“THE FLU” A BRIEF HISTORY OF INFLUENZA IN U. S. AMERICA EUROPE HAWAII
Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
BY
A. MOURITZ, Ph.D.
PHYSICIAN
HONOLULU, HAWAII
U. S. AMERICA
1921
COPYRIGHTED
Entered According to Act of Congress, in the Year 1921
By
A. MOURITZ
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress
Printed in Hawaii
Press: Advertiser Publishing Co., Ltd., Honolulu
MDCCCCXXI
PREFACE
This Booklet has been written and compiled for the use of any
student or layman who seeks concise and clear information on
the history of Influenza. Brief and salient facts are set forth
relating to “Flu” epidemics and pandemics: other collateral features
have also been discussed, connected with or bearing upon
this subject.
A. M.
Author and Compiler.
Honolulu, Hawaii, U. S. A., 1921.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Finckler, Dittmar.
Influenza.
Bonn.
1898.
Fonseca,
〃 〃
Salamanca.
1625.
Hubbard,
〃 〃
London.
1667.
Lobineau,
〃 〃
Paris.
1650.
Pasquier,
〃 〃
Paris.
1665.
Perkins,
〃 〃
Paris.
1776.
Pfeiffer, Richard.
〃 〃
Breslau.
1892.
Short, Thomas.
〃 〃
London.
1587.
Thompson, Theodore.
〃 〃
London.
1852.
Webster, Noah.
Epidemics, Pestilences.
London.
1800.
American Dictionary of Medicine; Various Authors.
1914.
Report of London College of Physicians.
London.
1783.
Madhava, Indian Physician, Pathology ‘Rugvinischaya.’
B.C.
582.
Diodorus Siculus, Historian, Agyrium, Sicily.
A.D.
78.
CHAPTER I. — INFLUENZA. — NAMES GIVEN TO INFLUENZA: TRANSLATED. — THE PERFECT LANGUAGE. — EXPLANATION OF MEDICAL WORDS.
5
What is Influenza? Discovery of the Bacillus. Alleged causes.
Names given to the disease and their translation. Explanation
of medical words.
An infectious and contagious disease; most startling in its
methods of sudden appearance and disappearance; its widely
diffused and rapid spread is seen in no other disease; it has
excited universal and general attention; physicians and scientists
have been stimulated and fascinated whilst pursuing their
investigations and studying the disease in its various phases, to
wit: spread, incubation, differences of type, and the exact micro-organism
which invades the system of man, and if there is
more than one that enters together or separately.
Discovery of the Bacillus. In the year 1892, Dr. Richard
Pfeiffer, of the University of Breslau, Silesia, Prussia, discovered
the specific microbe of Influenza, a Bacillus, which is
generally accepted as being the cause of the disease; however,
there are some physicians who dissent.
It was found to be present in the lungs, bronchial mucous
membrane, sputum and nasal discharge. It is one of the smallest
of the known bacilli; measures about one micron long and
a one-half micron in breadth. A micron is equal to 1 25,000
of an inch. The bacillus is found singly and in pairs, is non-motile.
Domestic animals are not subject to the Flu, but monkeys
and rabbits can be infected.
Alleged Causes of the “Flu.” It has been attributed to
numerous and varied agencies in the past. Philosophers, physicians
and the people believed the disease to be due to supernatural
phenomena.
Some of the causes given were in the main fanciful, freakish
and imaginary, the delusions of minds filled with wonder
or fear, and illusions of the senses, such as:
Comets, earthquakes, volcanoes and cosmic dust caused
by the rising and setting of the sun.
A.D. 1411
Diabolical pollution of the air with pestilential vapors arising from the air
and ground; these caused bleedings from the mouth, nose and bowels, and in
women caused abortions.
〃 1580
Bad conduct of Sirius the dog star, caused by anger.
〃 1658
Blast from the stars.
〃 1742
Malign influence (Influenza) of the stars, etc., etc.
6
Date of Epidemic.
Name.
Language.
A.D.
827
Se Wulf
Saxon
827
Heafd Flowan
Anglo-Saxon
876
Italiae Febris
Latin
1411
Le Tac
French
1414
Le Horion
French
1427
Ladendo
Italian
1510
Cephale Catarrhale
French
1510
Coqueluche
French
1510
Coccoluche
Anglo-French
1742
Influente
Italian
1742
La Grippe
French
1781
Catarro Russo
Italian
Se Wulf. Se (the), Wulf, wolf. Probably so named from
the cough of the Flu victim resembling the growl of the wolf;
or from the sudden seizure by the outlaw wolf of its victim.
Heafd Flowan. Heafd, head; Flowan, to flow; hence
Head Catarrh.
Italiae Febris. Fever of Italy.
Le Tac. The Rot; slow recovery, persistent cough, like T.B.
Le Horion. The thump or blow; suddenness of the attack
of the Flu.
Ladendo. This word is puzzling; it is slang Latin or
Italian or is misspelt. If Latendo, it means, the Hidden One,
the Flu. If it is Ludendo, then it may mean, the Tickler or
Laugher, the tickling cough spasms, resembling a person laughing.
In the Epidemic of 1427, the manner of greeting was
“As-tu eu Ladendo?” Have you had Ladendo?
Cephale Catarrhale. Head Catarrh.
Coqueluche; from coq, the male bird; hence crested like
the comb of a cock. Luche means a cap or hood. The wearing
of a cap, cocked or crest shaped, by the victim of the Flu,
gave the name to the disease, hence, “Coqueluche.”
Coccoluche. Is the above word Coqueluche, Anglicised.
Coc or cocc is Anglo-Saxon for the French word, coq.
La Grippe. La, the, and the verb, agripper, to grip or
cling to or choke.
Influenza. The world-wide designation by which the disease
is known today; is of Italian origin from the word Influente;
a malign Influence or Influenza from the stars being
the cause. Latin: in, into or upon, and fluo to flow; hence a
flowing in, into or upon; caused by an unseen power or Influence
or Influenza, like the profuse nasal discharge, flowing
from an invisible source.
7
Sanskrit literally means “the perfect language,” from san
or sam, with, and krita, perfected or done. It is a mother language,
the ancient language of the Hindus, and called the Infallible
language, because it is based on infallible rules; and also
the language of the Gods.
The language contains the root Plu; to flow, to rain, to swim.
Now, whether it is the Anglo-Saxon word, flowan to flow; or the
Latin words pluo, to rain, and fluo to flow; or the German fliessen,
to flow; or the Greek word phleo, to flow; and the Italian
word, influente, influo, and hence Influenza; every one of these
words is drafted from this Sanskrit root Plu; from 1800 B.C.
downwards is the time that the Sanskrit was in use.
Plu or Flu is an ancient disease, so the Author of this Booklet
believes, and in confirmation thereof, cites the views of native
Indian Sanskrit scholars who have found the records of a pestilence,
resembling the Flu away back in the mists of antiquity,
1200 B.C.
This disease repeatedly ravaged the then centers of dense
population, Central Asia, Mesopotamia and Southern Asia, in
the reigns of Tiglath Pileser (1120–00) and Nebuchadnezzar
(605–562). The sickness affected the citizens of ancient Babylon;
and the described features of the epidemics were such as we have
today in those of Influenza, cough, headache, fever, pain in the
eyeballs, and copious tears and water gushing from the nose,
stained with blood or all blood. The Sanskrit historians gave the
name “Plu” to the disease, probably from the flowing nasal discharge.
It is an uncanny coincidence, that our Hawaiian people, who
are descended from the Indian branch of the Indo-European
family of nations, use the softer letter p in pronouncing the
shortened form of the word Influenza, Plu for Flu.
Unknowingly, the Hawaiians are using probably the word
that their ancestors used 2,500 years ago in India on the banks
of the river Sindhu or Indus.
Before entering upon a description of the epidemics of Influenza,
which have ravaged the various countries of the world,
it is essential to explain the meanings of certain medical words
used in connection with epidemic, contagious and infectious
diseases.
