The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-01-24
IMMUNE TO FEVERS.
An Engiishman Tells of Remarkable
Treatment Employed In South America.

Treatment Employed In South America.
The world moves fast, but it is pos
sible that some of the most brilliant
discoveries have not gone beyond the
simple practices OF uncivilized peo-
Piles. A Jamaica journalist gives his
personal experience of how the In
dians of South America not only cure
a patient of the most dangerous stage
of malarial fever, but also, by inocula-
ton, insure for many years his i'm
munity from future attacks. Other
travellers have had similar experience,
and no less an authority than Sir
Clements Markham has testified to
the efficiency of these Indian cures.
The writer, after long escaping the
terrible fevers of the country, sue
cumbed at last. He says:
"I lay in my hammock, ravaged by
an all-consuming fever, with death IN
sight. Medical aid, supposing it to
be of any use, was not to be had
within fortnight's journey. A few
miles from our camp was a Indian
settlement. l had had some dealings
with, and won the good will of the
head man, 30 I sent to tell him that I
wanted the services of peiman, or
native doctor. .
cit was midnight when the messen-
ger returned with my friend, the old
chief, and the tribe medicine man. ,
By this time I was past knowing any
thing of my surroundings. My COM
panions told me afterward that I had
already developed all the well-known
symptoms of febrile collapse.
.The peiman tended me, admins
tering internal reme6iessby means of
roughly deyisedsbu effective subcu-
taneous and other injections. Then
followed the inevitable mummery,
when I was shut upswith the pei
man, ard enough noise was made to
indicate dozen people inside.
sHsAt about3 O'Clock in the morning,
when the peiman issued forth and my
companions were alIowed5a sight OF
me, I was sleeping naturally, bathed
in profuse perspiration, which was
already moistening the outer folds of
the double blanket that enveloped
me. Ats o'clock 7 awoke and then
slept again. for twenty-four hours, the
peiman from time to time administer.
ing subcutaneous injections. When I
finally; awoke there was not the
slightest trace i5oi fever. In three
days Twas able to- be about and in
week i was fit 10 undertake long
3 '0aEbs' 4hs most shaerful part of the
story, however is the sequel. The
!: :painan, ps4aSsd with the reward
given him, 18ered to inooulate his
spatient! So as TO render him proof
iaqainst all kinds OF "bush" fevers,
after how much he might be ex-
3sed to them, for at least 100 moons.
q he contracted feverit would be OF
Ethe mildest kind.
y The traveller went to the settlement
and was inoculated. The operation
consisted of stabbing gently into the
left wrist with bunch Of exceed
ingly fine needles plucked from a
hard spiny leaf, the needles being
first passed through fame and then
dipped in black liquid. In a short
timo oil the well-known symptoms OF
malariaI fever developed, then
peculiarly nauseous medicine was ad-
ministered, and deep sleep COM
pleted the business. When the
patient awoke he felt perfectly we'll
except for the smarting Of his wrist,
which had to be bandaged.
For long time after this he trav-
eled in some Of the worst swamps of
Central America, undergoing consid-
cradle exposure, including a night
spent under the trees after the upset
ting of his boat. OF the four white
men IN the boat three had fever and
two died in twenty-four hours; the
third returned to the United States
with health completely broken.
= Afterward he spent six years about
5the Isthmus of Panama, and in that
hotbed of fever, Colon, never expert
enced days fever. Not until ten
years after incubation did touch of
fever come, and then no alarming
symptoms were developed.