Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1897-09-04
MEDFCALGE0GRAPHY
The LOCAL t4ABlTATIONS or DIS
EASES SHOWN ON THE MAP.

EASES SHOWN ON THE MAP.
Areas Fatal to Health That Can BE Clear
~ and Permanently Indicated Pecul-
iarities Of Consumption and Cancer In
Great Britain.
It is common knowledge that diseases
haYo as rulo 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 circumpolar snow
fields the earth and air and water are as
karen of the microbes of disease as they
are Of animal life Without question, Ii
NanseE 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-
tinual 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
cases, and the native of some newer land,
brought over here, falls a victim TO our
plague stricken soil. BY generations of
destructive elimination we have become
highly resistant to our native diseases,
just as the Gold Coast natives are less sus-
cepiible than we arc to their own local dis
eases. But we are not fully protected, and
cancer and consumption, two of our COM
mon seourges, still take large annual
toll 1t may be assumed that both are due
to micro organisms, the microbe of con-
sumption being well 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 10 color the districts with different
shades according to their rates Of mortal
ity. Blue is chosen for high mortalities,
red for low mortalities, 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, it is Mt once evident that
the incidence of the diseases is not capri
cious. The shades do not form meaning.
less patchwork, but show at the first glance
q strikingly regular distribution. The one
map forms almost exactly 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 are compared
with good physical map, it may be seen
that the structural features of the country
arc 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 Yivors flow
down TO the sea between low banks, cut
ting their way through beds of clay and
recent allQYial soil. In fact, where sea-
sonal floods are frequent and strong sea
winds rarely 1ush out the protected val
leys, there cancer prevails and finds its
fattest harvest. The 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 thickly 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
especially where ridges Of limestone rock
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 be
purely coincidence, it cannot be said that
enough is known to explain it by ultimate
causes. The therapeutic value Of exposure
10 constant supplies of pure air is evident
enough in all diseases that affect the gen
eral vitality of the body. 1t is more than
probable that the low cancer mortality in
all exposed districts is due partly to the
better hygienic conditions that prevail in
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 not
ALOW AON UduCGF GCtS lEUL1 lIllSDG 10 pa
tent nor if its organism has become pure
ly parasitic on the bodies Of animals. No
doubt all the microbes Of disease were at
one time harmless vegetables living an
idyllic life. in the mud. Some of them
are still able to maintain an existence out
side the bodies of their victims, and the
relation Of cancer to clay soils and flooded
districts suggests that it may not yet have
oh
and more specialized microbes apparently
have lost their primitive capacity to live a
free life, and their specialization is pre-
pairing the way for their extinction If the
microbes die unless they reach quickly an
other living host, isolation Of infected
cases, carried out thoroughly, will ulti-
mately rid us Of their existence.
The prevalence of consumption in the
otherwise healthiest districts is an accident
Of our contaminated land. On loftyAlpine
SUBMITS, or where the sea winds sweep
across the decks of ocean vessels, or on the
desert wind blown sierras, people are not
struck down with consumption, and even
those already affected, unless they are
nearly at deaths door, find new health IN
the keen air. But our own land is full of
the plague. The winds, elsewhere healing,
bring with them new seeds of disease. The
slightest chill or the tickling of delicate
lung with salt air prepares the way for
the omnipresent parasite. Colds that
would vanish in night in healthy land
become fatal here, and those with a consti-
tuition unadapted to resist the microbe fall
victims to an exposure that in itself is in
nocuous or oven beneficial London Sat
urday Review.
A Writer'S Emotions.