90 



Scientific Proceedings (98). 



fected persons not suffering from the disease. The primary 

 epidemic disease of the autumn is considered identical with that 

 of the early summer, with the added complication of broncho- 

 pneumonia in the colder weather. The bacillus of Pfeiffer is the 

 apparent cause of the epidemic disease but its causal relationship 

 is not conclusively proved. Rest in bed, warmth and bodily 

 comfort, promptly enforced at the outset, are the most important 

 elements in the treatment. Prophylaxis includes avoidance of 

 contagion and general hygienic measures to enhance natural 

 resistance and retain it at a high level. Vaccines are of question- 

 able value. 



Influenza has been endemic in France for many years, and 

 during the war this infection appears to have assumed a more 

 virulent type in this country, small epidemics having been recog- 

 nized in the British Army in the winter of 1916-17 and in the fall 

 of 1917. American troops in France suffered very much from 

 influenza, especially in the winter of 1917-18, the disease appar- 

 ently being the same as that which became epidemic in 1918. 

 The evidence suggests that the epidemic of influenza originated 

 in France from the endemic influenza widely prevalent there. 

 It is probable that the large numbers of American soldiers in 

 France, subjected to strange environmental conditions, furnished 

 a fertile soil for the propagation of the disease. The epidemic 

 was evidently carried by ships from Europe to the United States 

 and to South Africa. 



5 2 ( J 427) 



The disinfectant action of glycerol in varying concentrations. 



By C.-E. A. Winslow and Dorothy F. Holland. 



[ From the Department of Public Health, Yale School of Medicine, 

 Neiv Haven, Conn.} 



Previous studies of the disinfectant action of glycerol have for 

 the most part been conducted in relation to its supposed destruc- 

 tive action on invading organisms in vaccine virus. M.J. Rosenau 

 made an exhaustive investigation of the subject in 1903 and con- 

 cluded that "Glycerol has distinct but very feeble germicidal and 



