The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-12-05
KOCH is IN LEAD


Consul-General Mason at Frankfort
has made an interesting report TO the
State Department at Washington, in
regard to the efforts that Germany is
making under the lead of Professor /
Koch, her foremost bacteriOlogist, to
reach a clear understanding OF and
more potent mastery over malarial dis
ease, which now makes desert some of
the fairest and most fertile regions OF
the earth To this end medical officers |
are to be sent to the colonial posses
! sions of Germany They will have spe-
cial scientific training in the diagnosis,
/ treatment and prophylaxis of malarial
/ disease, and their work is intended 10
| aid in the systematic development of
Germany's colonial possessions and
foreign trade.
Besides these preparations for pro-
lIonged and systematic observation,
Professor Koch has appealed to the
Prussian ministry of medical affairs for
two further scientific expeditions Tor
1.-THE purpose of completing thoroughly
the preliminary studies which he has
made in Italy, Africa and india. Ac-
cording to the announced plan, one OF
these commissions will be limited to
three months and be assigned to the
study of malaria in Greece and Italy,
lin which countries the climatic cond1-
ltions are to some extent Influenced by
l. two hnh
he people in odd and badly constructed
cities.
The second expedition is TO occupy
two years and make an exhaustive
study of malaria at the deadliest fever
district of New Guinea, East Africa
and India.
DR.. Koch 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 a result Of these studies,
il is now declared that the malarial
fevers of Italy are Identical in cause
and general character with those OF
East Africa, and it is believed that
n science is on the eve Of a decisive vic
) tory over this whole group OF maladies
Il Inv means of liquid injections OF qulnlne
& into the pulse vein. The Importance OF
; this discovery to Italy will be evident
from the fact that of sixty-nine depart
ments into which that kingdom is
!. divided, only six are absolutely free
: from malaria, and 1900 square miles,
including some of the most fertile dis
tricts of Italy, are, like the Whole
southeastern coast of Corsica, and
- Imuch of Sardinia, practically unin-
habitable on account of material dis
ease.
Consul-General Mason says: Among
the other interesting deductions OF
Professor Koch is his freely expressed
opinion that the indiscriminate use OF
auinine as a prophylactic in malaria
countries is attended with great dan
ger. and is in many cases the indirect
cause of the pernicious 'black-water
fever. one of the most virulent forms O
malarial disease. The very genera
I, practice among persons coming IRON
temperate to tropical ATTITUDES OF satu
rating their systems with Quinine tax
- en- in irregular and often excessive
doses is vigorously condemned for two
reasons: First, because it seriousl!
weakens the action of the heart, and
a second, because the system, having be
C. come injured to the drug, fails to re
q spond to uuinine treatment in case o
CT
"The efficiency of the drug havini
been exhausted as preventive, 1t ha
no longer any important value as
remedy: and experience shows that
person debilitated by the excessive us
of quinine may take malarial fever an
die of it like any one else. Professo
Koch even goes so far as to assert tina
the increased death rate in certai
portions of West Africa, where the con
ditions of living have been greatly i'm
proved during the past ten years,
due largely to the increased and indis
criminate use Of Quinine caused by ii
greater cheapness and the ease wit
which it can now be obtained. He ais
states that on the western coast {
: Africa, where all forms Of malaria
fever are especially virulent, cases {
the intermittent type which have ri
sistea even heroic doses of QUINN
have been mastered by the use {
arsenic. It is well, however, 10 r.
D. member in this connection that ce1
tain antipathy to quinine and prefe
ence for arsenic as a remdy for certai
fevers is a marked and well-know
% regularity of the German school
to medicine, in respect to which It's opll
u ions are in sharp disagreement wit
:. those of physicians in some other coul
tries, notably the United States.
MAnnther fact noticed and mentiOns