Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1886-12-17
THE MOVEMENTS OF MALARIA.
Tho Disease Creeping Into Many New

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Tho Disease Creeping Into Many New
England Places for the First Time.
That there is really agerm" in the air,
that produces this depressing and life
cheapening affiiction in SO many regions,
in all parts of the globe, is the firm con-
yiction of those physicians who are the
best microscopists. The germ theory
seems to include germ for the cause OF
all the zymotic diseases-diseases that are
contagious, epidemic, etc., and produced
in the language of Dunglison, by some
morbid principle acting on the system ike
a ferment." They are claimed to be veg
etable growth, of fungo;d nature, and
the theory is that during the process, or
period of each-a period of growth. like
mildew, the victim is a sufferer from
more or less violent fever; that this pc
riod varies-in typhoid it Is assumed to be
twenty-one days, in other forms of fever
perhaps a shorter term, till the microscop-
ical fungoid growth may be said to eff
iioresee and shed its spores.
Right here appears one of the seeming
mysteries which, however clear they may
(or may not) be to the professional phys
ician, are always puzZling to the layman.
In"malarial" diseases fashioned fever
and ague-these hypothetical spores (if
not artfulIy killed incidentally in the nick
of time) will sprout up anew, unlike their
method in scarlet fever, diphtheria, ETC.,
and have another run-thus keeping the
miserable victim a sufferer for years, it
may be through life, like the ten thou
sands of miserable people who make such
dismal appearance at the doors of their
cabins in the western and southern states.
Why these alleged spores of amalaria"
should behave in this way, while those Of
other diseases don't, is one of the conun-
drums that few outside of "the profess
sion" have ever solved.
The disease, whatever it is, has been
creeping into New England "since the
war;" and appearing in localities where
its presence never was known before.
Since the days of George Washington
nothing seems to have been known of it
in Connecticut, for instance, until some
time in about the last twenty-fiy years.
1t was not until some years after the war
that it began to spread over large parts of
the state-moving in sporadic and highly
eccentric way; leaping over large areas OF
twenty miles, and appearing in other and
totally separated localities, here and in
Massachusetts. People have been In
clined in every instance to attribute its
appearance to some local cause-Some de-
feet in drainage, some neighboring pond
or marsh; but the truth seems to be that
its cause, while it is no coubt in the air, is
nevertheless largely generic. 1t visits the
tops of the Berkshire hills as well as the
levels of the Connecticut valley. A little
pamphlet bearing the title, "The Epidemic
of Malarial Diseases in Southwestern New
England by DR.. II. Griswold, traces the
in parts of Massachusetts and Rhode
Island. 1t was known in this state in the
last century; but for about seventy years
down to the outbreak Of the
civil war it seems to have been
unknown in our borders. It came,
mostly after the war, but spread
itself over the state in the most leaping,
| partial, eccentric way.-Hartford Times.
Jefferson Davis and His Father-in-Iaw.
e'drs. Clement c. Clay, Of Alabama,
whose husband shared Mr.. Davis i'm
! prisonment after the civil war, and who
| is one of the most remarkable women the
| south ever produced, gave me the sequel
| of this elopement scrape. Gen. Taylor
never forgave either Davis or his daughter
until the night after Davis led the famous
charge of his regiment of Mississippi rife
1lSL t1O DuCud ' 1Std. ADOuO dll
orderly presented himself at Col. Davis
tent and announced that Gen. Taylor
wished to see him at headquarters imme-
diately. The two men had never spoken
since the one had stolen the daughter of
| the other Davis knew the passionate
temper of the old man, and instantly con-
| jectured that the sudden and peremptory
summons boded no good to him. In deep
anxiety he hurried to the generals tent,
entered the door, and saluted without
speaking or moving step inside. The
door was closed in a moment, and old
Rough and Ready with his arms out
stretched, rushed forward and embraced
his long-ignored son-in-law, exclaiming,
by -, my daughter knew you better
than did. Forgive me! Forgive mep
THE reconciliation so dramatically
brought about was a lasting one, and to
the day of Old Zach's death, sixteen
months and four days after his inaugural
ton as president of the United States, he
and Mr.. Davis were friends. Col. Pat
Donan in New York Sun