190 



SCIEN'GE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 186 



and, as this is true for every month of the year, it 

 follows that, if there is any pneumonia which is in- 

 fectious, it is absolutely dependent upon those meteoro- 

 logical conditions for its action upon the human 

 organism. 



In the paper to which I have referred, I have ad- 

 vanced a theory of the causation of pneumonia con- 

 sistent with the facts demonstrated ; and, briefly 

 outlined, it is as follows : Air expired from the human 

 lungs is nearly saturated with vapor of water at a 

 temperature of about 98° F., and this contains about 

 18.69 grains of vapor in each cubic foot. The quan- 

 tity of vapor exhaled is at all times greater than the 

 quantity inhaled ; but when the air is very cold and 

 dry, the quantity exhaled is excessive, as may be 

 seen when we reflect that air at 32° F. can contain 

 dn each cubic foot only about two grains of vapor. 

 The fluid which passes out from the blood into the 

 air-cells of the lungs, and which normally keeps them 

 moist, contains some of the salts of the blood ; and 

 the chloride of sodium, not being volatile, is mostly 

 left in the air-cells when the vapor passes out with 

 the expired air. When the air inhaled is excessively 

 dry (as it always is when excessively cold), this salt 

 collects in the air cells of the lungs in considerable 

 proportion. This is proved by my statistics, which 

 show the increase of pneumonia at such times, taken 

 in connection with the fact that chloride of sodium 

 in the lungs is in excess in pneumonia, which was 

 proved in 1851 by Lionel S. Beale, M.D., of London, 

 England. Dr. Beale also verified the observations by 

 Redtenbacher, made in 1850, that during the onward 

 progress of pneumonia the chlorides disappear from 

 the urine, and reappear when convalescence has been 

 established. In the air-cells, the chlorides are irri- 

 tating when they become concentrated ; but the 

 exudation of fibrine, which is the most prominent 

 condition in pneumonia, is probably favored by a 

 fact in osmosis which is not generally well understood, 

 — namely, that albumen, which it is usually con- 

 sidered will not pass by osmosis, will pass through an 

 animal membrane to a solution of chloride of sodium. 



Thus the causation of pneumonia by the inhalation 

 of cold dry air seems to be completely worked out. 

 As a cause of deaths, pneumonia is one of the most 

 important diseases. It is hoped that its prevention 

 inay now begin. 



Henry B. Baker. 



Lansing, Mich., Aug. 17. 



The sweating sickness. 



In Hume's ' History of England,' volume ii., p. 

 384, appears the following passage : " There raged at 

 that time, in London and other parts of the kingdom, 

 a species of malady unknown to any other age or 

 nation, the ' sweating sickness,' which occasioned the 

 sudden death of great multitudes, though it seemed 

 not to be propagated by any contagious infection, 

 but arose from the general disposition of the air and 

 of the human body. In less than twenty-four hours 

 the patient commonly died, or recovered ; but when 

 the pestilence had exerted its fury for a few weeks, 

 it was observed, either from alterations in the air or 

 from a more proper regimen which had been dis- 

 covered, to be considerably abated." 



The time of this endemic must have been about the 

 summer of 1485, just a short time previous to the 

 coronation of Henry VII. The historian makes no 

 further mention as regards the nature of this malady ; 



in fact is distressingly concise in his account of so 

 interesting a disorder. 



Now, the object of my letter is apparent : I wish 

 a little more definite information concerning this so- 

 called ' sweating sickness.' But if perchance, in my 

 ignorance, I am inquiring about a disease the name 

 of which is synonymous with one at present in exist- 

 ence, then the modern name will be all-sufficient. 



E. W. Evans.' 

 Easton, Penn., Aug. 16. 



[The ' sweating sickness ' to which our correspon- 

 dent refers prevailed in England during portions of 

 both the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ; appearing 

 for the first time in 1485, again in 1506, for the third 

 time in 1517, and twice subsequently, in 1528 and 

 1551. During this last visit, it appeared in London 

 July 7, and during the twenty-three days that it re- 

 mained caused nearly a thousand deaths. The disease 

 was in the nature of a fever, followed by sweating ; 

 commencing with pains throughout the body, flushes 

 of heat, oppression at the stomach, and delirium, 

 after which, a profuse perspiration of an offensive 

 odor. Eelapses were apt to occur, sometimes as 

 many as twelve in number. Some regarded the dis- 

 ease as a rheumatic fever, others as a form of ague, 

 and others still as an influenza. The first appearance 

 of the disease, in 1485, was traced to the army that 

 fought at Bosworth ; the second, of 1517, occurred 

 when London was crowded with foreign artisans; 

 and that of 1528 was coincident with the great mili- 

 tary operations of Francis I. in Italy. At the time 

 the sweating sickness prevailed in England, that 

 country was ravaged by diseases and pestilences of 

 almost every name. Spotted fever, brain fever, 

 epidemic fiux, scurvy, diphtheria, small-pox, measles, 

 scarlet fever, and erysipelas, — all figured largely as 

 mortality factors during these two centuries. 



That England was not blott jd out of existence by 

 pestilential disease during this epoch is a marvel. 

 Houses were constructed without any regard to ven- 

 tilation ; the floors were made of loam covered with 

 rushes, which were not removed, but were covered 

 with others from time to time, until the deposit of 

 twenty years and more had accumulated, — contain- 

 ing bones, broken victuals, and all manner of filth, 

 and saturated with the discharges of man and beast. 

 The streets were in the same condition, the filth being 

 thrown into them from the houses. Of this condition 

 of things Erasmus wrote, '• If, even twenty years 

 ago, I had entered into a chamber which had been 

 uninhabited for some months, I was immediately 

 seized with a fever." Add to this the gluttony and 

 intemperance of the English people of this time, and 

 some faint idea may be obtained of the influences 

 at work to undermine the constitutions of our ances- 

 tors and prepare them for epidemic disease when- 

 ever it should appear. If our correspondent desires 

 to study this disease in detail, he wi]l. find a full 

 account in the following works: "^JHistoria regni 

 Henrici, septimi regis Angliae, vol. ix. of the works 

 of Francis Bacon ; ' The epidemics of the middle ages,' 

 J. F C. Hecker, M. D., published by the Sydenham 

 society ; ' A boke or counseill against the disease 

 commonly called the sweat or sweating sicknesse, 

 made by Jhon Caius, doctour in physicke, 1552 ' 

 (appendix to Hecker's ' epidemics of the middle ages '). 

 A very admirable resume of this epidemic disease, 

 and of others, will be found in ' Public health,' by 

 Wm. A. Grey, M. B., published by Henry Renshaw, 

 London. — Ed.] 



