Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-04-13

THE DISEASE CREEPING INTO NEW ENGLAND
PLACES FOR THE FIRST TINE.
1t Is curious to note how little seems to he
really known about such common and troIl-
blesome disorder as the old-fashioned .fever-
and-ague, called in modern phrase "the mala-
ria, though various other theories have been
developed respecting it. The Hartford Times
says: That there really is u germ" in the air
That produces this depressing and life cheapen-
ing afiiiction in so many regions IN all narfs NJ
the globe, is the firm conviction of those phvsi
clans who are the best microscopists The
germ theory seems TO include germ for the
cause OF ali the zymOtic Observation-Disclosures that
are contagious, epidemic, ETC., and produced in
the language oil DungiisOn, by 'ssome mOrhinc
prineipie acting on the system like :erment"
ldey are Claimed to be vegetable growth of a
fungoid nature, and the theory Is that during the
process, or period OF each-a period of growth
like mildew-the victim Is sufferer from y
more or less violent fever: that this neriod
varies-in typhoid 1t is assumed to be twenty
one days, In other forms of fever perhaps a
shorter term, Till the miscrOscopical funpOid
growth may be said to effioresce and shed IFS
spores. Right here appears one of the Seeming
mysteries which, however clear they may Tor
may not De 10 the professional physician are
always puzzling to a layman. In s.malariaI"
dlseases-oid fever-and-ague-these
ny spores or not artfuly killed medici-
haiiy In the nick OF tlme) will sprout up anew
onllke their method In scarlet fever, diphtheria
etc, ana nave another run-thus Keeping the
nilseraDie victim a sufeEer Tor years, it may he
through life, like the tens of thousands of mis-
cradle people who make such dismal apnear.
dhCc at Inc uOofS Oh tnelr cabins In the western
anu southern states. Why these alleged spores
OF malaria" should behave in this way While
those OF other diseases don't is one of the co,
numdruns that few, outside of ''the profession.
have ever solved.
lie disease, whatever 1t is, has been creepino
Into New England ''since the war - and annear
ing III localities where its presence never " az
known before. Since the days OF George WASH
lngton nothing seems to have been known of
IL In connecticut, for Instance, until some time
IN about The last twenty-five years. IL was moi
uhIi some years after the war that 1t began to
spread over large parts OF the sLate-movinv in
over large areas OF twenty miles, and appearing
III other and totally separated localities here
ana III Massachusetts. People nave been in
cilned In every instance TO attribute its appear
ance 10 some local cause-some defect i'm dr.iI,
age, some neIghboring pond or marsh. Inn,
the truth seems to he that its cause while
III Is no doubt IN the air, is neyertheIess
| largely generic. 1t visits the tops of the
berksLlfe hills as well as the levels of the CON,
/ necticut valley. A little pamphlet. bearing tn
| ute, The Epidemic OF Maiarial Diseases i'm
/ southwestern New England" by DIR n f:ris.
\ void, of Rocky Hill, traces the course of ,t.;,
/ disorder IN Connecticut, and in parts of Massa
/ chusetts and Rhode Island. IL was KNOW, i,
| TINS state IN the last century; but for ahou
seventy years down to the outbreak OF the ri vi
war II seems TO have been unknown in orr nov
oers. III came mostly after the war, but spreae
Itself over the state in the most leaping partial
| eccentric way. IL appeared in Spring held IL
/ 1910, when no case existed In this state dow
| the valley 10 u point below Hartford At New
| Marlboro, Mass, IL appeared in 1874 when To,
| d distance OF forty miles south IL had not ar,
/ peared. IL Is now apparently disappearing
| slowly.