Category Encyclopedia

The Spanish Flu of 1918

Bran

As much of my city is currently shut down and the majority of us are attempting some form of social distancing to help flatten the curve of infection, I thought it would be interesting to look at an account of the epidemic of 1918 that appeared fairly soon thereafter — these excerpts are from the 12th edition Encyclopædia Britannica (1922) article on Influenza. I had to look a number of words up, not being a medical person, so here are some quick definitions: catarrh is the excessive buildup and discharge of mucus in the nose or throat due to inflammation of the mucous membranes therein. Pyrexia refers to a fever. Toxaemia is blood poisoning, and anoxaemia is an extreme reduction of the amount of oxygen in the blood.

Under the conditions of existence that prevail in the civilized communities of to-day, the human respiratory tract must necessarily encounter a large variety of pathogenic bacteria and a great deal of irritating particulate matter. Such exposure is inevitable in factories, schools, trains, 'buses and, indeed, in all forms of social intercourse within confined spaces. Under these circumstances it is not to be wondered at that acute catarrhal affections of the respiratory mucous membranes, accompanied by pyrexia, should be common. To such affections the name "influenza" is frequently applied; and it is this loose employment of the word that is responsible for much of the confusion that exists in statistical records.

The explosive pandemic of influenza that burst upon the world in 1918 was something quite different from the sporadic pyrexial catarrhs above referred to, although the individual clinical picture, when uncomplicated, was much the same. In the absence of exact knowledge of the causative agent and in view of the fact that the individual clinical picture is such as may follow many different bacterial invasions, it is impossible, at present, to formulate a completely satisfactory definition. Here the term "influenza" will be used to imply "a pandemic outburst of disease characterized, clinically, by a rapid course, catarrh of the respiratory tract, pyrexia, and some degree of prostration; and, epidemiologically, by a tendancy to occur in several successive waves at short intervals of time." [...] Statistical records of influenza mortality are apt to be very misleading as medical men often apply this name to fatal respiratory diseases of indeterminate symptomatology. When the real influenza comes, the public is at once aware of the fact because nearly everyone either gets infected or sees friends or relations infected within a very short space of time.

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-9. — This pandemic swept over the world in three successive waves, the first appearing quite suddenly in May and June 1918, the second starting at the end of Sept. or early in Oct. and waning in Dec., and the third wave, less uniform in character, appeared early in March 1919.

First Wave. — This outbreak, attributed by France to Spain, by Spain to France and by America to eastern Europe, seems to have appeared almost simultaneously amongst the nations of the "Entente" arrayed against the enemy on the western front, and amongst all those communities in intimate touch with them. In the armies of the Entente in France, Belgium, and Italy; in the military camps in England and America; in the civilian populations of England, France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal; in transports at sea; in the closely linked theatres of war of Salonika and Egypt, and in Gibraltar, Malta, and India itself, the outbreak of influenza showed the explosive character that is only possible for a highly invasive infection assisted by conditions of swift inter-communication, such as obtain in modern war.

[...] The first wave passed rapidly, so that a "frequency curve" by weeks, in which the incidence in the worst week is taken as 100%, shows a steep ascent to a maximum, followed by an equally steep and almost symmetrical fall, the whole episode passing within about five or six weeks. So benign was the type that many cases among soldiers at the battle-front escaped record, as the men never "reported sick" but merely rested for a day or so in their units, and this was fortunate as the army hospitals were soon overcrowded. The death-rate was inconsiderable, but there was an ominous tendency to a higher mortality rate amongst the later cases, just before the wave came to an end, seeming to suggest an increase in virulence. The clinical picture cannot be better summed up than in the words of a consultant physician in France who, describing the first batch of cases, exclaimed "it is like a mild attack of measles without a rash." Respiratory catarrh, congested conjunctivæ, headache, lassitude, pyrexia of short duration, a feeling of prostration with the return of temperature to normal, and then a rapid recovery of health; such was the course in the vast majority of cases during the first wave. Complications were almost unknown during this outbreak; but a few cases developed broncho-pneumonia or hæmorrhagic œdema of the lungs towards the end of the wave, and it was these cases that sent up the case-mortality. In all these characters, the first wave closely resembled the outbreak of 1890. In one respect it showed an interesting difference. Whereas in 1890 the death-rate was greatest amongst the middle-aged and elderly, in 1918 the chief sufferers were amongst the "young adult" groups.

