"Aetiology:—The influenza bacillus (found in blood and excrement) is to be regarded as the cause. The malady is highly contagious. Period of incubation given as, from two to seven days. Runs its course in one or two weeks, recovery as a rule favorable; though convalescence is often protracted. Unfavorable results are brought on through complications, most often by Pneumonia.
"Diagnosis:—Easily determined during an epidemic or marked symptoms. The catarrhal form of influenza differs from simple catarrh of the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract through the presence of nervous symptoms and a more abrupt beginning. The symptoms may be similar to those of Measles or Abdominal typhus. In each case, complications with Pneumonia must be considered.
"The proof of the presence of the Influenza bacillus," he concludes, "is of little value in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis in medical practice as the bacillus cannot be distinguished with enough accuracy through the microscopic examination, which must be a very minute culture proceeding."
This is the final dictum of medical Science on the subject—Science which however, adds nothing to our knowledge and leaves us still in darkness and uncertainty, while memory brings a well known couplet to the mind:
He holds the threads of Wisdom's way
Loosely, with palsied hand.
Why lacks he now, for pity's sake,
The grace to understand?
M.B.
(After Goethe.)
But let us weigh this long list of symptoms and estimate their respective significance by the light of physiological perception.
The ever present fever is due to stagnation of the blood. Swelling of the spleen is caused by catabolism of the Malpighian bodies. Albuminuria is the result of cold in the Plexus renalis; Perspiration is due to numbness in the nerve fibrils. The inclination of the mucous membranes to Hemorrhage is explained by congestion of blood in the capillaries, due to lack of vigor in the nerve fibrils. When the nerve fibrils fail to act, the capillary circulation stops and the blood overloaded with carbonic acid presses against the walls until they burst.
The complications and after effects are explained in the following manner: