DISCUSSION ON DR. TAYLOR'S PAPER.

Dr. H. D. Allen, of Milledgeville: I do not know that I can add anything of interest to the excellent paper that has been read by Dr. Taylor. I appreciate it very much, for the reason the author has covered the ground admirably. It does seem to me, however, that it is incumbent upon the State to establish a colony for epileptic or feebleminded children. They are a class which should be cared for. We know how much good has been done for the deaf and dumb. The deaf and dumb can be taught to read and write by experienced teachers, and those who handle feeble-minded children get to be more efficient than the members of the families of these defectives. Neurotic or feeble-minded children should not be cared for, in my judgment, at home, as the members of the families are either too indulgent or too harsh in their treatment of them. They do not regard them as defectives. They think the things they do are done through pure meanness, prompted by an evil spirit.

Dr. R. R. Kime, of Atlanta: This is one of the most important papers that could possibly come before the Association. We, as a medical profession, are looked to on certain lines for suggestions toward the advancement of civilization. It seems to me it is time that the Medical Association of the State of Georgia and the profession of the State at large should awaken to its duty along humanitarian lines. This is a problem that appeals to those who have studied and investigated it to some extent. Here we have a class of citizens, born into the world, chained with something they can not themselves get rid of or eliminate. They are not responsible for their condition, and we as humanitarians and as representatives of one of the professions of the State of Georgia have a duty and responsibility resting upon us that we can not shift without doing

ourselves an injustice. It is time that the profession of the State of Georgia was looking to humanitarian interests in order to build up the people of our State, and there is no class of defectives that are more in need of the sympathy and support of the medical profession and the people and business interests of the State of Georgia than the epileptic and feeble-minded. Many of these cases can be taken in infancy, and with proper surroundings, proper care, and proper hygiene, made useful and sustaining citizens. Show me a man who can live without his surroundings and without the aid of other people. We are interdependent beings. We depend upon each other for assistance and support, and when we do our duty it comes home to us that we should aid those who can not aid themselves, and there is no more important matter for us to attend to in the State of Georgia than to prepare to care for the epileptic and feeble-minded, and as Chairman of the Committee on Medical Education we expect, before the adjournment of this Association, to present a resolution looking forward to the establishment of a colony for epileptics, and an industrial school for the feeble-minded, and it seems to me the medical profession of this State should rally to the support of such a movement as one man, and make their influence felt for the good of humanity and the brotherhood of mankind. [Applause.]

Dr. Thomas D. Coleman, of Augusta: I wish to express my appreciation to Dr. Taylor for his paper. It is a valuable contribution to the subject, and it should receive the hearty endorsement of this Association. It stands to reason that it is to the interest of the State to care for these mental wrecks, to care for those who are mentally deficient, and it is not only an economic problem, but it is a humanitarian one, and we have ample Biblical authority for the statement that "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto these little ones, ye have done it unto me."

Dr. R. R. Kime, of Atlanta: I want to move, Mr. Chairman, that this Section in General Medicine endorses the idea of requesting the establishment of a State colony for epileptics and an industrial school for the feebleminded.

(Seconded and carried.)

Dr. Taylor (closing the discussion): I wish to thank the gentlemen who have taken part in the discussion, and for their endorsement of this movement. There happens to be quite a number of philanthropically inclined people in Atlanta who would give a considerable amount of money toward the establishment of such a State institution, but before they do so they want to be assured that the State will stand back of them. They want to make it successful, and have enough money to assure its proper maintenance. Before they carry the matter any further they wish to have the endorsement of the State Medical Association of Georgia, and that you have given me, for which I thank you most cordially.

DIPHTHERIA AND ITS TREATMENT.

BY R. V. MARTIN, M.D., SAVANNAH.

In reviewing the early history of diphtheria, I find none more conclusive than that furnished by Park, in which he says "that the specific contagious disease which we now call diphtheria, and according to our present belief can be traced back to almost the Homeric period of the Grecian history, was believed by the Greeks to have been communicated to their country from Egypt.

The descriptions of the laryngeal and pharyngeal manifestations of the disease left by Aretas, leaves no doubt that it was of diphtheria he wrote.

Galen, in his remarks on the chironian ulcer, tells us that the pseudo-membrane was gotten rid of by coughing in the laryngeal form of the disease, and by hawking in the pharyngeal form.

From time to time, for the next one thousand years, we hear of epidemics both in Italy and other parts of the civilized world. In 1517 we read of an epidemic of malignant form raging in Switzerland along the Rhine and in the Netherlands.

The disease now crossed to America, and in the New England States we get clear accounts of its ravages. Samuel Danforth lost four of his eleven children within a fortnight by a "Malady of the bladders of windpipe."

In 1765 Home, a Scotchman, tried to show that croup and pharyngeal diphtheria were different diseases, or in bacteriological terms were due to different micro-organisms, and this subject remained under controversy until

it was recently settled that while most cases were undoubtedly diphtheria, a few were not.

Bard, an American, supported in 1771 the opposite theory from Home, considering the process the same forever localized; in this ground he was much nearer the truth than Home.

In 1821 Bretonneau published his first essay on diphtheria in Paris, and gave to the disease its present name; his observations being so correct that little advance in knowledge took place until the causal relations of the diphtheria bacilli and their associated micro-organisms began to be recognized.

Klebs first showed a bacillus peculiar in appearance to be invariably present in false membranes from the throats of those dying of true epidemic diphtheria--a short while after Loefler published the result of his findings-he also found the bacillus described by Klebs, in the throats of many cases of diphtheria. By inoculating the mucus membranes of susceptible animals, characteristic membranes were formed and frequently death or paralysis resulted with characteristic lesions.

Therefore, from the many tests made, Park concludes that the name "Diphtheria" should be applied to that acute infectious disease usually associated with pseudomembranous affections of the mucus membrane, which is primarily caused by the Klebs-Loefler bacillus.

This bacillus is pathogenic to many animals-the virulence varies materially-it has been shown that it will take a .002 cc of a 40 hr buillon to kill the guinea pig, while it would require one cc of culture of another bacillus to kill.

Bacteria having no virulence, but showing some morphological characteristics as Klebs-Loefler bacillus have been demonstrated.