Variola, vaccination, varicella, cholera, erysipelas, whooping cough, hay fever / by H. Immermann [and others] ; edited with additions by John W. Moore ; authorized translation from the German, under the editorial supervision of Alfred Stengel.

Immermann, H.

Date:: 1902

Credit: Variola, vaccination, varicella, cholera, erysipelas, whooping cough, hay fever / by H. Immermann [and others] ; edited with additions by John W. Moore ; authorized translation from the German, under the editorial supervision of Alfred Stengel. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$the odor of grasses and flowers; others, still, the pollen, that produced the irritation. While the discussion was going on over the different substances that produce the scent in hay or flowering grass, over the different grasses and other plants that discharge their pollen at the critical period of the year, besides these supposed excitants a whole series of other causes capable of producing hay-fever sprang up. Before introducing a short table of all these excitants, I intend to give an ex- ample of the frivolity observed now and then in the determination of causes. A celebrated case referred to by almost all recent writers on hay-fever as a remarkable instance of peculiar causation is that of Charlton Bastian, in which the “emanations” from a horse parasite, the Ascaris megalocephala, were made responsible for the disease. Turning to the original communication, the reader is surprised that the zoologist Charlton Bastian describes the regular picture of Bos- tock’s catarrh, attacking him two years in succession in May, and last- ing six weeks, “because” he examined anatomically at this time, and only at this time, ascarides fresh and preserved in alcohol. Yet since he came in contact with this object at no other time during the year, and since we know nothing more about the history of the patient, the most we can do is put the case on record as an example of a remarkable idiosyncrasy, and raise a warning against a perpetuation of a wrong con- clusion on the part of a zoologist unacquainted with Bostock’s disease. Consequently, the following list of all the “causes” ma)^ be taken with reservations, though they have been stated by writers or their patients usually as excitants, or at least as aggravating irritants, in summer catarrh: Hay. Meado\v-gra.ss. Fodder-grass. Rye (Phobus). Bean-blossoms (James Bird). Roses. Limes (A. Smith). Cantharis. Jasmine-blossoms. Mangifera (Gordon). Nettles (Simpson). Seaweed (Gordon). Maize-blossoms (Deacke). Grain in general. Rice (Cornaz). Peach-blossoms. Street-dust. Bed-dust (Longueville). Heat (Bostock). Cold (Smith). Bright light [sun, gas, petroleum; elec- tric light is harmless (J. Bloom)]. Ozone. Vapor of burning sulphur. Emanations from hares, rabbits, calves, young pigs, cats (Wyman). Odor of roast hare (Thorowgood). Frequenting concert-rooms, dance-halls, theaters, restaurants, or railroads (Hack). Decoction of flaxseed. Ipecacuanha. Tea.$