The daily gazette., 1881-08-22
Causes Of Summer Fevers.

C0W90b Oh summer fev0fBs
Admitting that the origin Of malaria
cannot be accurately determined, there
are two circumstances In recent phases
OF our social life that may In part &C.
count for the greater prevalence of the
fever arising from 1t. We commented
last month upon the immenset growth
in recent years of 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 sea shore, the mountains, the valleys,
are all crowded with people from the
cities and towns; and, as these people
are nnacclimated. as their habits are not
so judIcious as those Of permanent resi-
dents, exposing themselves continuously
to night air and hot suns, sickness be-
comes very common among them. Every
physician In the l'rge cities knows how
many families that have gone to spend
the Summer In the country return in
September i'll with fever. A great many
cases of malaria that have fallen under
the writer's observation have been con-
tracted in this way. The stranger In
hAy bCCtAOu 10 HAUL huCu uuOT6 buo-
ceptible to local influences than those
who have always lived there, and hence
malarialfever may very naturally appear
among strangers In places where 1t has
scarcely been known before. An OBJ
serving countryman once said to the
writer: ave never get fever and ague,
but city people who come here are con-
tinually 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 con-
tracted by town people 10 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 suffering from 1t,
aud we do not know q case OF malaria
occurring in the older part of the town
that did not have it's origin In the way
we have mentioned. The other circum-
stance to which we referred is the greatly
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 favor of ice
when melted, and has detected 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 become apparent as soon as the
temperature is heightened. Whether
this earthly matter 10 unwholesome or
not must depend upon its character; and
this Is exclusively within The province
of the chemist to determine. We wish
simply to suggest the possibility that
malarial poison may lurk In ice-water,
in view Of recent occurrence IN Eng
land. In 1879 sanitary commission
was appointed by Parliament in inquire
into the water-supply In many urban
districts in England. Some significant
facts were ELECTED by the commission.
In little village in Yorkshire the
health Of the Inhabitants had always
been good, and especially free from
zymotic disease, until, owing to fall
ure Of the water-supply, the villagers
were forced to make use of the ice which
had collected on little stream on the
outskirts of the village. They melted
the ice and used IL for drinking purposes,
and shortly afterward low malarial
fever become 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 produced by the
use Of impure ice; 1t needs indeed NO
Parliamentary commission to convince
us that impure ice is unwholesome.-
Appletons' Magazine.