Medicine: Hay Fever

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Ragweed began to ripen and send its pollen (ten billion grains to the plant) into the air last week. In consequence, some two million peculiarly sensitive residents of the U. S. began to snuffle & weep with their annual attacks of hayfever. New York City, Chicago and smaller communities hired men to pull up every stalk of ragweed within city limits. For one day's pulling Chicago paid 25¢ and a ticket good for a week's room & board in a charity shelter. Sales of home air filterers perked up. If his sleeping quarters are free from dust, the mildly sensitive hayfever victim will not suffer very much during the hours he must spend in open, unfiltered air. Allergists prepared for the annual autumn peak of their specialized practice.

Ragweed covers about 50% of the cases of hayfever in the U. S. Pollens from certain trees, grasses and weeds are just as irritating. Calvin Coolidge gets his annual attacks when grass begins to flower. At his last birthday July 4, when he went up to Plymouth, Vt., he was so ill that he went to bed for several days. He has been up & around since. But he would not travel to Washington last week for President Hoover's nomination party (see p.7).

Hayfever is closely related to asthma, hives, eczema, certain forms of food sensitivity, some forms of sick headache, occasionally colitis. They are all forms of allergy, a new medical specialty with two national organizations—the Society for the Study of Asthma & Allied Conditions and the Association for the Study of Allergy.