The Pigeons of Paris

People in Paris were coming down with something like parrot fevert--but they had not caught it from parrots. Dr. Pierre Lepine, the Pasteur Institute's virus expert, spent two years tracking down the culprit. Last week he had it: the plump Parisian pigeon.

Fortunately, the disease was taking a far milder form than in Paris' big outbreak in 1892, when there were 16 deaths among 51 cases. Most recent victims thought they had nothing more serious than influenza; the only deaths have been among elderly invalids. Even so, Lepine's report fluttered the dovecots of the Ministry of Health.

Lepine told the ministry there was only one thing to do: reduce the number of pigeons. This, said he, would be better for both the people and the monuments of Paris. But he had reckoned without the pigeon lovers. The ministry began to get threatening letters. Said Lepine sadly: "There are some who would rather see men die than pigeons."

t Psittacosis, so called because the disease was first detected in parrots. Now regarded as a form of ornithosis (bird disease), to which many birds are subject.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.