One other form, Taenia Cucumerina, is common to dogs and cats, and cases of infection of children by it are reported. Nematodes (round worms). Uncinaria duodenalis is an organism which affects the upper part of the small intestine of laborers whose work brings them into contact with the soil, as brickmakers, miners, etc. The parasite causes a great loss of blood and severe anemia follows. Infection with this parasite is increasing in this country, probably through diffusion by Italian laborers and domestic animals. Stiles has shown the disease prevails widely through southern states and is chiefly responsible for the ænemia and poor physical condition of the people in many localities. (See Osler's Practice, p. 359.) Both dogs and cats are known to be subject to infection with a similar worm, living in the duodenum, and if present in large numbers, a fatal ænemia may follow. Trichina Spiralis is a worm common to man, the dog, and the cat and most of the domestic animals, as well as many wild species. It has been found in every country where it has been sought. The chain through the pig and rat, back to the pig has been noted. In man if the worms have been ingested in sufficient numbers, severe and even fatal illness follows. Cats in common with other animals have many other parasites, some of which are pathogenic to them, and some of which are also pathogenic to other animals though not to man. Much research is needed here. These scattered facts throw many flash lights on wide fields of biology and pathology inviting study at every turn. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. The preceding paper has endeavored to show, as concisely as is consistent with facts, the rôle the cat plays in the transmission of disease. Present studies in disease reveal everywhere the wide distribution of both vegetable and animal parasites in all species of animals. The cat is peculiarly adapted for the distribution of the specific organisms of disease from animal to animal, as she goes in and out freely among all, and from animal to man, and man to man, in her life in the home. The diseases reviewed, show her to be susceptible to all species of disease organisms, bacterial, those due to fungi, and to animal parasites, both external and internal, thus covering the range of disease organisms of the human family. In the past she has suffered in common with other species, the ravages of the various epidemics sweeping over large areas of both Europe and America. In some instances (5), she has been held responsible for such epidemics, and active measures taken to remove her from the community. The cat's habit of scavenging, in connection with the freedom of the house, give her unlimited opportunity for acquiring and spreading infection mechanically from person to person. Bacteriological studies of the human mouth have shown over one hundred species of bacteria, some of them pathogenic in nature, which may thrive under certain conditions (22). As careful if not a more careful study of the cat's mouth ought to be made to show what organisms are normally in it, since the cat spreads her protégés all over herself in her ablutions. Modern medicine emphasizes the importance of protecting the young child from the common transmissible diseases until it has reached an age of comparative immunity. Modern caretakers and parents throw such a barrier of protection around the child that it is, or is likely to be, in the same relation to infection from lack of exposure that the islanders of the Southern Pacific were, when a stray case of measles resulted in an epidemic which threatened to depopulate the islands. A similar instance occurred in our own country when the Indians were exposed to smallpox for the first time by the Spaniards and died by thousands. A protected child never coming in contact with diseases of contagious nature is ordinarily more susceptible to these contagions than if not so closely secluded and cared for. Such a child often has less resistance to even the so-called mild infections and is quickly overcome by the more severe ones. The same is true of delicate, susceptible adults. These facts lead to the following conclusions: I. The cat should be kept away from all sources of infection, and from all people ill with transmissible diseases. 2. If a cat becomes infected, or is suspected of being infected with any transmissible disease, such measures of restriction should be taken that it will be impossible for her to spread disease. 3. All stray cats ought to be watched and cared for, with the thought clearly in mind, that they may have acquired all kinds of infections in their wanderings. They should be kept from children, until it is certain the children will not be infected by them. There should be no source of infection open to cats, and all cats in contact with children ought to be as closely watched and guarded as are the children themselves. I acknowledge, with sincerest appreciation and gratitude, my indebtedness to the Biological Department and the Library of Clark University, for help and co-operation in the preparation of this paper. Thanks are also due the many other people who have kindly furnished references and other data. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Beside text-books on the general subject of the paper in its hygienic and sanitary aspects, the following special bibliography has been used freely. The numbers in the text refer to the numbered references below. 1. ABBOTT, A. C. The Principles of Bacteriology. Lea Brothers and Co., Phila. and New York, 1897. 