A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY. ,

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 7167, 10 September 1886, Page 4

A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY. ,

The Origin oE Scnrlet Ferer. — A remarkable discovery — or, at all eventß, a most valuable apd suggestive hint pointing towards n new discovery — is chronicled by tbe Medical Officer of the Locul Government Board in a. recently issued report. If tbe investigators are upon thu right track we have a totally new and unexpected source indicated for one of tbe most deadly of juvenile maladies — the scarlet fever. The discovery is one, too, which furnishes some reason for tbe belief that it willlead to the extinction far at least, the great restriction of the disease. It has long been known thjat. scarlet fever often foliowg the milk supply. Sat there was nothing in this to suggest that the milk itstlf was in any direct way chargeable with the production of , the fever. If anyone in the most remcjte degree concerned iv tending the cows or distributing the milk had suffered fiqm the fever, or had been in -contact -with those who had suffered from it, the milk would of course form a most efficient' vehicle for diffusing tho disease. This apparently explained the facts sufficiently. It appears, however, that tbe milk is more directly concerned than was supposed. The facts upon which this conclusion is based are these : — Numerous cases of scarlet fever in London were lost December traced to a common source of milk supply. The dairy proved to have been admirably managed, and ;it was shown that no iadivivtials concerned in it had been directly or indirectly connected with any case of scarlet fever.This aroused v suspicion (hat the ciuse^ waa intimately connected with the milk itself. A series •of investigations were carried on, the result of which was ,to bljow that certain cowb had been suffering from an eruptive, disease of the udder. Researches made by Dr. Klein show that this disease was easily transmitted from cow to cow, and that when" calveswero inooulated with it they suffered from the same disease. Bat when the inattji/r obtained from tho sore udders was cultivated in decoctions, animals inoculated with it suffered from a much altered and, aggravated disease, not distinguishable, in, fact, from ecarlet fever. It need haraly be baid that the matter will not-rest where it is. Further experiments will be carrjetf; on, and those who are prosecuting them believe that they have got to the fons et orujo of this devastating disease, and that the discovery of the cause will bo nearly tantamount to a discovery of the remedy.