The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-08
MALARIA.
An English Medical Authority Dis
cusses the Subject.

FROM the London Lancet
According to table Of admissions for
malariaI fevers furnished by the London
hospital to Sir Joseph Fayrer. and which
extends over a period of 40 years from
100 to lsS0-whereas in 17s1 out Of Isl
patients admitted into the hospital go
We're for malarial fever, in 1850, out Of a
total Of G,3l2 admissions, "a were for ma
larious fever, and in many wears the pro
portion was still smaller This is q very
good example Of the diminution Of ma
larial disease in the United Kingdom
generally since the time when We lost
kings and MOBILES from ague its. As a
contrast, however, Sir Joseph Fayrer
teaches US that in Ceylou in ten years
- @2l persons died from ague and remit
tent fever, and iu the Madras Presidency
IN one year VIZ, l~SO-tGe deaths from
these causes We're 2o99IO, increasing
during famine year Ns1J 10 4G9, 81.
The monthly mortality varied from IA $50
in June, 1880, to % 969 in January and
this appears to be greater I'M winter than
in summer, increasing apparently with
the lowering of the temperature after the
extreme heat. Europeans are thought 10
be more liable to malar.al fever
together proved, for Warning shows
by a comparison of the relative
prevalence OF fever in the European and
native troops Of the Madras army for ten
years-1S20- Is3S1that. while the per
centage Of admissions from fever was for
Europeans l2.8, for natives il was 1871,
and the mortality for Europeans was O.I2,
against p for natives. hilarious fevor
prevails extensively in tropical Africa,
but here natives do not seem to be as
liable as Europeans: in fact, negroes were
at one time held to be exempt, but Sur
geOns Parke proved that natives of West
ern and Central Africa, though they
might be acclimated at home, if they re
moved TO another part of the country lost
this immunity and were as liable to con
tract malarial fevers rs Europeans
Therefore it will be seen that race does
not Insure protection.
The close connection of malaria with
soil is shown in various ways. If the
suns rays are prevented from reaching
the soil by the interposition of paving, as
has been done In many parts Of the city
OF Rome. malaria ceases, and if a marsh
be flooded from the sea, and thus a LAYER
Of salt covers the soil, malarious in
tuences disappear On the other hand,
IL Is promoted by the rapid drying up of
marshes, beds Of rivers and streams. and
especially by the breaking up of such
soil, when fresh surfaces are exposed to
the suns influence. According TO Parze,
the special soils which appear to promote
malaria are the following. % AlluvIai
soils, old cstuaries aud dcltas; (2) sands,
If there be impormeable clay or marty
subsoil ana Old watercourses %
the lower parts Of chalk, if there be
subsoil OF clay or Rault; a. wealth
cred granite trap rocks. If vegetable
matter has become intermixed and ~
rich vegetable soils at the foot of hills.
Sir Joseph tayrer holds that subsOil
ton asN1
or malaria, and especially If the subsOil
be impregnated with certain amount of
staEnant moisture, and this is probabIy~
present in many of those localities in
which the appearance of malaria is so
dihiCult of explanation. Malaria appears
to be at its worst in the drying-up season
after rains, hut during the rains 1t is less
severe. While turning up new soil gen
orally increases the danger of malaria,
draining and cropping the same soil fter-
ward diminish it. In the south Of t.uropet
deltas of rivers and iow-lying DISTRICTS
with certain amount OF narsA4
are the common foei of maisria@
Altitude exercises some protecting
influence, and in South Italy, in the
maarious districts, the villages are buiit
on the hills for this reason; but it has
been shown that wind may carry the ma
larial poison up to the sides of mountains
and, indeed, over their tops Surgeon
Parkes mentioned having met With itin
equatorial Africa on dry plain lQ, 900
feet in hight, so that elevation mustsnot
be reckoned on as giving complete protec-
ton. There seems to be some relation TO
rainfall, as in tropical countries il ap-
pears to prevail in districts withfa large
rainfall, as in the Indian TarassE d1ooly
on account OF the constantssRsasaa of
subsoil water. Fe-g see
The cause Of malaria is now held by
competent authorities to be a .protozoon
or vegetable micro orPa nism. inha biting
the blood of man and of some OF the lower
animals. 1t was discovered by Laveran