HEALTH AND DISEASE 363 



doing. What could you expect of a doctor who spent his time smearing 

 vaseline on glass plates and leaving them around, collecting them and count- 

 ing pollen grains. He would not try to treat folks. He did not want to cure 

 himself, because then he could not continue his studies. He admitted he 

 did not expect to cure hay fever. He just told his patients sick with hay 

 fever to go to some place where there was no pollen — if they could find 

 such a place. 



There was one famous concentration camp for hay fever "reactionaries" 

 that has gone down in history and literature. By 1 860 a few bright people 

 had accidentally discovered places where they were free from hay fever. 

 About 1874 a group of men foregathered in Bethlehem, New Hampshire, 

 and formed the United States Hay Fever Association. The reports, pro- 

 ceedings, and the collected papers of this society read like a cross between 

 Bernarr A4acfadden advocating a new breathing exercise and a staff meet- 

 ing of the New Yorker magazine. Witticisms were set off like fireworks. 

 The circle encompassed Dr. Morrill Wyman, Reverend Henry Ward 

 Beecher, Hon. Daniel Webster and Dr. Elias Marsh. Beecher said one of 

 the meetings was the most interesting he ever attended "for no one had 

 said anything that someone else did not contradict." 



The humanitarian objectives of the society reached out into all Eternity. 

 They agreed in writing to "carry on work to relieve all sufferers from 

 hay fever, wherever found, during their natural life, and afterward, if 

 permitted." 



In 1886 somebody in the club put up $100 as an award for the most out- 

 standing piece of research. A "best essay" contest was held for the pollen 

 pot of gold. Dr. Bishop of Chicago sent in a well-written httle item, con- 

 tending that hay fever was a functional nervous disorder (imagination, 

 to you:). The Association did not subscribe to his theory, but they had 

 to admit he turned in the best-written essay, so he got the research award. 

 This is a clear example of just how far research usually gets when left to 

 groups of jolly laymen. 



Hay fever clubs began to form all over the nation. It may be whispered 

 that most of them were closely allied with local chambers of commerce. 

 If you were going to run a health resort what could be better than one for 

 hay fever? Crafty innkeepers, deep in the woods or at the shore, soon found 

 that Mister Average Hay Fever Victim was so glad to be free of his dis- 

 comfort that he was pleased with everything. But the very ease of the con- 

 duct of the business began to defeat commercial resorts. As patients 

 thronged to favored spots, it became necessary to clear more land for 

 kitchen gardens, for tennis courts, for boat houses and canoe clubs, for 

 outhouses and stables. And with clearance of the land up popped the Devil 

 — Ragweed. In a short season or two suspicious sneezes began to vex the 

 guests. Commerce had again overshot its mark. 



Of course, as we have intimated, ragweed is not the only source of the 



