HAY FEVER, a nervous affection of the
mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, mouth, pharynx, larynx, and bronchi, characterized by a profuse flow of secretion from the nose, and of tears from the eyes, and accompanied in some eases by asthma. It is induced by the lodgment on the mucous membranes of the eye, nose and throat of the wind-borne pollen of certain plants. The disease varies in its severity according to certain atmospheric conditions and the amount of pollen in the air. Occurring at the haying season the disease received its title through that association. The prevalence of
catarrhal symptoms in summer separates it
from an ordinary “cold in the head”; while their
combination with difficulty of breathing
prevents it being mistaken for spasmodic asthma, in which there is seldom any catarrh. There are three combining causes of this affection, which is largely nervous: First, a predisposing cause in some nervous disease, with a probable lesion in the fourth ventricle of the brain. Second, deformity, such as a deviating septum, in the nasal region. Third, inhalation of a special pollen. Removal to the seashore or the mountains is beneficial in most cases, and a sea voyage, or other complete removal from pollen afflicted regions brings entire release. The succinimide of mercury affords relief in many cases, and arsenic, iodides, bromides, and other nerve specifics benefit others. For the asthma, iodide of potash, 5 grains with 5 minims of tincture of belladonna in syrup of orange-peel should be taken every two hours. Calcium chloride is also very effective where asthmatic symptoms are marked. Inhalations of nitre-paper, stramonium leaves, etc., with wine of coca internally, are also useful.
These remedies are, however, merely palliatives, and scientific men have been for some time making investigations which may eventually lead to the discovery of a radical cure.
Professor Dunbar, of Hamburg, who has
been studying the subject for seven years, is
one of those who hold out the hope for curing
hay fever by a rational treatment.
According to him, the disease is caused by
the pollen of grasses, but not by mechanical
irritation. He has extracted from the pollen
a protein poison, or toxin, which is insoluble
in ether and alcohol, but soluble in water and
weak saline solutions, tears, the mucus of the
nose and the serum of blood. A solution of
this toxin dropped into the eye or nose at once
produces the characteristic symptoms of hay
fever. The same symptoms in an aggravated
form occur when the solution is injected
hypodermically.
This discovery suggested treatment by the
serum method and Dr. Dunbar set to work to
produce a curative serum by inoculating animals
with pollen toxin, and a serum was eventually
obtained which, when dropped into the eye or
nose together with pollen toxin, completely
prevented the attack which the latter alone would
have caused. In practical use, however, both
the serum and the vaccination treatments have
failed, and it is now generally admitted that the
only completely effective treatment is avoidance
of the cause.
Recent investigations have established the
fact that hay fever is a distinctly preventable
disease. Where there is none of the poisonous
pollen the disease does not exist. The fact
of prime importance is that only wind-borne
pollen produces the disease. The pollen of
golden rod, daisies, dandelions, and sunflowers
will produce the symptoms if directly inhaled, but at a little distance such plants are harmless: their pollen is too heavy to be carried by the wind. On the other hand it has been found that some pollen travels several miles on the wind, but the farther it goes the more widely it is scattered, and it is rarely in sufficient quantity to produce the disease beyond half a mile from its source. Another established fact of importance is that immunity from the