The definitions which are given, if not exactly orthodox, are
fairly in accord with modern views, and are clear, simple, and
should be easily understood by any ordinary reader.
8Infectious. A disease acquired without any direct contact
with a sick person; the infection may be carried by a person in
apparent good health, or by any intermediary substance, or by the
entrance of a non-immune person into a room, house, or any
place of human residence, or occupied as such; where there has
been recently any infectious disease, such as Flu, Scarlet Fever,
Measles or Small-pox, etc., etc.
Infection. The entrance into the system or body of living
disease producing germs, such as by
(a) Droplet infection; bacteria infected minute particles
or droplets, ejected by sneezing, coughing, spitting and talking.
(b) Aerial dust particles coated with bacteria.
(c) Mixed, more than one bacterium or organism present
in the system, they may enter together or one precede the other.
Contagious. A disease acquired from a direct contact with
the sick.
Contagion. The spreading of a disease by direct or indirect
contact.
(a) Direct contagion.
(b) Indirect contagion or mediate, as by a “carrier,” who
is apparently in good health, but nevertheless carries disease and
can convey it to other non-immune persons.
(c) By means of Fomites (hereafter defined).
Contagium. The virus or poison which transmits disease,
such as the vaccine used in anti-smallpox vaccination, which in
former years was obtained from the vacca or cow, now the calf
is the source of supply.
Fomites. Any non-animate agents or substances that transmit
contagion such as blankets, towels, handkerchiefs, or any
articles which have been contaminated by the secretions or excretions
of the sick.
Endemic. A disease which is permanently present in a
people or district, it may become epidemic.
Epidemic. A rapidly and widely spreading disease attacking
many people.
Pandemic. A wide and rapidly spreading Epidemic affecting
many people and all countries.
Sporadic. A disease occurring here and there, not attacking
many people, not widely spread nor epidemic.
Incubation. The period between the implanting or acquiring
of a communicable disease and its development; and visible by
external signs or other recognisable manifestations.
Appeared in America. Spread from Constantinople. Very fatal.
1580.
Pandemic II. Spread to America.
1647.
For the first time mentioned in the history of America. Swept the
plantations in the South.
1732–33.
Pandemic III. October 1732 appeared in Connecticut. Following day in
Massachusetts; Annapolis two days later, attacked 50% of the garrison.
1761.
Appeared in the spring. Northern parts of U. S. A. Philadelphia,
Massachusetts and Weymouth.
1767.
Appeared in the month of May.
1775–76.
Epidemic in the U. S. A.
1781–82.
Pandemic IV. Very severe, widespread, appeared in the spring. Began in
the east, China, thence to India, Russia, western Europe. Named
the “Russian Catarrh.” Appeared in U. S. A. in April 1782.
1788–89.
Prevailed extensively in U. S. A. From the 15th to the 45th degree of
latitude, spread over this area in 6 to 8 weeks.
1807.
Generally disseminated throughout the U. S. A.
1815.
〃 〃 〃 〃
1824.
〃 〃 〃 〃
1825.
〃 〃 〃 〃
1826.
〃 〃 〃 〃
1830.
Pandemic VI. November 1831 reached America. Seat of the outbreak
Manila, P. I., in September, 1830.
1843.
Very prevalent in New England in the month of June.
1850–51.
Epidemic in the U. S. A.
1873.
Prevalent in the States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Illinois,
Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Alabama, Louisiana,
Texas.
1874–75.
Reoccurred in all the above States.
1879.
Epidemic in the U. S. A.
1889–90.
Pandemic IX. Began in May, 1889, at Bukhara, Russian Turkestan. One of
the worst pandemics ever known; ran over the whole globe in a few
months.
America infected from both Siberia and Europe.
Appeared in New York end of October 1889.
10
San Francisco infected from Japan December, 1889.
1918–19.
Pandemic X. Began in southwestern Spain in April, 1918. Spread to the
U. S. A. in May, 1918, wide morbidity. Prevalent all over the States.
Pneumonia very severe and fatal, especially in the
training camps, where it swept off numbers of the flower of the
American youth.
To date, number of Epidemics in the U. S. A.
17
To date, number of Pandemics in the U. S. A.
5
B.C. 1103.
Epidemic in Babylon, or Babirus of the Persians.
722.
Epidemic in Nineveh, during the reign of Sargon, King of Assyria.
591.
Diodorus mentions a pestilence as having occurred at this date;
accompanied with headache, coma and death.
(?Meningitis) A.M.
412.
The Roman Historian and writer Livy refers to a pestilence resembling the
Flu in book iv. page 52.
395.
A pestilence claimed to be Flu destroyed by thousands the soldiers in the
Greek army at the siege of Syracuse. (?Plague or Cholera) A.M.
A.D. 827.
A cough disease with fever spread rapidly and widely; known as
Heafd or Heafod Flowan, also as Se Wulf. Epidemic in
Britain.
876.
A disease attended with cough and fever, pain in the eyes, Italiae
febris, Italian fever. Ravaged Germany and Italy.
888.
A disease with cough and fever spread through Germany.
927.
A disease with cough and fever. Epidemic in France and Germany.
996–7.
A disease with cough and fever. Epidemic in England.
1173.
First epidemic or claimed to be the first, prevailed in Italy, Germany and
England.
1323.
The same countries invaded, spread to persons, towns and villages.
1327.
The same countries invaded, spread to persons, towns and villages.
1387.
Jacob von Königshofen states in the Strasburg chronicle, “A general
pestilence invaded the whole country, attended with cough and fever;
hardly one among ten were unaffected.”
1403–4.
Epidemic over Europe.
11
1411.
Epidemic: name given to the disease le Tac. Cause: contagion in the air,
extensively; caused Abortions, during convalescence there was profuse
hemorrhages from the mouth, nose and bowels. This account of the
disease is given by Pasquier of Paris, 1665.
1414.
Epidemic in France in February and March. Names given to the disease, Le
Tac, le Horion and the Coqueluche. (Authority, Lobineau.)
1427.
Epidemic. Widespread in France and the continent of Europe. Name given to
the disease, Ladendo. Symptoms, cough, insomnia, renal pains, anorexia,
rigors constantly. The greeting everywhere on meeting friends
was “Have you had Ladendo?”
*1510.
PANDEMIC I. All over Europe. First accurate description given of its
prevalence in the British Isles. Mild in type. Names given in France,
Cephale Catarrhale and Coqueluche; in Britain Coccoluche.
(Authority, T. Thompson.)
1557.
Came from Constantinople. Very fatal. Spread to U. S. A. Ravaged Paris in
July and August, Spain in August, England in September, Holland
in October.
Distinctive symptoms, “tightness and dreadful oppression over the chest,
as if bound with red hot chains; the same sensations over the abdomen
and stomach.” (Authorities, Thompson, Herman.)
1562.
Mild Epidemic.
1563.
Mild Epidemic.
PANDEMIC II. Started on the north coast of Africa in
Algiers and Morocco, in May, also in the Island of Malta.
Spread to the U. S. A. (Authority, Fonseca of Madrid.)
England ravaged August, September, October, November.
Rome, 9,000 persons died.
Barcelona, Cadiz, Cordova, Seville, Madrid and other Spanish
cities are said to have been depopulated.
The Spanish Physicians bled their patients, this venesection
is said to have been very fatal; those who were not bled, most
lived.
Thomas Short, London, 1587, states on page 9, “All had the
Coccoluche; few died except those who were bled or had unsound
Viscera.”
Anna, wife of Philip I. of Spain, died of the disease.
Pope Gregory XIII. was given up for death, but recovered.
12Epidemics in 1591, 1593, 1597, 1626.
Noah Webster states, “For the first time Influenza is mentioned
in the history of U. S. America, but it must not be concluded
in the absence of earlier records, that the disease never
occurred in the U. S. A.”
Webster also cites from Hubbard, “the disease swept the
Southern States and the plantations.”
The West Indies were ravaged and had an extensive morbidity;
on each of the Islands of Barbadoes and St. Kitts there
were 5,000 to 6,000 cases.
