently automobile accidents occur on country roads, with nothing to distract the attention of the driver of the car, no traffic to avoid, no bad places in the pavement. When such an inexplicable accident occurs the excuse that something went wrong with the steering gear is usually offered. In nine cases out of ten the steering gear was all right, but something went wrong with the man at the wheel.

A man was recently heard to remark to a friend about a remarkable experience he had enjoyed the night before when, he declared, he drove his car, after midnight, for nearly a mile and was asleep the entire time. Fortunately for the man, the street was wide and there were few cars out.

But this is merely an incident that is bringing before our psychologists this momentous question.

When an accident does happen it is but natural that the man dislikes to acknowledge his negligence. He has to blame somebody, so he blames the car.

Now come certain responsible scientists who prove conclusively that the man at the wheel is not always to blame. He is a victim of auto hypnosis. He becomes unconsciously drowsy. The feeling creeps on him unawares and before he knows it he loses control of the wheel and accidents follow.

There seems to be reason in this theory, and if there is, the victim should permit someone else who is immune from the affection to handle his car in future. Public and his personal safety demands this.

—New Castle News, New Castle, PA, April 13, 1917, p. 8.

Man Falls Dead By His Mother's Coffin

New York, 1899

Fifth Member of the Family to Die Within Three Months

By the side of his mother's coffin John F. Murphy, a retired fireman, apparently in full health and strength, fell dead, says the New York Times.

The mother, Mrs. Mary Ann Murphy, died on Wednesday afternoon, after an illness of only two days, at her home, 219 Harrison street, Brooklyn. She was the fourth member of the family to die within three months, and the sudden death of her son brings the number up to five.

John F. Murphy was 37 years old. He had been a fireman for thirteen years, and was retired on half-pay a short time ago. His home was at 521 1st avenue, Manhattan. He went to Brooklyn on Friday night to attend his mother's wake, and sat up with the body all night.

At 1 o'clock the next afternoon, when the body was about to be taken to Calvary cemetery, Murphy and a few friends were sitting in the room with the coffin. Murphy was talking. Suddenly he hesitated in his speech and clapped his hands to his heart. "Boys," he gasped, "I'm sick!" He attempted to rise from his chair and fell unconscious. His friends thought at first that he was joking, and then, becoming alarmed, sent for an ambulance.

Surgeon Smith of the Long Island college hospital responded and Dr. Walter Kean, of Clinton and Congress streets, was also sent for. The two physicians pronounced him dead and ascribed heart disease as the cause.

—The Lima News, Lima, Ohio, Feb. 11, 1899, p. 3.

The Thirsty Leech – Old-Time Aid to Blood-Letting

1890

THE THIRSTY LEECH.

AN OLD-TIME AID TO BLOOD LETTING.

An Industry that is Now but the Shadow of What it Once Was.

According to the psalmist "The daughters of the horse-leech cry continually, "Give, give." According to the natural history neither the horse-leech nor his daughters do anything of the sort, the appetite of this variety of the once popular worm being quite easily satisfied. Neither has it the blood-sucking tastes of the ordinary leech, for it is well established that it will not attack man, while it is equally well known that the leech of the medical world will. It is doubtful whether it ever attaches itself to horse or other animals and it is content to make a meal off another worm, which it does by swallowing it whole after the fashion of that other worm, the snake. The horse-leech, it is true, is big and looks fierce, but, as in the case of the big black ant and the little red one, it is the little one that is to be avoided. Lastly, although this objection may be considered hypercritical, the horse-leech never had any daughters, all of its children being bi-sexed, true hermaphrodites.

Possibly what the erudite translators of the Old Testament set down in Saxon as the horse-leech was not the horse-leech at all in the original, or perhaps what was meant was the leech which is gathered by horses. In the great leech ponds and streams of Europe and Asia, a big haul of the worm used to be made by driving horses in the infected localities. The little bloodsuckers would then fasten themselves to the poor animal's legs and body, from which, when the worms were saturated, the gatherers would pick them off. Leeches have to be gathered with a little more care, the sources of supply having become much more limited than they were fifty years ago. They formerly inhabited in great numbers the marshes and streams of most countries of Europe, but now they are successfully cultivated only in France and Hungary, although they come from Turkey, Wallachia, Russia, Egypt and Algeria. The best leeches were long supposed to come from Sweden, but the supplies have run short. Paris is now the center of the European export trade, many of the leeches that come from there being labeled as Swedish.

Prior to 1839 there was no regular import trade of leeches into this country, the supply being kept up by sea captains who occasionally brought them over in small numbers on private speculation. Leechers were, therefore, obliged to depend largely on the native leech for drawing blood, the native species being in considerable demand during the early part of the present century. It was found that there were many American species, its habitat being quite widely distributed, but the best came from Eastern Pennsylvania, especially Berks and Bucks counties. The European species is generally conceded to be superior to the American, but during the earlier period of importation the prices charged for the European blood-sucker was so high that the American leech held its ground for a time. Gradually, however, prices fell, until now, although the European leech is still a trifle more expensive than the native. Its cost is so slight that it is almost universally employed, excepting in special cases, and in a few localities where the American leech is preferred. No American leeches, it is believed, are now used in any American city except Philadelphia, where they are still in slight demand. In fact, the latter city appears to have held to the old custom of leeching more than any other American city of which there is any information. Now, perhaps, scarcely more than 1,000 American leeches are used in a year, although more than that number are sold to the druggist, the supply coming from one person who collects them in the Pennsylvania counties mentioned and in the ponds about Trenton, N. J.

Up to 1878 New York was the only port that was in the leech-import business, but in that year New Orleans also began their importation, while San Francisco has long been the third importer. In San Francisco the business is in the hands of a French woman Madame Patural. They are imported during most of the year, but only to a slight extent in summer, as they are easily killed by an excess of heat. In June, July and August the mortality in the East sometimes reaches as high as 25 per cent. They are brought here packed in swamp earth in air and water-tight wooden cases, holding 1,500 leeches each. These cases are made rather light, and are about twenty-one inches long, fifteen inches wide, and thirteen inches high. In shipping leeches from place to place in this country the same cases are used for sending large quantities, and tight wooden pails for smaller numbers, the packing of swamp earth being also employed. American leeches, on the contrary, are kept best in water, in earthen or glass jars in a cool place. In the case of very large quantities storage ponds are employed, the principal being on Long Island, between Winfield and Newtown.

Though but slightly used now, there are few people who do not know that the leech is used as a blood-letting machine, its use dating back to Galen, and the process by which it fills itself with blood being graphically described by naturalists who lived contemporaneously with Pliny and Herodotus. Cupping and leeching were the curative methods employed in all febrile disorders, and indeed for almost any ill. They were applied to any part of the skin, as well as to the mouth and other available inlets. When the distinct locality was to be attacked the leech was applied in a thimble or leech glass, the latter being a small tube with a slightly contracted opening, and sometimes provided with a glass piston for pushing master leech on. In the case of brain fever or concussion of the brain the leeches were simply laid on by the doctor, sometimes as many as two dozen hanging on at the same time. So prominent a part of the doctor's practice, indeed, was this application of leeches that the doctor himself was often called "a leech" or a "learned leech" as by any other title. — San Francisco Chronicle.