art of New York State, in 1908, there were
not far from 5000 persons afflicted with this disease.

Perhaps one of the reasons why so determined a fight against this
particular disease, involving only 5000 cases of illness during the
year, has been made, is on account of the length of the illness in each
case and on account of the fact that the disease usually attacks those
in the very prime of life, from 15 to 40 years. It is also to be
economically considered by reason of the loss of time involved in an
illness of nearly two months and the loss of money implied in the
nursing, doctors, and medicine. The movement against the disease is most
encouraging because the line of attack is well known, and there is,
humanly speaking, no reason at all why the disease should not be stamped
out.

_Cause of the disease._

Typhoid fever is a modern disease, and only for the last fifty years has
it been recognized in medicine. It is caused by bacteria, and its
manifestations are the results of bacterial growth in the body, chiefly
in the smaller intestine. Here the toxin produces a violent poison which
results in an attack of fever, lasting about six weeks. Owing to the
bacterial growth, serious failings, commonly known as perforations, may
develop after a severe attack, in the membranes and linings of the
intestine, and the resulting inflammation is not infrequently the
immediate cause of death. It is a thoroughly established fact that the
disease is caused by a special type of bacteria and that if the bacteria
could be killed outside the body, no transmission of the disease could
occur. It is also true that if the disease germs could be destroyed
within the body the patient would recover immediately, provided the
toxins had not been already distributed through the system.

There are, therefore, two possible methods of doing away with typhoid
fever, one by eliminating all possibility of transmission outside of the
body of the patient and the other by killing the germs while in the body
of the patient. The latter plan is not feasible, since no antiseptic has
been found which will kill the germs without killing the patient. It has
been discovered that a drug called utropin will act on the germs when
located in certain parts of the body, as in the kidneys; but this drug,
although very effective in destroying germs in those organs, has no
effect elsewhere. In general, we must eliminate the disease by
preventing its transmission from