Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-08-09
FACTS ABOUT mALAalA.
Its Close Relation to Certain Conditions Of
the SoF1-


Its Close Relation TO Certain Conditions OF
the Soil.
According to table OF admissions
for malaria1 fevers furnished by the
London hospital to Sir Joseph Fayrer,
and which extend over period OF 10
years-from 177O to 1SS0-whereas in
1871 out of l,7S1 patients admitted into
the hospital 60 were for malarial fever:
in 1880, out of total of 6,31s admis-
sions, Ii were for malarious fever, and
IN many years the proportion was still
smaller This is a very good example
OF the diminution Of malarial disease
in the United Kingdom generally since
the time when we lost kings and mobiles
from ague fits As contrast, how
ever. Sir Joseph Fayrer teaches us that
in Ceylon in ten years %, S21 persons
died from ague and remittent fever,
and in the Madras presidency in one
year-viz.. 1SS0-the deaths from these
causes Were s09. $40, increasing during
famine year (ls77l to 469, e4f. The
monthly mortality varied from II, $50
in June, 1850, to %, 800 in January, and
this appears to be greater in winter
than in summer, increasing apparently
with the lowering of the temperature
after the extreme heat Europeans are
thought to be more liable to malarial
fever than natives; but this is not alto
gether proved, for Waring shows by q
comparison of the relative prevalence
of fever in the European and ma
tive troops of the Madras army for
| ten 29-1s3S-that, while the
percentage of admissions from
fever was for Europeans 12-s,
for natives it was 1917, and the mortal
| ity for Europeans was ole, against O-s4
for natives. MalariouS fever 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 Surgeon
| ParlSe proved that natives of central
and western Africa, though they might
be acclimatized at home, if they re-
moved to another part of the country
/ lost this immunity and were as liable
to contract malarial fevers as Europe
ans. 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 is flooded from the sea and thus
a layer of salt covers the soil. malari-e
GUS influences disappear. Onsthe other
hand, it is promoted by the rapid dry
/ ing 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. Ac-
! cording to Parke, the special soils
which appear to promote malaria are
/ the following; % alluvial soils, old
estuaries and deltas; ~ sands, if there
be impermeable clay or marshy subsoil,
and old watercourses; 81 the clover
parts of chalk, if there be subsQil of
clay or gault; a. weathered granite
| trap rocks, if vegetable matter has be-
come intermixed; (5) rich vegetablessoils
at the foot of hills. Sir Joseph
Fayrer holds that subsoil water or
damp is the essential condition of ma
laria, and especially if the subsoil be
| impregnated with certain amount of
stagnant moisture. and this is probably
present in many of those localities in
which the appearance of malaria is so
difficult of explanation. Malaria ap-
pears to be at its worst in the drying
up season after rains, but during the
rains it is less severe. While turning
up new soil generally increases the
| danger of malaria. draining and crop
ping the same soil afterward dimin-
| iSheS it. In the south of Europe deltaS
of rivers and 1ow-lying districts with a
certain amount of marsh are the com
mon foci of malaria. Altitude eXer-
cises some protecting influence, and i'm
south Italy, in the malarious districts,
the villages are built on the hills for
this reason; but it has been shown that
wind may carry the malaria1 poison up
| to the sides of mountains and, indeed,
over their tops. Surgeon Parke men
toned having met with it in equatorial
Africa on a dry plain 10000 feet in
height, SO that elevation must not be
reckoned on as giving complete protec-
ton. There seemed to be some relation
to rainfall, as in tropical countries it
appears to prevail in districts with a
large rainfall, as in the Indian Terai,
possibly on account of the constant
presence of subsoil water.
The cause of malaria is now held by
competent authorities to be a protO-
zoon or vegetable micro-organism in
habiting the blood of man and some of
the lower animals. 1t was discovered
by Laveran in 1880 in human blood at
Algiers.-London Lancet.