The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-11-24

MALARIA AND ITS CAUSES.
Two Scientific Expeditions to study
the subject.
New York Times


Inc consular report of Consul General
Frank II. Mason, under date Frankfort,
Germany, October II, lsas. calls further at
tention 70 the fact that the German Colo
MAI Society. one OF the most important Of
several permanent associations at Berlin
which are devoted in one way or another
manys colonial possessions and the for
eign trade Of the empire. has taken up
WITH great energy the suggestions Of Pref.
Koch as TO the necessity Of more effective
measures for studying and mastering the
malarial diseases which now so seriously
restrict the settlement and impair. the
East, Which have been acquired and MAIN
tanned at such cost of effort and outlay.
IN ADDITION nht.s to a special course Of study
winch Prof: Koch is the technical head,
and for prolonged and systematic observa-
tons two scientific expeditions have been
suggested 10 the PruSSian minister of med
ical affairs. 10 be organized and conducted
under Prof. koch's personal direction. One,
extending over period of three months
VIII; 1t. is purposed. be assigned TO the
study OF malaria in Greece and Italy. Says
the report:
The second expedition is to occupy two
malaria at the desdliest fever districts Of
New Guinea. East Africa and India. The
keen interest manifested in the whole sub
ject by the PruSsian minister and imperial
foreign office. and the wide attention that
has been attracted by Prof kochs reports
OF his preliminary studies Of malaria IN
tropical countries, encourage the belief that
both the proposed expeditions VIII be au-
thoriZed and their respective missions car
ried out in accordance with DIR. koch's
specifications.
He has recently left Rome. after six
weeks OF study in the hospitals where are
treated cases of Roman and Campagna
fevers, and in which he has been aided by
the foremost specialists of Italy. As re-
suit Of these studies. i is now declared that
cause and general character with those of
East Africa, and IL is believed that science
is on the eve of a decisive victory over this
whole group of maladies by means Of liquid
injections Of Quinine into the pulse vein.
The importance Of this discovery TO Italy
viii be evident from the fact that OF the
sixty--n.ne Departments into which the
kingdom is divided, only six are absolutely
free from malaria, and l.200 square miles.
including some of the most fertile districts
of Italy. are. like the whole southeastern
coast of Corsica and much of Sardinia,
practically. uninhabitab.e on account OF
maar.al disease.
Among the other interesting deductions
Of Prof. Koch is his freely expressed opin-
ion that the iAdiscrrnirate use OF quinine
az a prophylac..c in maiarisl countries Is
attended with great danger and IS in many
cases the indirect cause Of the pernicious
''black-water" fever one of the most vir-
ulent forms OF malarial disease. The very
general practice among persons coming
from temperate to tropical ATTITUDES of sat-
urating their systems with quinine, taken
in regular and often excessive doses. IS Wig
orousy condemned for TWO reasons; first.
the heart and second. because The system,
having become Injured to the drug fai 6 10
respond to quinine treatment In case of dc
tual sickness. The efficiency of the drug
having been exhausted as a preventive Il
has no longer any important value
remedy; and experience shows that a per-
son debtated by The excessive use of 0ui-
nine may take malarial fever and die 0r II
like any one else. Prof. Koch even goes so
far as 10 assert that the Increased Il ath
rate in certain portions OF West Africa.
where the conditions of living have been
greatly improved during the past ten years.
is due largely 70 the increased and ind.s-
crmiuate use If quinine caused by its
greater cheapness and the ease with which
on the western coast Of Africa. where all
forms Of Tnalarial fever are especially viru-
lent cases OF the intermittent tyne which
have resisted even heroic doses Of quin
have been mastered; by the Use Of aTs ME
I. is well. however, to remember. in this
connection that a certain antpathy to qui-
nine and n preference for arsenic as rem
well known popularity Of the German
school Of medicine, In respect 10 which It's
opinions are In sharp disagreement with
those of physicians in some other countries.
notably the United States.
Another fact noticed and mentioned by
Prof Koch during his studies IN Africa and
India is that women withstand exposure 10
malsrial climates far better than ms
During the appalling mortality on the Gold
Coast within the pas four years says the
report there was hardly death among the
women living out there, while every KIDD
Of mar was dying-men new 10 the tropics.
men born in them. men who had been ac~
custorned 20 them for years, even men who
had hattied with the raVageS or " est Area
rd- : ~ ran Va