By Gregory Clark, December 6, 1919.
Discovery of British Scientists Is Confirmed by Toronto Observers of Returned Men.
May be Due to Bite of Mad Cootie
At Any Rate, It Is Contagious – Violent Outbreaks Followed by Elation.
British scientists have just discovered a new disease arising out of the war. It ranks with trench-feet. scabies, shell-shock, impetigo, profiteerosis, “p.u.o”, pes frigidus, “wind-up,” boils and cooties as medical discoveries of the war; subjects on which there was some little information prior to 1914, but which were really discovered, in the true sense of the word, only during the war, when medical science had for the first time a large body of men entirely at its mercy. The new disease is called Fellophobia, and means “hatred of one’s fellow men.”
British medical men define fellophobia as akin to hydrophobia which is caused by the bite of mad dog. Certain branches of the profession are trying to trace the new disease to the bite of a mad cootie while others are attempting to lay the blame on rats; and yet others on the biting remarks of mad company sergeant-majors.
Fellophobia is found among returned soldiers in varying degrees of malevolence. The reports from England cite the following cases.
A young man, formerly of very amiable disposition, who rose to the rank of sergeant in the war, has come home a changed man, with frequent periods of his old good humor, but with regular outbreaks of a very violent nature over the most trivial incidents, during which he shouts in an alarming manner, stamps his feet, and stands in corners, muttering unintelligible things to himself. This sad transformation is credited to the dread germ of fellophobia.
Violent Outbreaks
Another man, formerly a stock broker, clubman, and general good sport, enlisted cheerfully as a captain, and served for four years as an R.T.O., that is, Railway Transport Officer. On returning to civil life, he is a changed man. He is a cynic, a pessimist, and a crank. He, too, is given to those violent outbreaks, in which he shouts and roars, and orders everyone about, including his own family, in a most arbitrary manner. The doctors are at a loss to account for this patient’s trouble as he was never exposed to the dangers of lice, rats or sergeant-majors, he having been stationed throughout the war at Boulogne. From this case, it is suspected that fellophobia is contagious.
Has fellophobia raised its sinister head in Toronto yet?
While Colonel McVicker and other local military medical men have not yet encountered the disease by that name, symptoms that bear a suspicious resemblance to it have been observed.
Dr. A. H. Abbott, secretary of the Citizens’ Repatriation League, while stating as his opinion that the war has sweetened and broadened with humor the tempers of soldiers as a whole says that he has met individuals suffering from something very like fellophobia. An Irish soldier came repeatedly to the Citizens’ Repatriation League to demand a loan of money for a sick wife. Now, matter of fact, the officials of the League knew that this man’s wife not only was not sick but that, being separated from her husband, she was never better in her life. The officials therefore consistently refused the money. One day, without any warning this Irishman developed violent symptoms and struck one of Dr. Abbott’s assistants a fierce blow on the ear.
Major F. N. Kippen, D.S.O., M.C. of the Government Employment Bureau for professional and technical returned men, says he has encountered considerable numbers of men undoubtedly suffering from the new disease.
“The disease,” said he, “seems to be aggravated when the sufferer meets former adjutant or sergeant-major in civilian clothes. The germs seem to be deeply affected by these two types and create a fever in the victim. He glares at the former adjutant or sergeant-major, the fellophobia often causing him to abuse them in a most shocking manner.”
Followed by Elation
Mr. Arthur J. Monk, also of the Employment Bureau, adds to Major Kippen’s observations the following:
“Yes, but the outbreak of violence on meeting a former adjutant or sergeant-major is immediately followed by a period of great elation, amounting almost to hysteria. The patient seems seized with a paroxysm of delight. He smiles as if to split his face, and immediately rushes around in search of his friends. It is just as if he had got a weight off his chest.”
Another prominent military man expresses the alarming opinion that practically all soldiers are affected to some extent by fellophobia.
“I know five Colonels in Toronto for example,” says this gentleman. “During the war, while undoubtedly showing symptoms of some kind towards their subordinates, these Colonels were most devoted admirers of their Brigadiers and Divisional Commanders. Nothing pleased them more than to be invited to tea with the Brigadier or to be seen riding with him in the rear areas. And the opportunity of even a moment’s chat with the Divisional Commander was enough to put these Colonels in a good humor for a week.
“But, now, how different! On the slightest provocation and often without excuse, these Colonels will go into a frenzy over their Brigadiers and Divisional Commanders. They call their Brigadier a dud and their General an unmitigated fat-head. They swear the Brigadier couldn’t have held his job but for his battalion commanders. And as for the G.O.C., he was just a plain ass, kept in position by pull.”
True of All Ranks
“This,” says our military man, “is true of all ranks. Majors curse their colonels, captains their majors and lieutenants their captains, except in rare instances. And the rank and file curse the whole tribe of officer.
“If it is fellophobia, then the medical profession should lend every effort to isolating this terrible germ before it embitters our whole life.”
It is feared that fellophobia, being contagious, has already affected a number of men who have not been in the army at all. The manager of a well-known manufactory in Toronto is given to spasms of the disease whenever he sees an ex-soldier. The moment a returned man in search of work puts his nose in at this manager’s door, the manager is overcome by a peculiar sort of rage, and he leaps to his feet, shouting:
“No! No! To h— with returned soldiers!”
It is believed that this man contracted the disease from some of the many returned soldiers who have applied to him for work.
Other civilians closely affiliated with soldiers, such as the young men and women stenographers employed by the D.S.C.R., seem quite as susceptible to fellophobia as soldiers themselves. Simple questions, such as: “At what time does the director come in from lunch?” cause these originally genial and gentle people to fly into uncontrollable pets.
Personally, I am of the opinion that the cootie to responsible for fellophobia. To It has been traced trench fever, “p.u.o.”; impetigo, scabies and dugout-insomnia.
If the medical profession is interested, I may say that I have discovered an old comrade-in-arms who has brought back with him a very fine colony of these insects in good condition for scientific purposes.
Editor’s Note: Some of the real diseases mentioned that affected soldiers in World War One are “puo” (Pyrexia of Unknown Origin), Impetigo (a skin rash) and dugout insomnia (a general insomnia no doubt from the fear of being attacked).
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