The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-06-12
Mosaulror. Axn mAAA.....
Experiments Proving the Latter Il
BE CAused hy Eormer.


Experiments Proving the Latter to
Be Caused by Former.
A fortnight ago we published In thcgs
columns something about the results al
which several bacteriologists. represent.
Ing the Liverpool (England) School OF
Tropical Medicine. had arrived with re-
spect to the propagation of malarial
fevers. We saw then that the bacteriol-
ogists had made a study for several years
of the subject of malaria. being commits
stoned to that effect by the British colo
NAL off1ce with a view to rendering habit
able hundreds of thousands of square
miles of territory now uninhabitable in
South Africa and India, owing to the
prevalence of malaria there. We saw fur
ther that the bacteriologists of the School
of Tropical Medicine had arrived at the
indisputable conclusion that malaria is
not caused either by bad air. or bad
water" although both bald air and had
water are In abundance where malaria
prevails; but that it is propagated by
certain species of mosquito. of whose
habits they speak thus:
''The particular mosquito concerned IL
OF the species known to naturalists
'anopheles,' and the evidence of the
crime 10 complete. He, or rather she. for
tho ladies OF the families are the sole
glands that secrete the poison which she
intects into her bites. female may bt
Matched from captured larva, and fed
for the first time by being permitted to
bite a man suffering from fever. She will
swallow one or more of the parasites,
or their spores. as part of her meal. and,
II kept in confinement. their life within
her body may be observed. They ulti-
mately find their way from her stomach
to her salivary glands and from these
are injected. with tho poison, into the
blood of the next victim whom she may
select or may bc furnished with. The
process can be watched from beginning
to end. and 1t constitutes a chain of NOR
bid action of the most interesting and
curious character. which, at the same
time. completely clears up the whole
question of the nature and causation OF
the fever"
The most interesting part of the labors
of these bacterioloRtsts Is yet to come
and will be watched with exceeding in
terest They are about to prove in a
practical way that 1t is the mosquitoes
that malaria owes Its propagation. Two
of the meteorological doctors OF the
Tropical School of Medicine, Drs. Sambon
and Low, neither of whom have ever
suffered in any way with malaria, have
volunteered to pass the entire summer
in hut in the Roman Campasna, which
with its virulent malaria is recognized as
being one of the deadliest spots on the
face of the earth during the hot season.
The Campasna, as most of our readers
know, is a few miles out from the Eter-
nal City, between 1t and Tivoli; Tivon
being the modern name of the ancient
Thur on whose beauty and pleasEnys
Horace never tired of expatiatiny
Dr hpp Iy,r
experiment, wherein in conjunction with
DR.. Low he is about to engage. is enter
esting. Acting on the theory that the
disease Is due solely to mosquito bite
says the DOCTOR we must that we
are not bitten. so, during every night.
the chief time OF attack. we seal ourselves
up in our mosquito proof house. In the
daytime we shall. of course, pursue our
work in tho open air. the chances of be-
Ing bitten by this special species Of mos
quito in the daytime being small. Our
contract with tho colonial odice Is to live
there. not to get bitten. II We do no. get
the fever 1t will be proof positive that
our theory is correct. On the other hand.
II we do get the malaria, 1t will not
prove the contrary. but will merely be
evidence that we have been bitten. Our
house is specially constructed wooden
building, with double easements, all caro-
fully covered with special zinc mosquito
proof netting. This material is also
placed under the caves of the roof. and
we have a special system of double doors.
with curtains. at the entrance to the
porch. We begin our experiment June IL
The British colonial office shows con-
siderable enterprise in furthering such
practical experiments as these. of which
the result will by and by be that tho
world will understand fully the nature
and propagation of malarial fevers. and
suffering communities will then be able
to take steps to extirpate the cause.
Coincidentally wit he dwelling of Drs.
Sambon and Low in hut on the Cam
pagna and their experiments there. ex-
periments of similar or subsidiary char
acter will be made In England. For mos
quitos infected with malaria will be sent
to London not only from the Campagna
but from various swampy districts of
British territory in different parts of the
world and will be used to inoculate per-
sons who offer themselves for experiment
tation in this way; and thus there Will
be fine held wherein to observe tho
changes in the blood that are produced
in different constitutions by the poison
of mosquito bites.
1t is beyond doubt that malaria, II It
has not already rendered up its secret
SuInClently 10 sdtiSly 5Sieiitisto' VIII 10
compelled to render it up soon. The dis
covery that there is malaria always
where the anopheles has its habitat. and
that no malaria is known where the ano-
pheles Is unknown, squints very sus-
piciously toward that "no-account" in
sect as having causative connection
with the disease.-New Orleans Times
Democrat.