The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1900-05-21
Bill Hrp'S Lefter
r,v-,,,en for The Weekly CONSTITUTE on)

blIr 4
tors attach too much inportahce 10
gerrn theory They are trying to cure
all sorts of diseases by exteriiiiie
germs. microbes bacteria and other iiis
ible infusoria. Maybe they were no.
tended to be exterminated but are par
of the economy of nature 1neIe 80
bolts In a horses stomach anu "oi
in a cows back and feas on 80,
some useful purpose ana IL may art
these invisible germs are a heces9aS 81
of our organism. We eat them az 80
and drink them in water ana Vi
them in the air, but still reckon INC
are a poisonous, infectious KIM iilal
produce disease and pestilehce' -
eliminating about this from haVihg
in London paper an account oi ,+tsh
pertinent now being made by the DIS
Medical Society to discover the true Gauss
of malaria in the PoEtine marshes nc
for centuries has proved SLOW anu -
tain death to the poor peasantry VIZ
work there and have to work there
making a living. These CampdShe
marshes lie adjacent to Rome ana cove
a territory twenty-five miles long anu Ten
miles Wide and are wonderfully pioo.
tive, giving three crops year, put lIo
malaria soon pales and sickens the slTohS
est men, and they have to stop their worn
and go to the hills to die. To discover
and remove the cause has been the prop
lem of The ages. Three hundred years
before Christ these marshes were sohd
land and the Appian way was Duit upon
it. Slowly and surely the water en-
croached upon the land and submerged
it, destroying the Appian way, the aque-
ducts and arches. Julius Caesar ana Au-
gustus Caesar spent immense sums 10
drain them. but without avail They were
finally given up to the laDor of the slaves
and PIiny tells of one man, CeciluS
Claudius, who owned 4,1i6 of them, all
males, who worked there and were not al
lowed TO marry. Their cruel fate was 10
work out brief life and die About 10
years ago Pope Plus vi made another ef-
fort to drain the marshes but failed. and
since then all efforts and ali hope has
been abandoned.
But now a new theory comes up before
the scientific school OF medicine and has
agitated the medical savaEts ali over tho
world. 1t is claimed that mGlarial eli
mate does not produce mosquitoes but
that mosquitoes produce malaria, and 1t
is their bites or stingS and suction OF the
blood of the peasantry and thereby inoc-
| ulating them with poison and producing
malaria that eventually wastes the lie
. away. This theory has found many
strong advocates in London and Paris
and Berlin. and row they are preparing
to prove it, The English government Is
having a wire gauze Rouse built, and II IS
to be placed in the middle of the Pontine
marshes. and two English physicians have
volunteered to live in it for year or
more and test the effect of the climate
secure from the mosquito. Just think OF
that, Living in wire gauZe house right
in the midst of the most noxiOIs MAS
matte climate in the worli. and all for the
sake of science and humanity If they
prove their theory then they viii cease
TO use cuinine for the malaria but build
wire houses and wear wire cOwls or hoods
over their heads and faces and fence out
the mosquitoes and turn their next atten-
ton to exterminating them. They say IL
is a big thing, fin lcially, for there are
two million acres in those marshes and
VIII be worth if they succeed a thousand
dollars an acre. and that makes two thou
sand million dollars for Rome and the
pope.
But still ] am dubious / don't believe
the mosquito introduces malaria into the
human system His prOboscis draws out
blood but puts precious little in. The
germ theO Y has become a scientific fad
and has not Yet been proven. The doe
tors all went mad about Pasteur and his
inoculating Win Us. but that has subsidized
ana we never hear of it now. Folks are
too ready to believe any new thing. APP
pendicitis raised mighty rumpus for
a while and every sick imagined he
had it. and il must De cut OF, out the
disease Is now doubted and the use of the
knife almost abandoned. Just so folks
take up with ew doctrines OF politics and
religion DIR. Vance, OF Nashville, said
not long ago that il a shrewd. smart man
with lively tongue was to declare that
ii was necessary for salvation that man
should jump off the roof OF house onto
the pavement he would find followers
who would he jumping all over the coun-
try breaking their arms and legs and
necks this road to heaven. What
upon earth these Mormon elders and pros
elyters expect to accomplish IS a mystery
to me, and 1 am amazed that any person
with common sense can be fooled by
them. They ought TO be scourg-
ed out Of this country They
break up TIE peace OF some
families ana give nothing in exchange but
a spurious. contemplate religion that is
al insult to our Maker and the Christian
religion. They are religious tramps and
rejoice Then hear OF the peop.e driv-
ing them out of the settlement with whips
ami stones and thicsh poles. I've been
knowing and wato hing these Mosmons for
fifty years and never knew any good OF
them. l don't care anything about their
faith or the look of Mormon that that old
fraud. Joe Smith, pretended he found un-
der a stone. but / want them TO keep out
OF this country and let our ignorant and
Creduious folks alone.
Speaking of germs. a philosophic friend
writes that the doctors have now located
them in the car cushions and church
pews, the seats in the theater The air in
cbwded assemblies aud even the -oor
school teachers with consumptive chests
have been excluded from the schoolroonns
ease into the pupils He says that every
thing is imDregnated with bacteria save
money. In an old dollar bill we find all
the fragrance and all the fetcr OF crea-
ton. We accept it from the lady's stock
ing or the sewer cleaners nasty pocket
from the Sachet of the belle and the
gan licky ella rs of the unwashed Dago III
is never refused. II has been through
every phase of naStiness and when W.,
take 1t from some foul, filthy rancid
wretch rocking with deadly bacteria do
We pause to think OF the danger? Never.
it is Mamn.on- Give US more The r-ar,,
doctor will take 1t from a filthy lepar's
hand or from a dirty Italian in helrs
kitchen. This dollar has been in the aroer-
sellers NANCY pocket and at the race
course and tha bawdy mouse but it is an
right-it is money.
But the last phase of the fight Is he
tween mosquitoes and masma i'm r.
Pontine marsheS-Which IS cause .n1
which the effect and I'll wager my dnIIar
that those IwO doctors '. i'll die within t,yo
years. THE pestiience that walketh In
darkness is not a mosquito. They arc =
nuisance, an aftiiction, and so are o.