543 P. 2. COHEN, SOLOMON COLIS. Editor of a "System of Physiologic Therapeutics." II vols., Vol V. Prophylaxis-Personal Hygiene, Civic Hygiene, Care of the Sick. Phila., 1902. P. Blakiston's Sons and Co. 3. FAIRWEATHER, J. Epidemics Among Cats in Delhi, resembling cholera. Lancet, London, 1876, Vol. II, pp. 115-148. 4. FISCHER, G. La Contagion Humaine des Maladies Microbiennes des Animaux Domestiques. Epidémiologie, Prophylaxie, Police Sanitaire des Animaux. Paris, 1905. 5. FLEMMING, GEO. Animal Plagues; Their History, Nature and Prevention. London, 1871. 2 vols. p. 548, 539 p. A Manual of Veterinary Science and Police. London, 1875. 2 vols. 561: 650 p. 6. GRAY, HENRY. Diseases of the Cat. p. 91. External Animal Parasites of the Cat, p. 91. Diseases of the Ear in Cats, p. 313. Veterinary Journal and Annals of Comparative Pathology. Vol. XLVI, 1891. 7. GROUT, DON O. Relation of Animal Diseases to the Public Health. Sanitarian, Vol. XLVII, p. 310, Oct., 1900. 8. GIBSON, GEORGE ALEXANDER. Editor of Practice of Medicine, by Eminent Medical Specialists and Authorities. J. B. Lippincott and Co., Edinburgh, London, Phila., 1901. 2 vols. 824, 907 P. 9. HILL, JOHN WOODRUFF. The Diseases of the Cat. London, 1901. 123 p. 10. II. 12. 13. HUIDEKOPER, RUSH SHIPPON. The Cat: A Guide to the Classification of, Varieties and Care, Diseases and Treatment. 1895. N. Y., D. Appleton & Co., 148 p. HUNTER, WILLIAM. The Rat Theory of Plague Epidemics. Ab- JAMES, ROBERT KENT. The Angora Cat, Boston, 1898. James 14. LETOURNEUR, HENRI. Les Hôtes Habituels de nos Appartements (Chiens, Chats, Oiseaux), et du Danger qu'ils présentent. Paris, 1905. 134 P. 13. MEWBORN, A. D. A case of ringworm of the face, and two of the scalp contracted from microspores of the cat. New York, Medical Journal, Nov. 15, 1902. Ringworm due to Cats. Journal Cutaneous Diseases, N. Y. July, 1903, p. 527.. 16. OSLER, WILLIAM. The Principles and Practice of Medicine. 5th ed. New York and London. D. Appleton & Co., 1904. 1182 p. 17. PARKES, LOUIS, and Kenwood, HENRY. Hygiene and Public Health. 2d ed. P. Blakiston's Son & Co. 1902. Phila. 763 p. 18. STERNBURG, GEORGE MILLER. Manual of Bacteriology. Wood, New York. 1893. 8861 6 p. Infection and Immunity (with special reference to the prevention of infectious diseases). G. P. Putnam's Sons, London and New York. 1903. 293 P. 19. STILES, CHARLES Wardell. The New Asiatic Blood Fluke (Schistosoma Japonicum, 1904. Schistosoma Cattoi, 1905.) of Man and the Cat. Am. Med. Phila. May 20, 1905. 20. SMITH, THEOBALD. Adaptation of Pathogenic Bacteria to Different Species of Animals. Transactions of Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons. Fifth Triennial Session, Wash., D. C., 1900. Published by the Congress, New Haven, Conn. Teacher's Sanitary Bulletins, Mich. State Board of Health. Pub. Oct., 1904, Dec., 1904. Epidemic Cerebro-spinal Meningitis (with extract from Medical News, N. Y., Aug. 20, 1904). 21. 22. Feb., 1905. Dust Infection and Preliminary Description of Dust Disease. Bulletin of Virginia State Board of Health, Jan., 1904. Cats as Conveyors of Disease. The Teaching of Hygiene in Schools, X. The Teeth. British 23. WILLIAMS. Cats and Diphtheria. Brit. Med. Jour., Vol. II, p. 74. 1895. 24. WINSLOW, HELEN M. Concerning Cats: My own and Some others. Lothrop Publishing Co., Boston, 1900. 280 p. MENTAL DEPRESSION IN YOUNG WOMEN AND CHILDREN. By JOHN A. HANCOCK, State Normal School, Mankato, Minn. Large numbers of young women enter our normal school each year just after they have graduated from the high school and remain from one to two years. Many of these are away from home for the first time. Homesickness, worry, "lonesomes" and "blues" are among the problems of instructor and class officer during the early weeks of each year. It was probably the memory of those weeks as well as some interest aroused in the psychology classes in the subject of insanity that raised such questions as, What are the blues? Why do we have them? How can we prevent them? How can we overcome them? A slight investigation showed that the available literature in regard to the problem was unsatisfactory and meagre. The students promptly decided to assist the instructor in an investigation of the subject. Papers were written by 225 young women, 8 young men, and by 60 children in sixth, seventh and eighth grades. The papers written by the young men do not materially differ from those written by the young women, but they are so few in number that they are not considered in this study. A large percentage of the students are of foreign parentage, but only two or three show any accent. All are from the smaller high schools of the state, all of which are under state supervision. All of the students reporting seem to have been under very similar influences. Fractions in percentages are omitted in this report. Seventy per cent. of the students report their first attack of mental depression to have been between the ages of twelve and sixteen;-"about fourteen," is the common reply. Forty of them remember attacks scattered along during the preceding years. Down' has already called attention to the not infrequent occurrence of melancholia among young children.' Twelve out of thirty-five girls in the grades, and six out of twenty-five boys mention the same years as periods when they first began to suffer most from the blues. Eleven of the girls and four of the boys claim never to have had the blues, nor to have 1Down: Mental affections in childhood and youth. Ch. III. 2 Colvin denies this. See Ped. Sem., XIII, 91. |