Epidemic in Europe, started the end of April. Thomas
Wills, M.D. of Oxford, says, “the cause of the disease was a
Blast from the Stars.”
Epidemic, ravaged Germany.
Epidemic, began in May. Europe swept. Great mortality in
Britain.
Epidemic. Europe.
Epidemic in Europe. France, Germany and Italy chiefly affected.
Europe, epidemic began in Germany. Fever, cough, sense of
dread and oppression, painful eyes and great backache. Rapid
spread, great and prolonged exhaustion, morbidity great, nearly
everyone attacked, mortality very light.
Origin, Moscow, Russia, April, 1729. Morbidity enormous,
lightning-like spread. In London great mortality, barely 1%
escaped. In the month of September, 1729, over 1,000 persons
died each week. Rome had some 60,000 cases. (Authority, Hahn.)
PANDEMIC III. Raged over the entire earth. Spread
to U. S. America October, 1732.
La GRIPPE and INFLUENZA appear as names given to
the disease for the first time. Epidemic, great morbidity, few
deaths.
13
The Flu prevailed as an epidemic in France, Scotland and
the West Indies.
Present in the U. S. A. in the spring.
Epidemic in Europe.
U. S. America, began in month of May.
Spread from Europe to U. S. A. (Authority, Gluge.)
January, 1780, started in France.
PANDEMIC IV. Very severe, widespread. Began in
the autumn of 1781 on the borders of China and India, thence
spread to Russia and U. S. A.
In 1782 appeared in western Europe; the name given in
this Pandemic was RUSSIAN CATARRH.
The British fleet sailed from the Channel ports, Plymouth
and Portsmouth, on May 6, 1782. No further contact was had
with the land, yet on the 27th of May the Flu broke out on the
fleet.
**(The presence of Flu carriers on the ships, or infected
stores, clothes and other fomites and only opened after a week
or two at sea; also the Flu being epidemic at the ports of departure,
will amply account for this alleged miracle) (Author.)
Widespread epidemic in the U. S. A. “Statement of Webster.”
“Influenza is not spread by Infection; sailors on board ships
100 miles from land, and insulated as to infection were attacked.”
**(Influenza is spread by infection, the explanation and defense
is the same as just made above.) (Author.)
North Eastern Europe. Epidemic.
PANDEMIC V.
PANDEMIC VI.
PANDEMIC VII. The seat of the outbreak was Manila,
P.I., in September. It spread to the U. S. A.
14
Epidemic in Northern Asia, Europe, North Africa. In St.
Petersburg great morbidity, none escaped.
PANDEMIC VIII. Starting point obscure, but in the Eastern
Hemisphere. Morbidity and Mortality large. Pulmonary Influenza
or Influenza-Pneumonia cases very common.
In London, for the week ending January 24, 1837, there died
1166 persons; and for the week ending January 31, the death
rate reached a total of 1169; these deaths were solely due to Flu.
PANDEMIC IX. Point of origin unknown; center of the
focus of the disease the Eastern Hemisphere and Europe especially.
More females than males were attacked.
Great mortality; of those affected with the disease, there
died
83% of children, babies and infants.
104% of those 15 to 60 years.
247% of those over 60 years.
(Authority, Peacock.)
In Paris ¼ to ½ of the population were attacked.
In Geneva ⅓ of the population were attacked.
In London 250,000 were said to have been stricken.
U. S. America escaped the disease.
Influenza prevalent in both Hemispheres.
PANDEMIC X. Started at Bukhara, in Russian Turkestan,
large province situated to the east of the Caspian sea; March,
1889. Very vicious in its morbidity and spread, acted as never
before; ran over the whole globe in a few months.
CONTAGIOUS: which hitherto in doubt, was clearly demonstrated
by this Epidemic, which spread from Asia to Russia.
America was infected from both Siberia and Europe. Tropical
and temperate countries, mountain and plain, were all swept
over alike.
PANDEMIC XI. Origin in south eastern Spain, Barcelona,
a seaport; April, 1918, where a German submarine is said to
have carried it; originally acquired by this boat at the Baltic port
or ports of Danzig or Stettin.
Swept Europe and entered Asiatic Russia, later Japan. U. S.
America was infected at its Pacific and Atlantic ports.
15The conditions of trade and commerce during the World
War were unusually favorable for the carrying of Influenza to
the U. S. A.
America the great-souled, as always, acting most generously,
putting herself on short rations in order to feed the starving
millions of the world, and sending her ships with food and clothing
to the Flu-infected ports, carried back the disease to her own
people.
To date, number of Epidemics in Europe
47
〃 〃 Pandemics 〃
11
Italian
Catarro Russo, and Influente.
Portuguese
Cattarrho Epidemico.
Spanish
Catarro Epidemico.
German
Blitzkatarrh = Lightning-catarrh.
German
Influenz.
CHAPTER III. — INFLUENZA IN HAWAII. — Contagious Nature of Colds or Catarrhs, so Called. — THE EPIDEMIC OF 1889–90. — EARLIER ARRIVAL OF INFLUENZA. — DENGUE.
16
Previous to the year 1889 Hawaii had been tolerably free
from the “Flu.” Such cases which had appeared in former years
were of a mild character, as were also those which prevailed
during the 1889–90 epidemic. Epidemic Catarrh has been known
in the Hawaiian Islands for many years. The Annals of the
early Missionary Fathers mention it.
Dr. Alonzo Chapin, an early Missionary physician, refers to
it; on page 39 of the Author’s “Monograph on Leprosy,” is the
following quotation taken from the Doctor’s writings in the
years 1836–37: (in Hawaii) “Diseases occur epidemically, as
was the case with Catarrh, repeatedly.”
This epidemic catarrh was probably Influenza in a mild form;
or it may have been the epidemic catarrh of the kind known
to the physicians of today, as that caused by the Micro-coccus
Catarrhalis, a globular or spheroid shaped micro-organism.
South Wind Catarrh: In Hawaii during the season when
the South wind prevails, from November to March, epidemic
and infectious colds are very common. They are attended with
disagreeable frontal headache, nasal discharge, sore throat, fever,
aching limbs and body; these are cases of mild “Flu.” Elderly
people, middle aged and old foreign residents, and our Aboriginal
population are those mostly affected.
Hawaii today, due to great increase of travel, greater speed
of ocean steamers, and its cosmopolitan population, is probably
infected, like all other ports of the U. S. A., with several different
species or strains of the Influenza Bacillus, and also those
of the Micro-coccus Catarrhalis.
It is a well known fact, that when isolated peoples are visited
by strangers, whether they arrive by sea or land, epidemic colds
speedily appear amongst the residents of these localities.
The Esquimaux, Indian tribes, residents of South Sea
Islands, Caroline, Marshall and Marquesa groups, Pitcairn Island,
etc.; isolated peoples and out of the track of travel, when visited
by strangers, become affected with epidemic catarrh and cough,
which may attack great numbers of them and cause high mortality.
Those visitors who carry the germs of the Catarrh show no
visible signs of disease themselves.
Possible sources of Disease: During the past four centuries
there is clear evidence that Hawaii has been infected with diseases
from certain sources; there is also evidence that is not
so clear, yet it is worthy of consideration. From what countries
could ships carry diseases to Hawaii before the opening up of
17the Islands to foreign trade? Spain, China, Japan and Russia.
Since the opening up of the islands to foreign commerce, the ships
of all nations have carried to Hawaii a varied assortment of diseases,
some nearly harmless, but others of the deadliest kind.
In the past centuries there are credible records of Spanish
visitors, also of Chinese and Japanese, and of a people coming
in Praus and Junks with “tufts of hair on their faces,” Formosans,
whose speech has an alliance with the Malayo-Polynesian and
hence Hawaiian.
At the present time numerous ships which visit Honolulu
carry infectious and contagious diseases amongst their crews and
passengers, especially those who travel in the steerage.
What occurs today at known intervals on a very large scale,
most probably happened on a smaller scale at extended and unknown
intervals in past centuries; diseases were introduced to
Hawaii, and carried from here.
