Daily camera., 1898-08-06
HEALTH IN TROPICS.
Northerners May Be Made as Safe
There as at Home.
A Question That the War with Spain
Has Brought to the Front
Tropical Colonization OF
White Races.

The question of the white mans
ability to conquer the tropics and to
make for himself permanent home
in those delightful regions is one that
has hitherto possessed a purely aca-
demic interest for physicians in this
| country but the fortunes of war and
projects of annexation are making it
probable that this will soon be
changed. Puerto Rico, the Sandwich
islands and the Philippines are all
tropical islands, and if they, one and
all, come under our flag, doubtless
many of our citizens will go thither to
seek their fortunes, and the question
of acclinlatization will at once become
a most practical one.
We find in the British Medical Jour
nal of April 30 an interesting account
of what is therefore for us most time
ly discussion on this topic. The dis
cussion took place in the rooms of the
Royal Geographical society, in the
presence of many of the best-known
authorities on tropical pathology.
Most of those taking part in the de-
bate held that there is no reason what
ever why the white man should not be
able to adapt himself to the new con-
ditions of life in the tropics and pro-
tect himself against the diseases that
prevail in those regions. The popular
belief that the white man cannot sue
cessfully colonize the tropics is dis
proved by the fact that he has done so.
1t is undoubtedly true that many
northerners who go to equatorial re-
gions contract disease there and die,
but in the majority of such cases the
man is the victim of his obstinate un-
willingness to change his habits in re-
spect to eating, drinking and clothing
and to conform his mode of life to the
new conditions.
The chief diseases, both acute and
chronic, of tropical countries-those
which formerly caused such ravages
among the white settlers and gave rise
to the prevalent theory that Euro
peans could live only in the temperate
zone-are all microbic in origin and
consequently preventable in great
measure. We cannot, of course, eX-
pect to see them absolutely wiped out
of existence, at least this side of the
sanitary millennium, but their sting,
like that of smallpox, can be extracted
by means of an improved public and
private hygiene and other prophylac-
tic measures. A comparison of the
healthfulness Of the West India islands
under enlightened British rule with
that of the two until recently under
Spanish misrule shows what can be
done by sanitation to convert pest
hole into a paradise. Indeed, as DR..
L. Sambon, in opening the discussion
above referred to, well said, santa
tion has within the last two decades
wrought wonderful changes in all
tropical countries, as regards health
conditions, and the changes have been
so great in some places that regions
which were once considered most
deadly are now even recommended as
health resorts.
DR.. Patrick Manson, than whom
there is no greater authority on the
pathology of equatorial regions, be-
gan his remarks with the confession
that in former years, under the influ-
ence of early teaching, he shared in
the pessimistic opinions then current
about tropical colonization by the
white race. In recent years, however,
his views on this subject had under
gone complete revolution-a revo-
luton that began with the establish
ment of the germ theory of disease.
He now firmly believed in the posi-
bility of tropical colonization by the
white races. Heat and moisture, he
contendcd, were not in themselves the
direct cause of any important tropical
disease. The direct cause of SO per
cent. of these diseases are germs.
When these germs and their habits are
known fully, victory will be within
mans grasp. Most micro-parasites
when they are once within the body
are fairly safe. But these same para
sites, in order that their respective
species may keep in existence by
spreading from one host to another,
must at some time or another leave
the human body, and during this nee
essary extra corporeal state they are
eminently vulnerable. To kill them is
simply a matter of knowledge and the
application of this knowledge that is
to say, sanitary science and santa
tion.-Journal of the Military Service
Institution.