MENHADEN 



3733 



MENINGITIS 



end when Paris, the son of Priam, king of 

 Troy, visited them, fell in love with Helen and 

 persuaded her to elope with him to Troy. 

 Menelaus, aided by the Greek chieftains, sought 

 revenge; thus came about the famous Tro- 

 jan War. After ten years he recovered Helen 

 and started back to Sparta with her, but the 

 two had displeased the gods and were in con- 

 sequence driven by storms to other shores. 

 At last they reached their native land safely. 

 There they took up their reign and "lived hap- 

 pily ever after." See HELEN OF TROY; TROY. 



MENHADEN, menha'd'n, or MOSS'- 

 BUNKER, a salt-water fish, from twelve to 

 eighteen inches long, which has received pos- 

 sibly more variations in name than any other 

 fish in American waters. Among its numerous 

 names are yellow-tail, bunker and pogy. In 

 color it is bluish above, and silvery on the 

 sides. It may be found from Nova Scotia to 

 Brazil, and is by far the most abundant fish 

 on the eastern coast of the United States. As 

 a food fish for the table the menhaden is not 

 so highly valued; but its flesh is packed in oil, 

 after the manner of sardines, for domestic and 

 foreign consumption, and salted menhaden is 

 also found on the market. As a source of 

 valuable oil it is of great commercial impor- 

 tance, and from the part left after the oil has 

 been extracted a fertilizer is manufactured. 

 It is also unexcelled as a bait fish in the cod, 

 halibut and mackerel fisheries. These fish swim 

 near the surface in unwieldy masses, and all 

 the large fishes feed upon them, the tunny 

 being the most destructive. 



MENINGITIS, meninji'tis, a general term 

 for a number of serious maladies characterized 

 by inflammation of the membranes covering 

 the brain and the spinal cord. Of the different 

 forms the most appalling is cerebrospinal men- 

 ingitis, an infectious disease that has occurred 

 as an epidemic at various times in Europe and 

 America. Cerebral meningitis is acute inflam- 

 mation of a membrane of the brain (the pia 

 mater}, and occurs in two forms tubercular 

 and simple, of which the former is more com- 

 mon to children than adults. Spinal menin- 

 gitis affects the membranes of the spinal cord. 

 All forms are very dangerous and often result 

 fatally. See BRAIN. 



Epidemic Cerebrospinal Meningitis, inflam- 

 mation of both the brain and the spinal mem- 

 branes, is caused by a specific germ which has 

 been found in secretions of the nose, eye, bron- 

 chial tubes and joints, and in the blood. The 

 winter and spring months are the most common 



seasons for epidemic outbreaks, and the disease 

 claims the greatest number of victims in squalid 

 tenement districts, where dark, narrow alleys 

 and sunless rooms offer favorable conditions 

 for the spread of the infection. Crowded, in- 

 sanitary barracks occupied by soldiers, and 

 famine-infested districts are other favorite 

 breeding-grounds of the germ. This kind of 

 meningitis is especially prevalent among chil- 

 dren. In its worst form it attacks its victims 

 very suddenly, and death often results in a 

 few hours. 



The germ works its way into the membranes, 

 setting up a violent inflammation. Almost un- 

 endurable pains rack the head, and every nerve 

 becomes abnormally active, making the surface 

 of the body sensitive to the lightest touch. The 

 body often breaks out in an eruption of dark, 

 purplish spots, whence the name "spotted 

 fever." The muscles contract and become rigid, 

 drawing the head and neck backward and some- 

 times almost doubling- the spine upon itself. 

 Wild delirium accompanies these symptoms, 

 which are followed by coma, paralysis, and in 

 most cases by death. Until the discovery of 

 the meningitis serum (see subhead below) , doc- 

 tors could do no more than administer soothing 

 drugs, such as morphine, and endeavor to allay 

 the anguish of the -sufferer by applying ice 

 caps to the head. Often recovery was more to 

 be dreaded than death itself, for blindness, 

 deafness, imbecility and paralysis were common 

 after-effects. 



Flexner's Serum. In 1905, when an appalling 

 epidemic of cerebrospinal meningitis was at its 

 height in New York City, Dr. Simon Flexner 

 was appointed a special commissioner by the 

 Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research to 

 investigate the cause of the disease. He proved 

 the existence of a specific germ, which had been 

 isolated in 1887 by a German investigator 

 named Weichselbaum, and after a long series 

 of experiments he succeeded in producing a 

 serum which has been used with remarkable 

 results. Formerly seventy-five per cent of the 

 victims of this type of meningitis died, while 

 now but twenty-five per cent succumb. Fur- 

 thermore, those who recover are spared the 

 dreaded after-effects that once made death 

 welcome. Before the discovery of the serum 

 the disease was fatal to nine-tenths of baby 

 victims under two years of age. This high 

 average has been reduced to about fifty per 

 cent, while only 15.9 per cent of the children 

 between five and ten die. W.A.E. 



Consult Mohler's Cerebrospinal Meningitis. 