Castaways and shipwrecked mariners can carry diseases to
the shores they arrive at, the same as other voyagers, and probably
did so to Hawaii.
If there was no Tuberculosis in Hawaii before the coming
of the Foreigner, then where do the ancient Hawaiian words
“hookii,” “akepau” come from? Hookii means, in English, to
grow thin in flesh, to waste away; akepau means to consume,
to finish, hence to eat away.
Even today inspection of arrivals from oversea ports, and
even limited quarantine carefully carried out by competent officials,
is not always an effective protection against the introduction
of infectious and contagious diseases into any country.
The following list of contagious and infectious diseases
eluded the Quarantine officials at the port of Honolulu and infected
the town, some later infected other Islands of the group.
The 10th Pandemic which had its origin in the month of
March, 1889, at Bukhara, Russian Turkestan, ultimately reached
18Hawaii, both from Japan and San Francisco: from the former
country in August of that year, and from the latter city in
December.
Influenza became epidemic in the Islands in the year 1890, in
the months of January, February, March and practically ceased
to exist in the latter part of April. Its morbidity was extensive,
its death rate almost nil.
Extract from the Report of the President of the Board
of Health to the Legislature: session of 1890.
“Early in the autumn of the year 1889 a disease started in
Russia, which on that account took the name of the Russian
disease.”
It spread rapidly over Europe and the British Isles; very
soon it crossed the Atlantic, and with extreme rapidity spread
over the whole continent of North America.
Early in January, 1890, Dr. Trousseau, the port physician, reported
many cases existing among passengers, on the mail
steamer en route to the Colonies.
In its journey westward from its initial starting point in
Russia to the confines of California, its march has been marked
by great prevalence and fatality.
In Hawaii with its mild and salubrious climate, its intensity
is greatly modified, and although it caused great distress and
physical suffering, very few deaths have resulted from it. This
disease has prevailed as an epidemic on several former occasions
under the name of Influenza. Other extracts from the same
Report are as follows:
Agent Reynolds, “Influenza has visited most of the families
in town since its arrival, but deaths have been few.”
Dr. S. B. Swift, “At Kalaupapa, females at the Bishop
Home were most affected.”
Dr. Jared Smith, Kauai. “Extreme prevalence of Influenza
of mild type, began the middle of January.”
Dr. D. Campbell, Waimea, Kauai. “Influenza widespread.”
Dr. Greenfield, Hamakua, Hawaii. “No Influenza epidemic.
Catarrh and Bronchitis; wet and cold weather.”
Dr. G. Herbert. Wailuku, Maui. “One-third of the population
affected: at least 3,000 cases. One Pneumonia case fatal.
Symptoms: Fever, frontal and occipital headache, spinal and
limb pains. Pulmonary congestion and occasionally Pneumonia.”
Estimated number of cases of Influenza:
Island of Oahu
6,500
Population
28,000
〃 Maui
3,300
〃 〃
19,000
Deaths in Honolulu
February
3
March
5
Total
8
19
(Hawaii invaded from Japan.)
On or about the 20th of August, 1889, recently arrived
Japanese laborers had Influenza in a mild form.
This shipment on arrival from Japan, at Honolulu, were
transferred immediately from the ocean steamer to the deck of
an Inter-Island one, and were landed direct at Onomea and
Hakalau plantations.
The type of Influenza was very mild, never infected other
laborers; those who had the disease were segregated for a week.
At Onomea there were nine cases, at Hakalau eleven.
(Author.)
The epidemic of 1890 left a trail of its own, somewhat different
from the way it had acted as an epidemic; for almost
a decade cases of the nervous type frequently kept cropping
out; these were attended with Insomnia, great prostration, severe
neuritis and facial neuralgia; frequent attacks and relapses
in the intervals, of this Nervous form of Influenza, were
responsible for the decease of Honolulu’s most prominent physician
in the year of 1894.
The last, and fatal attack, the Doctor believed he acquired
from visitors to Honolulu from Siberia, that country and European
Russia being a continuous source of Endemic Influenza.
Dengue in its initial stage or degree of progress in some
respects resembles the Flu, and is often mistaken for it. Such
was the case in the years 1900–1901 when imported laborers from
Porto Rico, W. I. carried the Dengue or Breakbone fever with
them.
This disease has practically disappeared, a sporadic case of
it comes to light now and then. Its transmission by the Mosquito,
Culex fatigans, is not yet definitely determined.
A new and more virulent type or species of the Influenza
Bacillus was carried overseas to the port of Honolulu in the third
week of June, 1918, and spread to the residents of the town; and
it was this new imported type of Influenza that was responsible
for the high mortality in the epidemics of that disease in 1918–1920,
due to Influenza and complicating Pneumonia, the so-called
Pulmonary or Pneumonic form of the disease.
All these matters have been fully described in the public
press, and in part in the Reports of the Board of Health, which
q—v.
CHAPTER IV. — GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. — INFLUENZA-PNEUMONIA. — LEGACIES OF THE “FLU” TO MAN. — IMMUNITY THE KING PROTECTOR. — INCUBATION. — SALIENT POINTS. — QUARANTINE AND ISOLATION. — CAUSE OF THE FLU. — WHY WERE MICROBES CREATED? — SPORES HAVE GREAT VITALITY. — PREVENTIVES OF INFLUENZA? — SALIENT POINTS.
20
Contents—Effect of Influenza on Man; Pulmonary Influenza
or Influenza-Pneumonia; Immunity; Incubation; Salient
Points; Quarantine; Cause of “Flu”; Why Microbes
Created; Flu Preventatives; Hours When Flu Attacks;
Salient Points.
Effect of Influenza on Man. When the Influenza Bacillus
or Microbe has gained access to the system of man, it speedily
produces an acute infectious toxaemia or blood poisoning, due
to the toxin or poison liberated in the blood by the Bacillus;
there are also other disease producing micro-organisms found
in the sputum or spit of the Influenza victim; these are spheroid
or bead shaped and called Cocci (kokkos, a berry, Greek), which
apparently aid the B Influenza as allies of destruction to our
systems.
The effects of the “Flu” poisoning on the human lung somewhat
resembles the conditions seen in those who have died from
inhaling strong Chlorine gas, Carbon mon-oxide or Nitrogen
gases in an atmosphere devoid of Oxygen.
The type or general character of the “Flu” which has prevailed
in Hawaii during the past two years, especially in Honolulu
in the months of January, February, March and April, 1920,
is the highest development of destructiveness to man, that the
B Influenza is capable of. It was the true Russian Catarrh or
Malignant “Flu,” and so called by the Italians Catarro Russo
and not Influente or Influenza. This type of the “Flu” was reintroduced
into the U. S. A. in the spring of 1918.
Pulmonary Influenza or Influenza-Pneumonia frequently
complicates the “Flu” in some epidemics, but not in all of them;
it is the main cause for the mortality due to that disease.
A century and a half ago the French physicians first demonstrated
its peculiarities, and its difference from ordinary Pneumonia,
which is as follows:
(a) It develops gradually and complicates the Bronchitis
of Influenza.
(b) Its peculiar physical signs are: the respiratory murmur
in the early stages of the “Flu” is diminished, and later completely
disappears; then bronchial breathing begins without dullness
or crepitant rales, like true Pneumonia.
In Hawaii as elsewhere, the complicating Pneumonia seldom
appears before the second or third day; occasionally it comes to
21the fore after the fifth or sixth; it is not always easy of detection
in a mild case. In our epidemic in Honolulu last winter,
1920, some of cases considered as Pneumonia were in fact those
of simple Pulmonary congestion and oedema, attended with expectoration
of frothy blood-tinged mucus, resembling the swollen
or drowned lung found in those who have been submerged and
died from drowning.
The true Influenza-Pneumonia sputum or spit is “greenish-yellow,”
this greenish color being due to the presence in the
sputum of a green pigment excreted by the diplo-coccus or double
coccus, like a necklace of beads, or sometimes resembling rounded
small rods.
