Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-09-27
Causes of hummer Feper.

.AuIulCCluS IEdI Iuc origin VI HldIdlI1
cannot be accurately determined, there
are two circumstances III recent phases
of our social life that may in part account
for the greater prevalence OF the fever
arising from it. We commented last
month upon the immense growth in re-
cent years in summer pleasuring, and
this fact is one of the circumstances to
which we refer Almost everybody now
travels in the summer months or changes
his residence during that period. The
seashore, the mountains, the valleys, are
all crowded with people from the cities
and towns, and as these people are I'M
icious as those of permanent residents,
exposing themselves continually to night
air and hot suns, sickness becomes very
common among them. Every physician
in the large cities knows how many fami-
lies that have gone to spend the
summer in the country return in Septem-
Der i'll with fever. A good many cases OF
malaria that have fallen under the
writer's observation have been contract
ed in this way. The stranger in any sec
ton is naturally much more susceptible
to local influences than those who have
alweys lived there, and hence malarial
fever may very naturally appear among
strangers in places where it has scarcely
been known before. An observing coun-
tryman once said to the writer. eve
never get fever and ague, but city people
who come here are continually falling
sick with it. They are fond of
moonlight rides and moonlight
sails, and night air everybody but
city people knows IS bad for
the health'' 1t is certain that fever is
frequently contracted by town people in
country places, and it is just possible that
the apparent spread of malaria may be
largely due to this fact. A great many
people in the city of New York are suf-
fering from it, and we do not know case
of malaria IN the older part of the town
that did not have its origin in the way
we have mentioned. The other circum-
stance to which we referred is the great
ly increased use of ice water. This will
probably strike many persons at first as
simply fantastic, but there are some good
grounds for the theory. Every one is
aware of the disagreeable flavor of
ice when melted, and has de-
tected s in it the evident presence
of earthly matter. Frozen water seems
to hold particles or substances which do
not obviously affect the taste when the
water is ice cold, but which will become
apparent as soon as the temperature is
heightened. Whether this earthly matter
is unwholesome or not must depend upon
it's character, and this is exclusively
within the province of the chemist to
determine. We wish simply to suggest
the possibility that malarial poison may
Turk in ice water, in view of recent oc-
currence in England. In 1879 sanitary
commission was appointed by parliament
to inquire into the water supply in many
urban districts In England. Some
significant facts were elected by the
commission. In little village in York
shire the health of the inhabitants had
always been good, and especially free
from zymotic disease, until, owing to
failure of the water supply, the villagers
were forced so make use Of ice which had
collected on little stream on the out
skirts of the village. They melted the
ice and used for drinking purposes, and
afterward low malarial fever became
prevalent. OF course it can be said that
this was probably due to the character of
the water in the stream, and of this fact
the report does not speak. We have had
instances in this country of sickness pro-
nounced by the use of impure ice. 1t
needs, indeed, no parliamentary commits
sion to convince us that impure ice is I'M
wholesome.-Appgeton's Journal.