New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1880-03-17
The Malarial Poison.

Intermittent fever, marsh FOYER, ma
larial feve-, fever and ague, "chills''-
these are few of the names bv which
the doctors and the people know more
or less one OF the most widespread and
familiar of the ills that flesh Is heir to,
malady that seems TO occur at one
time or another in all countries where
there are to be found water, sunshine
and q soil reasonably rich in decayed
vegetable elements. In countries
where the soil is less rich in vegetable
elements the fever is restricted to the
neighborhood of inundated lands or
marshes, or ponds Of variable level,
because in these situations the abune
dance of decaying vegetable substance
is very great. In such countries tho
opinion is general, and is perhaps accu-
rate, that the poison is of marshy ORR
gin; but in countries where the whole
soil is rich enough to be in this particu-
lar like these marshy lands, it has been
long recognized that the poison had no
necessary relation to marshy situations,
but was in fact telluric, and that short
rain which only slightly moistened the
surface of the earth, and q few succeed
ing hours of sunshine, supplied all the
conditions necessary for the elabora-
ton of the poison that produced this
fever. Blu: what was that poison?
Science failed to solve that problem.
But it did not fail for want of effort.
An exceedingly great amount of inge-
nuity, industry and trained skill has
for ages been devoted to the labor Of
hunting down, isolating and de-
scribing the offending atoms that
have made and still make UNI
inhabitable some of the fairest
regions of the earth. All effort was
vain, however, and no satisfactory an.
swer has ever been made to the query,
What precisely is the poison that causes
this disease? 1t has remained q mys-
terry. Within few years ingenious en-
beavers to solve this problem have
multiplied. In the present year some
experiments have been made at Rome
which appear to be more fruitful than
any hitherto recorded; or, in the words
OF the report read to the Academy of
Rome. "the investigation was reward
ed with complete success" These ex-
periments were conducted by Signor
Tommasi, of Rome, and Professor
Klebs, of Prague. They together spent
some weeks in the Agro Romano, and
made repeated examinations of the
Iowa strata of the atmosphere, of the
soil and of stagnant waters, and sue
ceeded in isolating q microscopic
fungus, specimens of which, beng
placed under the skin Of healthy dogs.
caused distinct and regular parOxysms
Ut Intermittent fever. and produced in
the spleens of these animals that pccu.
liar condition which is q recognized
part OF the pathology of this disease.
In the medical world this achievement
must be regarded as an important one.
To people at large it may not seem .
great affair to have ascertained precise.
~ what part Of the elements OF poison.
GUS soil it is to which its poisonous ma
ture is due; but it must not be too hasti-
" judged that this knowledge will not
involve an important advance in the
capacity to deal with this noxiOus D, cd.
uct OF the earth. r. Herald.
"A man with his Wife ana four chi.
dren passed through this city on Sun
day afternoon. having driven al the
way from the 6tate Of Arkansas with .
team and covered with hides.
The Wagon o. linod their household
furniture. and they had used il % their
house and abiding placs during the
greater part Of their Journey. The
woman said she was tired almost %
death, and would be very glad when
they arrived ct their destination, which
swas Dover Plains, the place where the
man he'd lsvnN ,ahnsn = hoe, ~ -, k.A