A tendency to T. B., softening of the heart muscle, nervous
prostration, insomnia, restlessness and inability for brain work,
depression of spirits and irritability of temper, neuralgias, middle
ear disease, eye troubles, vertigo or giddiness from the ear disease
or eye or heart; stomach disease after intestinal influenza,
vomiting spells, etc., etc., emaciation, diarrhoea.
The open air life of the occupants of T. B. hospitals accounts
for their freedom from epidemic “Flu”; but they are
not immune to every epidemic. Residents of asylums, hospitals,
and jails are not so fortunate, numbers of the inmates being attacked;
daily rations of quinine should be given.
Paradoxical as the statement may appear, the mild and balmy
climate of the Hawaiian Islands, or any other place, neither protects
nor prevents any person from being attacked by the Influenza.
A mild climate is not a factor of prevention against any infectious
or contagious disease: the dominant agent and king of
protectors is an IMMUNITY inherited or acquired.
Climate cannot alter, change or prevent any person from being
infected with Small-pox, Plague, Cholera, Scarlet Fever,
Typhus or Influenza.
In the presence of King “Flu” all men are not equal, those
who have had several attacks of the disease in former years, or
have recently had it, are fairly Immune, not absolutely so; but
others who have not recently had Flu are liable to become infected
with it, and may be stricken at any time.
Good living, careful personal hygiene, fresh air in abundance,
avoidance of over heated and poorly ventilated rooms, together
with a general high standard of living, are excellent in their
22way to prevent ordinary disease; but in so far as they can prevent
any one from being infected by the Flu, the absolute
protection is entirely lacking in them; none of these very essential
hygienic principles can produce IMMUNITY, which
is the SOLE protector from an attack, or more than one attack
of Influenza, and it is Nature’s standby, and by means of
which it braces up the system to convalescence and ultimate
recovery.
Successful Vaccination against Small-pox will prevent or
render mild an attack of that disease, in 95% of those who have
been vaccinated and re-vaccinated. A baby in arms if successfully
vaccinated is Immune and protected; whereas an unvaccinated
giant living in a balmy climate, should he contract Small-pox,
will probably be a candidate for a coffin or the furnace of
a Crematory.
A mild climate cannot alter nor render less harmful to the
system of man, the specific toxin or poison of Influenza once
it is liberated into his blood; nor the toxin of any other micro-organism
of the infectious type.
In the combat with disease, many of the advantages of our
Hawaiian climate are to a certain extent neutralised by a lack
of stamina and disease resistance (and also the neglecting to
call in the services of a physician at an early stage of the illness)
of some of our inhabitants.
Any person who is affected with symptoms of disease, such
as fever, headache, nasal discharge, cough, sore and tickling
throat, and lassitude, during the prevalence of Flu, epidemic or
sporadic, should take to bed, and by so doing, it may mean and
is in line with a quick recovery, and a mild case of that disease:
whereas fighting off the disease and struggling to pursue
one’s daily avocation may change a mild type of illness to a very
grave and hopeless one. In this respect Influenza resembles Typhoid
fever of the ambulatory type, the victim does not realize
how sick he is, but when the hour comes that exhausted body
and brain forces him to seek his bed, it is often too late, and
death or prolonged sickness awaits him. Frequently the athlete
and the physically strong, when stricken with Flu, refrain from
early rest, struggle against the inroads of the disease, exhaust
their recuperative powers, and when finally driven to bed, collapse
and die: whereas a weaker individual being speedily overcome,
gives up and takes early to bed and recovers.
The death rate amongst those who are attacked by the
“Flu” varies in each epidemic and pandemic; as a fair average,
approximately most recover, say 75%; incomplete recovery 15%;
and in the late epidemic in Honolulu, the winter of 1920, the
death rate was 8% to 10%; in the U. S. A. it was 4% to 6%;
and in Europe 4½%.
23
Great discrepancies occur in the statements of different observers,
but inasmuch as each epidemic varies in severity, a severe
type of the “Flu” may have a shorter incubative period than a
mild type, and therefore taking the variations in type into consideration,
may reconcile the differences. If Influenza was accompanied
with a facial eruption or exanthem, this would materially
assist in the determination of its Incubative period. In
Hawaii, two to three days is the most frequent period of Incubation;
it may vary, however, from 24 hours to 72 hours, even to
five days; in these long incubative cases, headache, aching eyeballs,
and great languor are the indicating signs, and those persons
so affected succumb slowly and offer great resistance to
the overpowering toxins of the Bacillus Influenzae.
The Immunity which a person may possess in one Epidemic
and not in another, may be accounted for by assuming that each
Epidemic may have a difference in the strain or the species of
the Influenza bacillus.
Period of Life. Most cases occur between 20 and 40 years.
In Schools. The older children are first attacked: open air
schools are a positive, but not an absolute defense against Infection.
Indoor Schools. The ratio of prevalence amongst children of
all ages is 40%.
Outdoor Schools. All ages, the ratio of prevalence is 10%.
Open Air Occupations. Such as workers in the fields, 12%
are attacked.
Closed Rooms. Factory Operatives, 49% are attacked.
MAIN FACTOR OF SPREAD. Not the Weather, but
HUMAN intercourse, especially Commerce; the greater the
speed of Commerce, the greater and quicker is the spread of the
Flu; it follows the path of HUMAN travel; it is a Contagion
solely spread by HUMAN intercourse, viz. “The Influenza Carrier
or Carriers.”
Positions in life, which require contact with Travelers, necessarily
influence and spread the disease.
“Flu” is spread in the same ratio of speed as the Carrier
of IT.
When the Flu is a weakling, his best Nurses and Foster-Mothers
are Overcrowding and lack of Pure Air.
Where the Crowd is, there the Flu is: little crowding means
little Flu; plenty of Crowding, plenty of Flu.
24
Period of Isolation, for ordinary Flu patients: 12 days.
Period of Isolation, for Influenza-Pneumonia cases, until the
end of Convalescence.
Quarantine and Isolation are beset with difficulties owing to
the extraordinary contagious nature of the Flu, due to the multiplicity
of Contacts, Carriers, and mild undetected cases.
It should be borne in mind that Influenza is a most refractory
disease, and not at any time or season is it under our control,
and to bring about this condition is as yet an unsolved problem.
It may attack us at any time, although its favorite period of
appearance is the Autumn and Winter months.
Influenza is mainly a Respiratory disease, hence Isolation and
Quarantine cannot be relied upon to prevent the spread of the
Flu, and both of these restraints of personal liberty and hindrances
of commerce must fail, besides being also unpractical
and impossible.
People must meet to transact business in public places, must
eat and drink in public, use telephones in public places, use public
lavatories, and many other acts of public nature; all of these
acts cannot be quarantined, nor can talking amongst crowds;
even if rigid quarantine rules were enforced, the Flu has hitherto
eluded them and spread outside of the quarantined limits.
In the absence of any alleged cause or theory, which can account
for the erratic prevalence of the Flu, the Author advances
the following:
(a) The Bacillus of Influenza normally cannot exist or
thrive in our every-day ordinary atmosphere, constituted of 20%
of Oxygen, and 80% of Nitrogen.
(b) Under certain atmospheric conditions, such as any fractional
excess above 4–5 Nitrogen, the normal amount present in
the air, the Bacillus of Flu can become acclimated and acquires
new sources of vitality, viz., the means to exist in the presence
of Oxygen, and to thrive and multiply in it, and propagate, in
this temporarily changed atmosphere. It speedily becomes imbued
with virulent disease producing properties, multiplies on a
vast scale, and proceeds to attack and scourge man; hence an
Epidemic of Flu is brought into our lives.
(c) Later when the normal atmospheric balance is restored,
the Bacillus ceases to be pathogenic or disease producing, loses
its power, Facultative or Potential, to multiply and live on a large
scale, but certain of the most vigorous members of the Colony
survive and remain dormant, and latent, and years or months later
25under the same favorable atmospheric conditions, Nitrogen excess
in the atmosphere, become active and produce a New Epidemic
of Flu.
