30 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. N(.. 259 



John M. Scudder, M.D., Cincinnati, O., believes that scarlet-fever 

 may be communicated by milk. He has traced one such instance, 

 where the milkman's children had the fever, and it was communi- 

 cated to customers at the isolated points. He thinks this, however, 

 is rare. Dr. Scudder further adds, " I had one case in which the 

 disease was communicated five months after recovery, by playing 

 with dolls and toys which had been locked in a drawer during that 



time. In another case, in the family of Mr. , the time was 



eleven months. There could be no mistake in either case. In an- 

 other case the circumstances pointed to a contagion fourteen 

 months old." He thinks that boards of health should distinctly 

 mark each house ' Scarlet-fever Within.' 



A. P. Richardson, M.D., Walpole, N.H., sends the following case, 

 which came under his observation : " A child had scarlet-fever in 

 Keene, N.H., and late in the stage of desquamation visited a friend 

 in Walpole, N.H., slept with a child who died of malignant scarlet- 

 fever a few days after, being sick only a few hours." He adds, " I 

 remember the mother of a child which had died of scarlet-fever sent 

 some of the deceased's playthings to a child in another family, the 

 latter being sick with the disease soon after." 



W. S. Strode, M.D., Bernadotte, 111., writes, "In March, 1884, 

 scarlet-fever was brought to Bernadotte by a family (resident) vis- 

 iting another family six miles distant, in which a small child had 

 just taken sick, said sickness being accompanied by a red rash. A 

 little boy four years old of the above family, after a few days, took 

 sick, the sickness being accompanied by a rash, not very prominent, 

 and died in twenty-four hours from the time of the first symptoms. 

 The physician diagnosed the case as diphtheria, and a number of 

 children were permitted to see the corpse and attend the funeral. 

 Two or three days later, the remaining children (two younger) took 

 sick with the same symptoms, and I was sent for, and at once 

 proclaimed it scarlet-fever, and immediately set about to guard 

 against its spread by having the school stopped, and all families 

 that had been e.xposed isolated. There were nineteen cases that 

 broke out with the disease, all in families that had been exposed to 

 the first case. No more deaths, and not all the children in some of 

 the families contracted it either, though exposed to it for days. I 

 would say, that, at the time of the above epidemic, my family con- 

 sisted of four children, aged respectively one, six, nine, and twelve 

 years. I took ordinary precautions, after visiting the families in- 

 fected, to guard against carrying to my own family or that of others, 

 by changing my outside apparel at my oflice, washing, etc., and by 

 going about in the open air for some time. My children did not 

 become infected. Three weeks later, that is, after all the cases had 

 recovered, it was again brought to town by a visiting family ; this 

 family unknowingly being exposed to scarlet-fever on the train, and 

 two children breaking out with it in two or three days after they 

 arrived. But previous to this time the lady that the mother of the 

 children was visiting put on her shawl, and came to my house, and, 

 without removing her shawl, took my baby in her arms and held 

 him for some time. In four days he broke out with a typical 

 scarlet-fever rash ; and in from four to seven days from this time 

 the three older children of my family also broke out with it. The 

 three children of this lady also had it, making nine additional cases. 

 All recovered. By a strict quarantine the contagion did not spread 

 any further." 



G. P. Conn, M.D., Concord, N.H., member of the State Board of 

 Health, says, " In reply to your inquiries, allow me to say that over 

 thirty years of dealing with scarlet-fever and kindred disorders has 

 not convinced me that I know all about its origin or its develop- 

 ment. On the contrary, I am constrained to add that I fear we 

 have not solved the problem, nor are we likely to do so at present 

 unless by accident. I have found so many instances where it could 

 not be traced, and in other cases where one in a large family of chil- 

 dren would have the disease while all others would escape, that I 

 feel that my knowledge is hardly worth repeating. I do believe 

 that there is a vast difference in the degree of cases, and that in 

 some instances it arrives at a development where none unprotected 

 will escape, while in other cases none will be made ill except the 

 more susceptible. Unfortunately, the profession are not yet able to 

 determine to which class a given case belongs, and therefore it is 

 necessary to carefully isolate all in order to be sure." 



