Arizona republican., 1899-02-24
MEDICINE IN THE TROPICS.
English Government ConSiderind an
 Institute for lis Study.

The English government has under
 consideration a school of tropical
 medicine" in which our people, since
 the grabbing of Cuba, Porto Rico and
 the Philippines, have a practical in
 terest In the establishment of the
 school" it is proposed to spend for
 buildings, plants, etc., an initial sum of
 $S2,000, some 31I.500 Of which will be
 contributed by the colonial office, the annual cost of maintenance being esti-
 mated at $15,000. At the new school civilians who are graduates of existing medical schools will be instructed, first,
 iii the practical treatment of tropical diseases, with | view to developing inn proved methods of prevention and cure. Both objects are very desirable. It is
 indisputable that physicians and sur geons going to practice in hot climates should make a special study of tropi- cal diseases, in view of the fact that the ordinary courses of study-devised for temperate climates-afford made quate preparation and promise no progress in method of treatment.
 Medical science has recently assumed an aggressive attitude toward the problem of tropical diseases. A num- Der of English, German and Austrian bacteriologists and physicians have re- sided in India and Africa for the ex- press purpose Of studying cholera, bu- bonic plague, rinderpest and malarial diseases. 'Preventives or remedies, analogous to those devised for the treatment of smallpox, anthrax. diph- theria etc, will, it is believed. be ulti- mGtely found for the maladies which render a large part of the earth vir- tually uninhabitable for Europeans. Large attention has similarly been given by American and Spanish stu dents to the genesis of yellow fever. in the hope Of depriying that pesl also of it's te-Tors. To Q certain extent success has already been attain incd. Rinde-pest has been brought under control. with important results fc, the cattle inter ests of South Africa. Cholera and the plague have each teen confronted with 2 virus innoculstion which is said to afford protection and hasten recoy- cry. It seems to be definitely ascer- taiaed that the bite or the mosquito imDlants in it's victims system the poison that causes malarial diseases. i Much, hOTeyec. remains to be learned in regard 10 tropical malari9, yellow fever and the other diseases of hot eli l mates.
 Physicians nowadays, in view of '
 
 various kinds are ID longer conteat to accept tropical pests as gifts of PT0yi- ! Gonee. to be received meehy along l with the weather as inevitab bic resUl-s 1 CT the latitude. They look forward to l q time when vast regions of the globe. | new desert, or inhabited only by infer | i0r races. will afford safe homes for the 1 people Of temperate climases. Mala~- ial fevers at present render untenable wide areas of fertile soil. An effective supplementing quin;ne, will open to settlement extensive re- gions in Genital and South America, Cuba. Africa, southern Italy, the Euphrates valley. India, the East In dies. New Guinea, Tonking. etc. The productive capacity of the globe would be doubled by medical discovery that 1ealt successfully with miasmatic fe- vers alone. The proposed "school of tropical medicine is to be welcomed therefore, as a first step of a concerted movement for the solution of the most medical problem cf our day. Germany and the United States, which Jim to rival English enterprise in in- lustry and foreign commerce, and have 'ecently acquired tropical possessions. nay ultimately take part in it's sOlu lon Baltimore Sun.