Each Epidemic may be considered as a sprouting of the
“seed” of the previous or past ones; such seed or microbe is not
permanently nursed by any host, such as man or animal, as a carrier;
but the Bacillus lies hidden in the dust of rooms, attics,
books, packed away clothes, towels, non-sterilized fomites in general,
especially blankets and handkerchiefs, wall paper, etc.; on
premises which had been occupied by Flu victims or victim, or
convalescents from the disease, weeks, months, or years before.
No disease producing microbe can develop itself anew, it
must come from the seed of the old stock, whether it be Flu,
Typhoid, Plague, T. B., or Small-pox. Like produces, and only
can produce like, is an infallible law, and applies to every living
microbe, malignant or harmless.
Anything with life, when the entire species is eradicated or
destroyed, with no live members or parents surviving, is absolutely
gone for ever, save and except the Supreme deity sees fit to
regenerate it.
In Honolulu, how uncomfortable we all feel when the South
wind prevails, with its excess humid atmosphere; Headaches,
Sweats, Sneezing, Lassitude and loss of appetite, etc., affects many
of us, and coughs and sore throats; this is the Sick wind or
atmosphere, so called by the Hawaiian; a condition of mild Flu
producing weather; akin to Nitrogen plus air, and Oxygen minus,
which the Author has suggested as an explanation of the cause
of dormant Influenza, developing into an Epidemic.
We have an abundance of non-disease producing microbes
dwelling in our bodies, and also many other harmless micro-organisms
pervade the lower strata of our atmosphere; the upper
strata of the air are devoid of microbes, say five miles from the
surface of the earth, but inasmuch as human beings cannot breathe
in comfort at such a high elevation, we cannot escape germs of
disease by residing at great heights.
The harmless microbes inhabiting our bodies are good friends
and protectors; disease producing microbes may have been created
for the purpose of maintaining a bacterial balance, not too much
of one kind nor too little of the other.
If Providence intended to decimate mankind and destroy
him by microbic diseases, one species of a deadly and virulent microbe
would suffice.
Micro-organisms, in order to live and exist, must find suitable
surroundings and pabulum; if these are lacking, they must
26perish. Man and animals, in the main, furnish the homes and
food which enables a microbe to exist; and when death destroys
the “host,” the parasitic microbe still lives in the body of its victim
when buried in the ground; hence the necessity for cremation,
which is the ideal and most efficient method of disposing of the
corpses of those who have died of infectious diseases.
The Creator, by introducing microbic life to our globe, must
have intended it to live and propagate; bacteria are provided
with a wonderful defense against eradication; this is evident in
the protection designed for the Spore or Re-productive element
of Bacteria, whose coat or outer cell envelope is one of “the most
resisting substances to destruction in the Organic world.”
Agents, that cause other forms of life to succumb, fail to
destroy it; the average spore when subjected to a dry heat temperature
of 300° Fahr. for one hour is apparently still alive;
it requires this same temperature to be maintained for several
hours in order to destroy it.
It is an unalterable law of life, that every living species
grows old and ultimately perishes; even one day’s existence to
a microbe may combine birth, infancy, maturity and old age.
It is impossible to believe or to think, that our Creator is
always creating new or fresh supplies of Flu microbes or any
kind of the disease producing ones; whether microbes survived
the Deluge, or were post Pluvial creations is a moot point? if
Noah took microbes into the Ark and preserved them by Divine
order, for future liberation amongst mankind, he certainly did
his work efficiently in so far as the species of the Influenza bacillus
is concerned; it has lost none of its virulency or vigorousness
in the year 1920, after living 6,000 years.
Are there any Influenza preventives? Serums, of late years
have been the chief agents used for preventing and treating the
Flu.
As a preventive remedy, the immunity (?) or protection afforded
is very brief, and it ceases to be of value in a few weeks.
In Hawaii, the Author has not been greatly impressed with
the value of Serums in the treatment of Influenza; the alleged
great benefits and cures set forth in Medical papers, and publications
of laboratory statistics by manufacturers of the Serums
are not obtained here.
Serums after injection are supposed to aggravate all the
symptoms of Flu, followed later by a great improvement in the
27patient’s condition, but this prophecy is not always borne out;
hence the increase of the headache, fever and pains in the limbs
and aching bones, alarms and frightens the patient of the Asiatic,
Hawaiian races and many of the Caucasians.
Amongst cases of Influenza, lying side by side, those treated
by simple remedies recovered just as speedily and safely as those
who had undergone the Serum treatment, and were attended with
much less discomfort.
QUININE. The bi-sulphate of Quinine is one of the best
haemal or blood microbicides that we have, and its daily use in
times of epidemics of Influenza may prevent the user of it from
being attacked. It is more a Preventive in some of the epidemics
than in others, the ratio of prevention is 40–60, sometimes more,
sometimes less; the remedy is easily taken, and in small doses has
no drawbacks; it is best so administered; it is cheap and in the
coated tablet form palatable, convenient; any person can take it
and pursue his usual avocation.
After forty years of practice as a physician, the Author feels
convinced of the value of Quinine; he learned its value in western
Europe, even if the headache of Flu is very severe small trial
doses may be given, as the Author knows from personal experience
it is helpful; in a later stage of the disease, with excessive sweats,
cold clammy skin and aching bones, all due to cadaveric bacilli
circulating in the blood, give Quinine, and your patient or patients
will soon respond to its beneficial effects, their condition will
improve, and they will thank you and ask for the medicine.
Should small doses upset the stomach, in very susceptible
persons, then it may be given by hypodermic injection, using the
more soluble salts of QUININE, the Lactate a white powder
soluble in 1 to 5 of water, or the Acid Hydrochloride of the
B P[2]; in the U S P[3] it is the Di-chloride, which is soluble
in less than its own weight of water; if small doses of Quinine
cause headache and ringing in the ears in a well person than
the remedy is unsuitable and should not be taken, for it will not
prevent an attack of the Flu in that person.
Professor Dittmar Finkler, M.D., of the university of Bonn,
Rhenish Prussia, in his work on Influenza, cites the experiments
carried out by Dr. Graser, Medical Army Corps, on duty at the
cavalry barracks at Bonn, where five squadrons of German cavalry
were quartered during an Epidemic of Flu; one of the
squadrons, complement of men, was given daily rations of
Quinine for several weeks during the prevalence of the epidemic,
the other four squadrons received no Quinine; the results are
here set forth:
28
Squadron
Complement
“Flu” Cases
Quinine
First
135
22
None
Second
135
4
0.5 gm. daily
Third
135
19
None
Fourth
135
42
None
Fifth
135
32
None
It is reasonable to assume, that the food or pabulum of the
bacillus of Influenza is poisoned by Quinine entering the blood,
hence the microbe will avoid by instinct any person whose blood
contains quinine in solution; if the bacillus has gained access
to the system it is speedily destroyed, and becomes cadaveric as
soon as it enters the zone of the quinine barrage.
Are there Hours of the day when the System is more susceptible
to Invasion by the Bacillus Influenzae?
To determine this question requires careful study, time, a
great deal of patient and tedious work and perseverance; yet it
is possible to gain some information on this phase of the “Flu.”
At intervals, during the past twenty-one years, from more
than 1000 cases of Influenza in adults, the Author has managed
to collect 132 cases; wherein, it was possible to check and verify
with some degree of accuracy, the time of contact with a known
source of Flu; no subsequent contact being had with any other
known source of that disease.
Material evidence was collected from isolated plantation
camps, sparsely inhabited villages, and the suburbs of Honolulu
at such times as there was no epidemic of Flu. A record of cases
collected mostly in the autumn and winter months, from October
to March, is hereunder set forth:
Hours of Contact
Cases
Incubation
Pneumonia
5 a.m. to 8 a.m.
30
2 to 3 days.
None.
8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
22
2 to 3 days.
None.
6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
80
1 to 5 days.
9
CROWDS in attendance at Social gatherings, Public meetings,
Restaurants, Places of amusement; together with lack of pure
Air in overheated and unventilated rooms and halls, plus lowered
vitality after the day’s work, easily and clearly account for
the great excess of cases in the above table, between the hours
from 6 to 10 p.m.
