The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-08-30
MEDICALG GEOGRAPHY
The LOCAL LIMITATIONS OF Dis
EASES SHOWN ON THE MAP.
areas Fatal to Health That Can De Clear
~ and Permanently Indicated-PecuI-
iarities OF Consumption and Cancer In
Great Britain.


~ ana Permanently -PecuI- |
iarities of Consumption and Cancer In
Great Britain.
IL Is common knowledge that diseases
have as rule their local habitations.
Some, like tropical animals and plants,
live only In the tropics; some, like con.
sumption, are gradually spreading over
the whole earth; others, like leprosy and
smallpox, are gradually becoming limited
In their distribution, and may actually be
tending toward extinction. Again there
are regions TO which diseases have never
reached. On the SUBMITS of high noun
tain ranges and in the circumpoar snow
fields the earth and air and water are as
barren of the microbes of disease as they
are of animal life. Without question, II
Nansen and his companion had been ex-
posed to the same hardships and the same
unsanitary conditions in these islands, the
lowered vitality of their bodies certainly
would have been unable to resist the con-
dnual bombardment of germs to which
we all are subjected.
In country like Britain, thickly popu-
lated for many centuries and with the
freest circulation of population, it cannot
be doubted that every yard of surface con-
tains the germs Of the more common dis
eases, and the native Of some newer land,
brought over here, falls a victim to our
plague stricken soil. BY generations of a
destructive elimination we have become
highly resistant to our native diseases,
just as the Gold Coast natives are less sus-
ceptible than we arc to their own local dis
eases. But we are not fully protected, and
cancer and consumption, two OF our COM
mon scourges, still take large annual
toll. 1t may be assumed that both are due
to micro organisms, the microbe of con-
sumption being we'll known, that of can
Ger being as yet only suspected Probably
no inhabitant of Britain escapes infection
by tho cancer organism; certainly none
escapes infection by the microbe of tuber-
Gle Most of us, fortunately, resist the In
truders and are unaffected by the disease.
A strikingly interesting result becomes
plain when the incidence of fatal cases Is
plotted out on a map. The usual method
Is to color the districts with different
shades according to their rates of mortal
ity. Blue is chosen for high mortalities,
red for low mortaltes, the deepest blue
| showing the highest and the deepest red
| the lowest rate. When two maps colored
| in this way for cancer and consumption
are compared, 1t is at once evident that
| the incidence of the diseases Is not capri
| cious. The shades do not form a meaning
less patchwork, but show at the first glance
strkingly regular distribution. The one
map forms almost exactly a complement
of the other. The deep blue of cancer high
mortality comedies with the deep red of
consumption low mortality. Where the
consumption mortality is highest that
| from cancer is lowest, and, on the whole,
| there Is similar inverse correspondence
between intermediate rates of mortality.
| When the mortality maps arc compared
with good physical map, 1t may be seen
that the structural features of the country
are In direct relation to the death rates.
The deep blue of cancer high mortality
prevails in low lying, we'll protected river
valleys, where fully formed rivers flow
down to the sea between low banks, cut
ting their way through beds of clay and
recent alluyial soil. In fact, where sea
sonal floods are frequent and strong sea
winds rarely flush out the protected val
legs, there cancer prevails and finds Its
latest harvest. I he lower courses of the
greater rivers from the Tweed TO the
Thames and from the Stour to the lamar,
the rivers of north Devon, the Severn and
Dee, are all thckly set with the blue can
Ger patches. On the other hand, the low
est mortality groups occur on high up
land downs, along the watersheds, and
especialy where ridges of limestone rocs
rear themselves above the surrounding
country. In the sheltered valleys where
, cancer prevails, Notwithstanding the
dampness and periodical flooding, the very
lowest mortality rates from consumption
occur.
Although the contrast between con
, sumption and cancer Is too striking to bt
purely coincidence, it cannot be SAID tha'
, enough is known to explain 1t by ultimate
, causes. The therapeutic value OF exposure
, TO constant supplies of pure air is evident
enough in all diseases that affect the gen
|, eral vitality of the body 1t is more thaI
probable that the low cancer mortality IL
all exposed districts Is due partly TO th'
better hygienic conditions that prevail IL
them. The pulse Of life beats more slow
". and every bodily and mental activity
is feebler on the sodden soil OF the dull
valleys where cancer rules. But we do no.
know how cancer gets from patient TO pa
tl6DU nor III lJS VI Ruhioi he'o -
" parasitic on the bodies OF animals M
doubt all tho microbes of disease were a
one time harmless vegetables living al
idyllic life in the mud. Some OF then
are still able to maintain an existence OUT
side the bodies of their victims, and TN
relation of cancer to clay soils and noode'
districts suggests that 1t may not yet nav
reached a purely parasitic stage otne
and more specialized microbes apparentl.
have lost their primitive capacity TO i've
free life, and their specialization Is pre-
pairing the way for their extinction II IN
microbes die unless they reach quickly an
other living host, isolation OF iniec.e'
cases, carried out thoroughly VIII ui''
,, mately rid us of their existence.
The prevalence of consumption IN W
otherwise healthiest districts Is an acciuen
, of our contaminated land On loftyAlpin
SUBMITS, or where the sea winds s"ee
across the decks of ocean vessels OF Cd IN
desert wind blown sierras, people afe no
struck down with consumption ana eve
those already affected, unless they ~
nearly at deaths door, find new h'lltn
n l..W.a n