Eyes Focus on the Tragic Inroads of a Dreaded Epidemic

The Review and Herald of January 6 carried on the lower right-hand corner on the next-to-the-last page a report that four Adventists in Catlin, New York, had died of the dread disease diphtheria. One was a housewife of 22, two were children 8 and 11, and one a youth of 20. Two were children in one family.2BIO 11.2

A month before, two of the four obituary notices listed diphtheria as the cause of death. The first, written by J. and A. M. Mears, of Lovett's Grove, Ohio, read:2BIO 11.3

That fatal scourge, diphtheria, is in our midst, and many are dying of it. Our little daughter, Elizabeth, died of it, October 31, after an illness of twenty days, aged 3 years, 11 months, and 24 days.2BIO 12.1

We feel the loss of our little one, but can say with Job, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” We feel to exclaim with the psalmist, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”—The Review and Herald, December 9, 1862.2BIO 12.2

Helplessly physicians and parents reached out for means of combating the disease. The Review of January 13, 1863, reprinted an item, taken from an Illinois paper, under the title “The Diphtheria Scourge in Western Illinois.” A portion of it read:2BIO 12.3

The diphtheria has been raging throughout the country to an alarming extent, and seems, to a great extent, to baffle the skill of physicians. It is confined almost exclusively to children, and when once under headway, death is almost certain to be the result. It will pass through whole towns, missing scarcely a family, and in some instances whole families of children have been swept away by it.2BIO 12.4

The obituaries appearing in the Review gave evidence in support of this frightening note. It reported that in a neighboring town, Moline, a place known “for its healthiness,” a hundred children had been swept away, leaving parents terrified.2BIO 12.5

For the medical world, and for almost everyone, these were days of great ignorance in health lines. Bacteria and viruses were unknown. When disease struck, the symptoms were treated with poisonous drugs, alcohol, and blisters and bleeding. Across from the page in the Review that carried the reprint from Illinois, an item was published that the editors felt might help some stricken families:2BIO 12.6

Cure for Diphtheria. A lady of Port Byron, Cayuga County, New York, cured six children (five of them her own) of diphtheria by the following remedy: “When the symptoms are first discovered, take Spanish flies, pound and mix with Venice turpentine, spread it on a piece of soft cloth, and bind it over the throat, which will raise a blister, and soon remove the disease from the throat.”—Farmers’ and Miners’ Journal.2BIO 12.7

Just below this is a four-line item reading:2BIO 13.1

In the town of Pompey, Onondaga County, New York, there were two families containing eight interesting and apparently healthy children. Within two weeks seven of the eight were carried off by diphtheria.2BIO 13.2