Influenza has neither cosmic nor heliacal connections.
Care of the Flu patient. Ventilation of the sick room should
be carried out with due regard to the wishes of the patient. What
is a cooling agreeable breeze to the average Caucasian, may be
29felt as an Arctic blast by the Hawaiians and Asiatic races; this
causes them to fret and worry.
There is a happy medium in ventilation of sick rooms, as in
all things. If the patient has Pneumonia, encourage resting on
the right or left side, changing from time to time; discourage
any patient from lying on the back.
The Health of the Nurse. The Nurse must protect her own
health, by regular hours for work, rest, sleep, meals and exercise;
an overworked nurse is a non-efficient nurse, and it sends her along
the road to a breakdown and makes her or him more subject to
acquiring Flu from the patients.
Practise nose breathing. Use sign language in the sick room;
keep the mouth closed; tightly closed lips are a better safeguard
than a Flu mask; mouth breathing is an inviter of infection;
anoint the lips and nostrils frequently with camphor vaseline, or
Spirits of Camphor; use no sprays for the nose or throat containing
alleged germ destroyers; gargle the throat with a little
Listerine water; by so doing you do not kill your protective
friends, the non-pathogenic Bacteria; these will get the best
of Mr. Flu in due time; leave the nose alone; germ killing sprays,
so-called, are useless and are a delusion; remember the “Flu”
bacillus is enclosed in a spray-proof coat, almost as tough as
Shark skin.
(From the Author’s Booklet, “Historical Hawaii.”) — ADMIRAL ADAM. IVAN. KRUSENSTERN. (1770–1846.) — THE AHULAU OKUU . — A POLYNESIAN COLONY LIVES IN PELE LIILII A. D. 1920. — The Land of our Aryan Ancestors. — Farthest East in Polynesia. — POLYNESIAN VITAL STATISTICS.
30
Adam. Ivan. Krusenstern, Russian navigator, explorer and
scientist. Served and trained with the British navy from 1793 to
1799. In the year 1802, the Russian Government purchased two
ships from the British Admiralty, whose names were changed
to the “NEVA” and the (?) Don.
After being refitted and provisioned, these ships left Kronstadt
in August, 1803, under the command of Captain Krusenstern,
on a voyage of exploration around Cape Horn; they called at
the Mendaña or Marquesa Islands, remained there four months,
making investigation of the resources of this group; later the
ships sailed for Hawaii, arriving on June 13, 1804; here also
an intensive study was made of the people, products of the
islands, harbors, fisheries, climate, etc.
The ships returned to Kronstadt in 1806, and Captain Krusenstern
was advanced to the rank of Admiral; he is the Author
of “A Voyage Round the World,” in 3 volumes, 1810 and 1814,
in the Russian language; he also was the Cartographer of an
“Atlas of the Pacific Ocean.”
On page 199, of the Author’s Monograph “Leprosy in Hawaii,”
will be found the following statement:
1804, June 13. The Russian ship “NEVA” arrives; did this
ship infect the Islands with CHOLERA?
1804, ? ? A severe and deadly Epidemic disease ravages
the Islands, named by the Hawaiian people, the “Ma’i make
Okuu,” or the “Ahulau Okuu.”
The word Ahulau means a deadly epidemic or pestilence; the
word Okuu has two meanings which will be explained later.
A description of the symptoms of the victims of the Ahulau
Okuu, as related to the Author in the year 1883, is herewith set
forth in the words of the narrators, grandchildren of some of
those who had been stricken with the Ahulau Okuu, but had
recovered.
“Owing to the terrible pains in their stomachs, and the
cramps in the legs, those who had the New disease could neither
stand nor lie down: (hence the meaning of the word Okuu, a
verb, to sit up because one has no place to lie down in comfort).
“To obtain some relief from the pains, the sick people sat on
their hams or heels, with the body bowed forward clasping their
stomachs, or sat on the ground, their legs in front and the body
bowed in front over the legs. Thin stuff like sour starch water
31flowed from them very often; some vomited all the time; their
faces and bodies became black and cold as like they had died,
their eyes grew small and far in the head. They all the time
cried for water, for they had a great thirst. People died so fast
and so many, nobody was left to bury them.
“The sick and the well ones who looked after them, lived
on baked sweet potatoes; the people were too tired and weary
to make the poi.
“It often so happened, those who were not sick when they
began to cook the food for the sick ones, were taken with the
Ahulau Okuu, and died so quickly, falling over dead on the
face, before the potatoes had cooked.” (All the above described
conditions are typical of Cholera of the Asiatic type, the most
malignant form.) Author.
The Ahulau Okuu ravaged all the Islands, and it is said to
have caused 22,000 deaths. Kamehameha I, then living on the
Island of Oahu, was stricken with the disease, but recovered.
(A) The Hawaiian word Okuu, a verb, means, to dismiss
or let go the Soul: It is applied to and accepted as describing the
last moments of those stricken with the pestilence of 1804: “they
dismissed freely their souls and died.” This explanation of the
meaning of Okuu is too vague. It gives no clue to the early
stages of the disease or its symptoms. The only conclusion that
can be safely drawn is that the Okuu was a rapidly fatal and
epidemic malady.
(B) The Author of this Booklet sought for, and found
years ago another Hawaiian word Okuu, which throws some light
on the progress of the Ahulau Okuu previous to death, and it also
gives some insight as to what the pestilence could be or was;
furthermore to any physician of an intuitive mind, the translation
into English of the word Okuu, “to dismiss freely and
let go the Soul in death” explains nothing.
There are two words Okuu in the Hawaiian language, spelt
alike and also pronounced alike, but entirely different in their
meanings; both are verbs. Lorrin Andrews in his Hawaiian dictionary,
a standard work, A.D. 1865. (q. v.), states the meaning
of the second Okuu is “to have to sit up because one has no
place to lie down in comfort”; this aptly describes the misery
of a cholera victim; he or she cannot stand up, sit up, nor lie down
in comfort, because of the intense and continuous pains in the
belly, and cramps in the legs. Which of these two construings
of the word Okuu gives the better and clearer explanation of
what the Ahulau Okuu really was, is left to the judgment of
the Reader.
32
The Mentawe or Menekeawe Islands lie 70 miles off the
West coast of the Island of Sumatra, and the people of these
islands are the last and only Colony of Polynesians living in the
Malay Archipelago; all the other Polynesians have immigrated
and passed onward to the Pacific Ocean.
Menekeawe is a Polynesian word, hence used every day in
Hawaii; mene, means an axe or koi; keawe, means a bearer or
carrier, also Keawe is the name of a man; hence we have the
hale or house of Keawe, the temple of refuge at Honaunau, S.
Kona, Hawaii.
The Menekeawe Islands are 21 in number, 4 large and 17
small; all are of volcanic formation; they lie offshore at the
base of the great mountain Indrapura, 12,500 feet, now a quiescent
volcano, and the alleged abode (pura) of Indra, the FIRE
GOD of the Indo-Aryan peoples, a King God of the Middle
Realm, the fire of the Air, the lightning.
The four largest of this group of Islands are, Siberut, Sipora
or Sikatan, North and South Paggi; they are surrounded
by coral reefs and volcanic shoals, difficult of access due to a
huge surf. The area of all the islands is 1224 square miles,
about one-fifth the size of Hawaii net; their Lat. 1° South to
3° 30′; Long. 100° E.
The people of the Menekeawe Islands in features, language
and customs have a distinct and remarkable affinity with the
Polynesians; they are almost a pure blooded race of ARYAN
stock, and they are the only survivors of an eastward emigration
of an Indo-Aryan people, who antedate the Malay peoples in
Sumatra, the Battas and others. The Menekeawes have not
fused nor mixed their blood with other Malay peoples; miscegenation,
if any, has been very rare.