Second Wave. — Towards the end of Sept., or early in Oct., the second wave suddenly gathered force and swept over the world; the crowning tragedy of so many tragic years. Soldiers, miraculously spared in battle and for whom hope was now dawning with the promise of victory; youths at school or college, to whom the future might look to fill the gaps of war in years of peace: these were the harvest chosen for the scythe of the Angel of Death. For the character of the pandemic had changed and the benign attacks of the summer now gave place to the terrible scourge of the autumn outbreak. Geographically, this wave was almost universally felt, and it seemed to mount up simultaneously throughout the world. St. Helena is said to have escaped. Mauritius, too, had a reprieve; and it appears to be true that the quarantine measures applied by Australia were successful for the moment, but throughout Europe, America, Asia and Africa, this fatal pandemic held undisputed sway.

The upward curve of morbidity was almost precisely similar to that of the summer and the maximum was reached as quickly as in the previous wave, but the fall was much slower and less regular. The outstanding difference between the two waves was the marked tendency to pulmonary complications and the high death-rate of the second. The singularly uniform syndrome of the summer epidemic gave place, in the autumn, to several varieties of clinical picture depending on varying combinations of several factors, amongst which might be reckoned the virulence of the microbic invader, the resistance of the patient, the nature of the bacterial flora of his respiratory tract, and environmental conditions such as occupation, wages and housing. As a rule, the attack was ushered in by the catarrhal and pyrexial symptoms noted in May and June. In many cases, especially where circumstances permitted of immediate rest and treatment, the disease took a favourable course towards recovery, although prostration was nearly always a more marked feature than in the summer. In others, the story was different. The early pyrexial catarrh was sometimes followed by intense toxaemia leading so rapidly to a fatal issue that there was no time for pulmonary complications to develop. But in a very large number of cases the lungs became severely affected and the patient passed into a state of anoxaemia recalling that produced by exposure to the "pulmonary irritants" of gas warfare. But there was a formidable difference between the two conditions. While the "phosgene" patient had to deal with a sterile exudate, evoked by a chemical irritant and capable of rapid absorption if vitality was maintained, the lungs of the influenza patient were charged with an exudate evoked by a living virus which had already overcome tissue resistance and could offer to "secondary invaders" conditions of symbiosis favourable to their growth. Here lay the danger. The virus of influenza could open, as it were, the door to the streptococci, pneumococci, staphylococci and other organisms normally held within safe numerical limits upon the respiratory mucous membranes. [...]

Chicago

Bran

We are visiting Chicago this weekend as I attempt (again) the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. In honor of our trip, I looked up the Windy City in volume 6 of the 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. The entry begins with a version of that stereotypical claim one finds all over the midwest - if you don't like the weather now, just wait 15 minutes: "The climate is very changeable and is much affected by the lake; changes of more than thirty degrees in temperature within 24 hours are not at all rare, and changes of twenty are common" (118). Waiting has done us no good; it has been the same grey, cloudy, windy, and rainy not-quite-freezing weather the entire trip.

As for the city itself, "a belt of 'bad-lands' — occupied by factories, shanties, &c. — partially surrounds the best business district. The smoke resulting from the use of soft coal has given a drab and dingy colour-tone to the buildings. The low and even relief of the site and the long vistas of the streets do not lend themselves to the picturesque; yet this quality may be claimed for the high and broken skyline, varied colour, massiveness, bustle and impressive commercialism of the business district. Chicago is generally credited with being the original home of the steel-frame 'sky-scraper,' though there are now higher buildings elsewhere in America" (119).

No entry on Chicago would be complete without some mention of the Great Chicago Fire: "In 1871 it suffered a terrible calamity. On the 8th of October a fire broke out near the lumber district on the West Side. Two-thirds of the city's buildings were wood, and the summer had been excessively dry, while to make conditions worse a high and veering wind fanned the flames. The conflagration burned over an area of 3 1⁄3 sq. m., destroyed 17,450 buildings and property valued at $196,000,000, and rendered almost 100,000 people homeless; 250 lost their lives. The flames actually travelled 2 1⁄4 m. in an air-line within 6 1⁄2 hours. Thousands of persons, fleeing before the flames and fire-brands, sought refuge on the shore and even in the lake. Robbery, pillage, extortion, orgies and crime added to the general horror" (124).

Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia of Modern Knowledge (1959)

Bran

General Details

Title: Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia of Modern Knowledge
Volumes: 1
Language: English
Publisher: Funk & Wagnalls
Year: 1959
Pages: 3956

This is the largest single-volume book I own. I had the option of getting the magnificent 6-volume Century Dictionary in a one-volume edition, which would have been larger and heavier, but passed due in large part to my experiences with this book. It weighs a good 20 pounds. The advertising brochure boasts about the conveniences of having a single-volume reference work - no need to make multiple trips to the shelf to consult multiple volumes! less bookshelf space taken up! - but I personally would rather have a multi-volume work. The print, presented in three-columns, is small and the nature of the binding means that, although the book itself lays flat, the pages always have a steep curve towards the center, which makes reading unpleasant. This book is more of a physical workout than a mental one.

The ONE-VOLUME "Assemble-It-Yourself" EDITION Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia of Modern Knowledge was presented as an even cheaper alternative to the already-cheaper-than-most supermarket encyclopedia sets (where one would purchase one or two volumes alongside that week's groceries). This encyclopedia would involve multiple mail shipments (22 weekly mailings for the book sections plus 2 additional mailings with the binder pieces), ALL of which would have to arrive before the whole thing could be assembled with the handy 4-page guide (the photographic print pages and fold-out map pages, all included in section 22, would have to be distributed throughout the entirety of the encyclopedia during assembly, following the handy table provided). All of this great effort by the consumer is what helps drive the price down, according to the advertising materials: "The amazingly small cost at which this valuable encyclopedia can be acquired is largely made possible because you, (after obtaining the Sections week by week), collate the pages and Sections and bind the encyclopedia yourself, thus eliminating one of the costliest procedures in book manufacturing."

After this massive construction project, you have an encyclopedia that claims to feature 30,000 topics, 1,700 illustrations (including 167 color photographs on 13 pages and 192 pages of monochrome photographs), 5,750,000 words, and 3,956 pages. There is no index. Entries refer to other entries through the use of q.v. The fold-out maps (which it boasts fold out to nearly twice the size of maps in other encyclopedias) are difficult to fold and unfold without tearing due to the binding.

Sample Entries

I attempt to look up "umbrella" and "Saint Louis" in every reference work featured on this site. I could not find an entry on "umbrella" or "parasol." There is no index, so I could not see if it was featured under other articles. "Saint Louis" can be found on pages 3128 and 3129:

SAINT LOUIS, port of entry, the principal city of Missouri, and the chief city of the Mississippi Valley, situated on the w. bank of the Mississippi R., about 20 m. below the mouth of the Missouri R. and about 200 m. above the confluence of the Mississippi with the Ohio R. On the e. bank of the Mississippi, opposite St. Louis, is the city of East St. Louis, Illinois. St. Louis is one of the most important centers of transportation in the U.S., and the second-largest railroad terminal in the nation. It is served by nineteen major railroads and numerous other lines, by several major air lines, by bus and truck lines, and by barges and other craft on the Mississippi R. Several bridges span the river at St. Louis. The city covers an area of 61.37 sq. m. and is divided into sections by a series of shallow valleys. It extends along the river front for about 19 m., spreading westward from the river for about 7 m., and rising from an altitude of about 395 ft. above sea level to about 585 ft. The levee extends for about 4 m. along the central part of the river front. The oldest industrial area occupies this portion of the city, with the newer industrial districts extending along the railroads and other commercial arteries, and occupying outlying regions. Many of the residential districts, due to the city's vast industrial expansion, now lie in adjacent communities forming the St. Louis metropolitan area.

St. Louis is the eighth-largest city in population, and its industrial area ranks ninth in value added by manufacture, in the U.S. Its prominence as a commercial, distributing, manufacturing, and financial center is due to its central position, giving access to abundant raw materials, sources of fuel supply, hydroelectric power, and densely-populated areas, and to its excellent transportation facilities. The city is one of the world's leading markets for wool, lumber, furs, hides, horses and mules, grain, drugs, dry goods, and men's and women's hats. The chief industries are meat packing, brewing oil refining, printing and publishing, shipping, and the manufacture of poultry and livestock, feed, tobacco products, flour, food products, bakery products, beverages, shoes, shoemaking machinery, boot and shoe cut stock, motor vehicles, motor-vehicle bodies and parts, railroad and street cars, iron, steel, lead, stoves, ranges, furnaces, aircraft, machinery, electrical apparatus and equipment, hardware, ordnance materials, brick, terra cotta and other clay products, boxes and other lumber products, paper containers, chemicals, drugs, paints and varnishes, textiles, and clothing. The extensive wholesale and jobbing houses in St. Louis serve fourteen of the midwestern States and the city also has a vast retail trade. St. Louis is the headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of the 8th district, and the site of a Federal Land Bank, in addition to several other Federal agencies.

