The Inheritance of Syndactylism

An instance of thirteen cases of syndactylism (or fused or webbed fingers or toes), traced through four generations was reported. The element of heredity is obviously apparent. In view of the recent report of a family with cases of syndactylism in which the inheritance of the abnormal union of the digits apparently conformed to Mendel\u27s law, as a dominant character, an effort was made to determine if the Mendelian law also applied to the cases in question. It was determined that although the disease was due to a factor which was apparently dominant rather than recessive it did not conform entirely to Mendel\u27s law. That it is not due to a Mendelian recessive character is shown by the fact that in three instances the disease appeared in children, neither of whose parents were affected by it and in each instance the family history of at least one of the parents was negative for the disease in question. To have a disease due to a recessive character appear in an individual, neither of whose parents are affected by it, we must assume that both parents are hybrids as regards the condition in question

Epidemiology of Poliomyelitis (Infantile Paralysis) with Special Reference to Its Occurrence in Iowa

The study of the epidemiology of infantile paralysis must take into consideration three types of the disease, namely: 1. The mild abortive type representing a systematic infection. 2. The non-paralytic meningic type representing invasion of the central nervous system by the virus. 3. The paralytic type indicating destruction of the cells in the anterior horn of the spinal cord

Vaccination against Typhoid Fever

The term vaccination was originally used to designate the introduction of material from pustules of cows affected with cowpox into the human being to protect against smallpox. Such produced a mild form of the disease and conferred immunity to the more severe type as represented by smallpox proper. The vaccine represents, then, a weakened or attenuated form of the virus. The term, as now used, applies to the virus of any infectious disease, —the virulence of which virus has been diminished

The Resistance of Streptococci to Germicidal Agents

During the past year and a half, streptococci have assumed an unusual role as causes of disease. They have been the cause of most of the serious infections of war wounds. They were almost entirely responsible for the severe epidemics of pneumonia and empyema which occurred in many places, especially military camps during the winter of 1917-18, and together with the pneumococcus were apparently the cause of most of the fatalities during the recent epidemic of influenza

The Pollution of the Underground Waters with Sewage through Fissures in Rocks

The possibility of pollution of underground waters through fissures in rocks has long been a well-established fact. The actual demonstration of such as the source of cases or epidemics of disease in Iowa has until recently not been proved. It is with the idea of reporting an epidemic of typhoid fever due to pollution of this kind and of calling attention to the need of a sanitary water survey in Iowa, that I present this paper