PELE’S HAIR is formed by whirlpools of scum floating on
the surface of the rapidly moving magma of boiling lava, and
blown by the wind over the rim of the lava basin. During heavy
rain, Pele ceases to spin her amber colored threads of glass. In
January, 1888, the Author collected the hair; analysis showed the
composition to be Silicate of Calcium 75%; Silicate of Calcium
Oxide 15%; Ferrous Carbonate, FeCO3, 7%; Ferrous Sulphate,
FeSO4, 3%; the “hair” is therefore a fused transparent amorphous
Silicate of Calcium; the amber color is due to the iron,
Fe salts.
HALA: The Hala mountains are 40 miles west of the Indus
river and form the boundary between S. E. Persia and India.
33The town of Hala in Persia is the modern Bela; an Indian town
Hala is located on the bank of the Indus 25 miles north of Hydarabad
(the abode by the water). The Maikai mountains are found
S. of the Nerbudda river, Lat. 22° 30′ N; Long. 78° E. In Hawaii,
hala, a pineapple, a tree; as a verb, hala, to pass beyond, as death;
also Pahala, Halawa.
The Hawaiian people speak of living in PELE: The great
volcanic islands around the Java Sea are this land. The great
island of Sumatra, 1100 miles long by 250 wide, 66 volcanic
centers, probably is the Hawaii Loa of the Hawaiians.
Island of Java: Yawa, Hawa, Chawa, Mul Java of Ibn Batuta,
Jawa, Jawi, Jawah.
Savii Loa is great Java, Sawaii or Savaii is Javaii; Savaiiki is
Javaiiki or little Java.
The Arabs were the great ancient navigators and explorers;
they acquired their maritime skill and seamanship in
the Mediterranean, Red and Arabian seas and in the Persian
gulf.
The Phoenicians acquired their marine training around
the islands in the Gulf of Persia.
The ancestors of the Hawaiians could have learned their
marine skill, and probably did so, on the shores of the Arabian
Sea and off the estuary of the river Indus, also in the Bay of
Bengal and off the mouths of the River Ganges, and later, in
the seas of Indonesia.
The Polynesians are pre-eminently a race of excellent
seamen, due to centuries of a sea-faring life. The early members
of that nation, upon their entry into the Pacific Ocean,
perhaps in dhows and praus, but later as canoe-men, were
skillful, fearless and as successful a race of navigators and explorers
as the world has ever produced; poorly fitted out for
ocean travel in frail craft; nevertheless the Polynesians pursued
boldly a course into an unknown, vast ocean, where possible
storms, thirst, starvation, shipwreck and death awaited
them.
Some probable points of departure of the primal Polynesian
emigrants, seeking new homes in the various islands of
the Pacific, can be found at Sawaii and Kawaahae on the
north coast of the island of Ceram (?Ceylon), one of the Molucca
islands; thence they could pass due north up the Gilolo
channel and enter the Pacific, leaving Pulo Morotai (Island
of Molokai) to the northwest, then steering a course along the
north of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands due east
towards Samoa.
To escape the Mongoloid hordes, who were crushing and
crowding them out in Indonesia, the Polynesians in their
34travels appear always from necessity and safety to have
chosen the path of least resistance, the ocean; with its currents
and winds, aided by sails and paddle power, it is a motor
of comparative ease and progress, and also of sustenance, providing
abundance of fish, limu (edible seaweed), etc.
The early Polynesians, armed with their knowledge of
trade winds, ocean currents, the stars, and with their skill as
fishermen, reduced to a minimum the prospects of ocean disasters
or pilikias. On the ocean’s broad expanse no enemy
could ambuscade them, nor were perils of this kind liable to
be encountered. Under all the above conditions of ocean
traveling the Polynesian navigators were enabled to explore
and discover many new and hitherto unknown islands in the
largest ocean of our globe, the Pacific.
The Polynesian speech or language is distinctly not of
Malay or Mongoloid origin; research indicates that Indonesia
was its home and that it must have been in use for centuries
before the Malay came into the field. Due to the invasion of
this race, some of their words became engrafted on to the Polynesian,
they did not and have not materially changed it, hence,
without any sufficient reason, the name Malayo-Polynesian is
in common use to designate a language which is 85 per cent.
Polynesian.
The Polynesians are absolutely a separate and distinct
race from the Malays. The pure Polynesian type, such as
most of aboriginal Hawaiians, has the following characteristics:
Tall, skin brown or olive, brown eyes, abundant black
wavy hair, ARYAN features, cleanly, cheerful, artistic, intellectual,
gentle, polite and dignified, poetical, musical.
Their long type of skull and its capacity resembles in part
the European. Every one of the above properties is lacking
in the Malay, but the ancient Hindu and the Persian possessed
every one of them; it is to these races that the primal Polynesians
can be traced and hence their identification in the Pacific
presents no problem that cannot be solved.
William Marsden (1754–1836), “History of Sumatra,”
states: “All the Insular nations of the Pacific are colonies
from Indonesia or Malaysia, whose original home was the
great Island of SUMATRA, and their common speech the
Great Polynesian.”
About 1400 B.C.—“The summer months are two, and the
winter months are ten, and these are cold; and when the winter
encompasses (us) with the worst of its annoyances it is
35cold for the trees and the flowers, cold for the cattle, horses
and birds, and cold for the freezing-waters filled with the falling
snow.”
Quoted from the sacred record of the Persians, kept by
the “Magi,” the priests of the Persians—the Wise Men of the
East; of the same class as those who carried to Mary, the
mother of Christ, gold, frankincense and myrrh (aromatic
germicides to protect the infant Christ from mumps, measles
and tonsilitis, etc., and also to purify the air of the living
quarters).
The location of a land with only two summer months
must have been far to the north of the Caspian Sea, on the
banks of the River Rha or the Volga. Petrograd, in 60 degrees
N. Lat., has an average annual temperature of 38 degrees Fahr.
Rapanui, or Easter Island: Seen by Captain Alvaro Mendaña,
June 24, 1595; visited by the Dutch Admiral, Jacob Roggeveen,
and his crew on Easter Sunday, 1722, hence the name
of the island, Easter.
Inhabitants are today Polynesians who came from the
Marquesa Islands, some 1800 miles to the northwest of Rapanui.
A translation of one of their tablets bearing a hieroglyphic
inscription relates as follows:
“In that happy land, that beautiful land, where Romaha
lived before with his beloved Hangora; that beautiful land that
was governed by the Gods from heaven; who lived in the
water when it was cold; where the Black and White pointed
Spider would have climbed to heaven, but was stopped by the
falling snow and the freezing cold.”
This very unique narrative probably harks back to northwest
India; Ramachandra, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu,
the Polynesian Tangaroa, and the black and white spider is
the winter solstice, similar to the Hawaiian astronomy, Ke
alanui polohiwa a ke Kuukuu (the black luminous orbit of the
Spider).
36
Islands
Population
Years
Decrease
Tahiti Group
*175,000
1774
34,800
1910
140,200
Samoa Group
*185,000
1768
46,000
1912
139,000
New Zealand
*120,000
1840
49,776
1916
70,224
Hawaii Nei
*230,800
1780
200,000
1804
26,000
1910
204,800
Marquesa, or
*45,000
1804
Mendaña Group
35,000
1842
4,000
1910
41,000
Tonga Group
*30,000
1880
17,500
1912
12,500
Cook Group
*11,500
1880
8,400
1900
3,100
Wallis Group
*8,000
1860
3,600
1912
4,400
Austral Group
Tabuai
*1,800
1875
1,000
1912
800
MELANESIA
Fijii Group
*194,000
1840
125,000
1906
69,000
TOTAL.
*1,001,100
685,024
Sources of information for the Above Figures.
Consular Reports of various Nations.
Encyclopaedia Brittanica, American Edition, 1911.
Century Dictionary and Encyclopaedia, American, 1912.
Admiral Adam Ivan Krusenstern, (1770–1846).
Admiral Bougainville, (1729–1811).
Statistics collected by the Author.
Units and tens are discarded in the above table of figures, 1st
Census.
Estimating population of Aboriginal races select the lowest
totals.
Estimating the Death Rate of Aboriginal races select the highest
totals.