George J. Engelmann, M.D., St. Louis, Mo., relates the following 



striking cases : " Mr. H., living in Belleville, 111., had a child sick 

 with scarlet-fever, bade the child good-by, drove fourteen miles in 

 an open buggy to a farm, shook hands twice with a young lady 

 there, and took dinner with the family. He saw no more of the 

 young lady, but was busy outside with the father during his visit. 

 There was no scarlet-fever in the neighborhood of this farm, yet 

 that young lady, twenty-one years old, the youngest in the house, 

 took the scarlet-fever, infected by Mr. H. The clothing of children 

 who died from scarlet-fever in Denver was taken to the house of 

 Dr. R. in St. Louis, after having been put away in camphor for the 

 winter, and gave scarlet-fever to all of Dr. R's children eight months 

 after the decease of the children in Denver." 



H. Hartshorne, M.D,, Philadelphia, Penn., reports, " I know of 

 no valid reason for believing that scarlet-fever ever arises, at the 

 present time, except by contagion from a pre-existing case. I have 

 no doubt whatever of the contagiousness of scarlet-fever ; although, 

 as in the case of other communicable diseases, some persons ex- 

 posed may escape being affected by it. Having withdrawn from 

 the active practice of medicine, I cannot give precise details of such- 

 cases coming under my personal observation ; but they have been 

 amply sufficient to 'confirm me in a strong conviction on the subject. 

 When a person who has had scarlet-fever ceases to communicate 

 it, must depend partly on the measures taken — by repeated bath- 

 ing, change of clothing, etc., after recovery — to remove all remnants 

 of the eruption. When such care is taken, thirty days from the 

 beginning of the attack ought to suffice. With average care, it had 

 better be made forty days. I have had direct information of sev- 

 eral instances in which a house, not disinfected after scarlet-fever 

 had been in it, gave evidence of infection remaining in it several 

 months after the recovery of the patient so affected in it. 1 believe 

 (from the above-mentioned reliable information), that, without dis- 

 infection, rooms are more liable to the retention of the contagion of 

 scarlet-fever than persons who have had the disease. In populous 

 cities the dissemination of scarlet-fever is apt to be so wide, and 

 the means of communication so unavoidable, that no benefit is 

 likely to result from requiring cases of it to be reported by physi- 

 cians or others to boards of health. Boards of health, if such re- 

 ports are received, should advise the sequestration of the patients 

 as far as practicable, especially from other children, and, on their 

 recovery, should insist on thorough disinfection. The spread of 

 scarlet-fever could be diminished, at least, very much, by isolation 

 of patients during the attack, disinfection of bedding, clothing, and 

 rooms, etc., on recovery, and all measures of sanitary improvement 

 (in cleanliness, ventilation, etc.) which lessen the prevalence and 

 mortality of all contagious, infectious, and epidemic diseases. I 

 doubt very much whether any thing can be done, by the use of 

 remedies or otherwise, to prevent well persons from contracting 

 scarlet-fever when they are exposed to it. It is a priori improb- 

 able, though not impossible. When a medical student, residing in 

 a house in which there was scarlet-fever, I took belladonna for sev- 

 eral days, and escaped the attack ; and I have known another instance 

 of the coincidence of the use of belladonna with escape or expos- 

 ure. But the contagion of scarlet-fever is more uncertain as to 

 individuals, than that of measles or small-pox; that is, a greater 

 number of those exposed to it may escape it than either of them." 



THE TEACHING OF DRAWING. 



In a paper on the teaching of drawing, read before the College 

 of Preceptors by T. R. Ablett, Esq., and reported at some length 

 in the Educational Times, the educational value of the subject is 

 brought out with a strength and clearness that render the paper 

 of more than usual interest to our educators. Mr. Ablett con- 

 sidered drawing simply as a means of education, and explicitly set 

 aside any treatment of it as an accomplishment or as a training for 

 artists. He pointed out that the mode of instruction in drawing, 

 taken in this sense, would naturally differ from that followed when 

 the production of artists was aimed at, and must be adapted to 

 school-children most of whom have no special aptitude, and little 

 time for practice. To raise drawing to its proper position, we must 

 prove that it is one of the bases of education, and should be taught 

 to all children, whatever their future vocation. We must also prove 

 that it can be taught by collective methods as readily as arithmetic 