Among the educational and cultural institutions in the city and vicinity are Washington University (q.v.); St. Louis University (q.v.); the City College of Law and Finance; Harris Teachers College, established in 1857; The Principia College (Christian Science), founded in 1898; the St. Louis College of Pharmacy; Stowe Teachers and Junior College (1898); Concordia Theological Seminary (Evangelical Lutheran), founded in 1839; Eden Theological Seminary (German Evangelical Synod of North America), established in 1859; Kenrick Theological Seminary (Roman Catholic), founded in 1894; the St. Louis Institute of Music; the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; the Artists' Guild; the St. Louis Public Library; the Mercantile Library; the Missouri Historical Society; the Civic Grand Opera Association; the municipal opera; and the St. Louis Art Museum.

The most notable structures are the public buildings flanking the Memorial Plaza, which include the Civil Courts Building, tallest (375 ft.) building in the city, the United States Customs and Courts Building, the City Hall, the Soldiers Memorial, and the Municipal Auditorium, containing an opera house seating 3500 persons and an arena seating 12,500 persons; Union Station; the Old Courthouse, completed in 1862, scene of the Dred Scott (q.v.) trial; the old Roman Catholic cathedral; and the Old Rock House, oldest house in the city, a former fur-trading post. Forest Park, the principal municipal park, contains the Jefferson Memorial, of white marble in semiclassical design, housing the collection of the Missouri Historical Society and the trophies and medals of Charles A. Lindbergh, the American aviator; and the St. Louis Art Museum, one of the outstanding art galleries of the U.S. The park, covering an area of about 1400 acres, also contains the zoological gardens and the municipal open-air theater, largest of its kind in the U.S. Numerous smaller parks provide additional recreational facilities, and the Missouri Botanical Garden (125 acres) is noted for its extensive variety of plant life.

St. Louis was founded in 1764 as a fur-trading station by René Auguste Chouteau, representing the interests of Pierre Laclède Liguest, a French merchant in New Orleans. It was named in honor of Louis IX (Saint Louis) of France. The settlement came into Spanish possession in 1763 and, as the capital of Upper Louisiana, under actual Spanish authority in 1770. On March 9, 1804, the Spanish lieutenant governor Charles De Lassus formally transferred Upper Louisiana to Capt. Amos Stoddard of the U.S. Army, in accordance with the terms of the Louisiana Purchase (q.v.) concluded the year before. Under the Americans St. Louis became in turn the seat of government of the District of Louisiana in 1804, of the Territory of Louisiana in 1805 and, in 1812, of the Territory of Missouri. It was incorporated as a town in 1808 and in the same year the first newspaper w. of the Mississippi R., the Louisiana Gazette, was published at St. Louis. The city of St. Louis was chartered in 1822. Until almost the middle of the 19th century, the fur trade remained the principal industry there, with many great fur companies competing for dominance, including the American Fur Company of John Jacob Astor (q.v.).

With the enormous increase in the 19th century of river traffic, and later of railroad transportation, St. Louis developed in commercial and industrial importance. Many European immigrants, notably from Germany and Ireland, settled there. During the Civil War the city was a center of Unionist sympathy. Following the war the city continued to progress in all fields of development. It became the center of a philosophic and cultural school known as "the St. Louis Movement", based primarily upon the philosophic teachings of the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Hegel (q.v.), which had an important influence on the cultural development of the Middle West. In 1904 the city was the site of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (see Exhibitions and Expositions), from which the Jefferson Memorial and St. Louis Art Museum remain. In 1936 the National Park Service began preliminary work on the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, to commemorate the territorial expansion of the United States. Now a national historic site, the memorial covers 37 blocks along the central riverfront district of the city. Pop. (1950) 856,796; of the metropolitan district (1959) 1,681,281.