Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-02-16
NUMBER Z.
IMMUNE TO FEVEM
An EpuIishman Tells of Es markab bis
Treatment Employed In
svkth America


The world moves fast, bus 4 Is pos
sible that some of the nss: brilliant
discoveries have not game beyond ths
simple practices of uncivili2ed peoples.
A Jamaica journalist gives his personal
experience OF how the Ina:aas of South
America not only cure patient OF the
most dangerous stages Of raa.arial fever,
butalso, by insulation, insure for many
years his immunity from future at
tacks. Other travellers have had SIM
liar experience, and no less an author
ity than Sir Clements Markham has tes-
tilted to the efficiency of these Indian
cures. The writer, after long escaping
the terrible fevers of the country, sue
cumbed at last. He says:
81 lay in my hammock, ravaged by an
all-consuming fever, with death in
sight. Medical ai6, supposing ii to be
of any use, was not to be had within
fortnight's journey. A few miles
from our camp was an Indian settle.
ment. had had some dealings with,
and won the good will of the head man,
| Sb SCul W ttli MN tuai NdhNtu NhS
services of peiman, or native doctor.
ut was midnight when the messen-
ger returned with my friend, the old
chief, and the tribe medicine man.
By this time l was past knowing any
thing Of my surroundings. My com
panions told me afterward that had
already developed all the well-knowr
symptoms of febrile collapse.
1.-The peiman tended me, administer.
ing internal remedies by means of
roughly devised but effective subcu-
taneous and other injections. Then
followed the inevitable mummery,
when was shut up with the peiman.
and enough noise was made to indicate
dozen people inside.
AT about three o'clock in the morn
ing, when the peiman issued forth and
my companions were allowed a sight of
me, l was sleeping naturally, bathed
in profuse perspiration, which was al
ready mostening the outer folds of the
double blanket that enveloped me. At
eight o'clock l awoke and then slept
again for "a hours, the peiman from
time to time administering subcutane-
Gus injections. When l finally awoke
there was not the slightest trace of
fever. In three days l was able to be
about and in a week / was fit to under.
take long journey"
The most wonderful part of the
story, however, is the sequel. The pei
man, pleased with the reward given
him, offered to inoculate his patient
so as to render him proof against all
kinds of "bush" fevers, no matter how
much he might be exposed to them, for
at least 100 moons. II he contracted
fever il would be Of the mildest kind.
The traveller went to the settlement
and was iroculated. The operation con-
sisted Of stabbing gently into the left
wrist with bunch of exceedingly fine
needles plucked from hard spiny leaf,
) the needles being first passed through
aflame and then dipped in a black liquid.
In a short time all the weil-kDown
symptoms OF malarial fever developed,
and then peculiarly nauseous medi-
cine was administered, and deep
sleep completed the business. When
the patient awoke he felt perfectly we'll
except for the smarting of his wrist,
which mad to be bandaged.
For a 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 G his boat. OF the four white men
in the boat, three had fever and two
died = "a hours; the third returned
to IRE United States with health COM
pletely broken.
Afterward he spent six years about
the Isthmus Of Panama, and in that
!. hotbed of fever, Colon, never expert
! enced days fever. Not until ten years
a after incubation did touch of fever
i come, and then no alarming symptoms
were veloped.-Chambers Journal.
-