The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-04-22

prepared for the Sunday Journal by
nm Old practItfonerl

Surgeon Major Ira G.. Brown, referring 10
sanitary work In the Philippines. says that
while the natives are scrupulously clean
as to their person they have but slight
knowledge of laws sanitary, and look
upon all orders for maintaining a healthful
surrounding as arbitrary manifestations Of
authority and prosecution. Among the
lower classes of the Chinese II is much
| worse, and most OF the plague cases have
been among these. White people seem to
have escaped altogether. curious COM
| plication arose when the plague first ap-
| peared in Manila. There is an inveterate
and implacable hatred between the Fill
pinos and Cinnamon, and the native in
| spectors appointed to search out nuisances
improved the opportunity TO get even with
| the Cinnamon. Chinese inspectors were
then appointed at the suggestion and by
the aid of rich Chinese merchants. and the
racing squaring up of old scores ceased
There are now 100 inspectors at work in
Manila. who patrol the city in squads
comprising two Filipinos and a Chinaman,
with a soldier to boss them and to prevent
their Sinking and matchmaking. A house
in which plague victim is discovered is
disinfected. and everything movable is
Il
'bubonic pest" is attached to the door.
and a sentry stands guard, the house being
guaranteed for four days. If several
| cases occur in a street il is closed to all
| business Dead Cinnamon are buried eight
| feet under ground and covered with quick
lime, but the Filipinos are cremated if the
relatives will consent to it. The authori-
ties are eagerly looking for rain, believing
that few six-inch showers will flush the
streets and wash the town so completely
that further cases of the plague will be
| impossible.
Even in highly civilized communities
there always some people who believe
| that the precautionary measure of placard-
| ing houses in which there are cases of con-
tagious diseases and the isolation of the
| inmates is an interference with personal
liberty. The Philadelphia Medical Journal,
speaking edtorially. says: "Diphtheria and
scarlet fever are two of the great scourges
| of child-life; they are likewise two of the
most readily controlled contagious by the
exercise of modern preventive methods.
These methods SAVIOR to some of interior
ence with personal liberty and freedom of
| action; therefore, with eyes willfully and
| tlBntly clOSeu, tney tnraSn their arms about
and strike blindly at those who, in attempt
| ing to save life, inadvertently jostle against
| them or interrupt their peaceful daily
! promenade upon the public highway" If
| these objections should be humored and
| their requests granted. human life would
| be lost, contagion spread and much need
| less suffering be caused. An essential ele-
| ment of sanitary effort is love for our
| fellow-men; we must be willing to sacrifice
personal conveniences and interests for the
| welfare of the community, for such sacri-
| flee ultimately benefits the individual and
| the people.
The Colonial Office of England is about to
make some very entertaining experiments
| upon the possibility of preventing malaria
| A hut will be built in the most malarial
| spot in the pestiential Roman Campagna
| This will be made absolutely mosquito
| proof by screens, and two medical experts
will live in this hut during the malarial
season from May until October. Two SER
wants will wait upon them, and If the four
persons are not afflicted with malaria it
| will be proof that with proper precautions
| any person may inhabit malarious coun-
| try with impunity. For a second expert
ment mosquitoes are to be raised from
eggs in a laboratory where they will have
no chance to pick up malarial germs, and
| will be fed in Rome upon patients known
| to have malaria. These mosquitoes will
| then be sent to London and set free in a
| house inhabited by Englishmen who have
| never been away from home, and who
| have therefore never been exposed to the
| danger of malarial infection. These men
will probably develop malarial fever. These
| experiments, one positive, the other mega
| tive will doubtless be successful, and will
| lead to the devising of methods to protect
| those in malarial countries from infection
| by that disease.
| The determination of rats, always a de-
| sirable thing, is especially so in the present
| threatening aspect of the plague. Citizens
| along the Pacific coast have been warned
| of the necessity of killing rats as one of
| the most important measures TO prevent
the dissemination of the plague in this
| country, but the means suggested are ques-
| tionable Poison may kill the rats, but 1t
| leaves a decaying body which is most Often
| sive to smell and may become a culture
ground for disease. poisoned rat or
/ mouse invariably crawls into a hole to die,
| and the remains cannot be located without
| tearing the house down. BY all means
| both for reasons of comfort and hygiene.
| kill the rats but do not poison them Keep
| a good dog or cat, or invest in a trap
| Flobert rifle, and either bury or burn the
| bodies.
The authorities of Manchester, England,
which has a population of over half a
| million, have just undertaken to build
smallpox hospital to cost 100000. 1t will
| be located at Darlington Moss, tract of
waste land belonging 10 the city, which
| has been reclaimed and made fertile. No
doubt the neighbors will oppose the build
| ing of the hospital, and with some reason,
| for the possibility of the aerial spreading
| of disease from hospitals and from pass
| ing ambuIances is an uncomfortable thing
| TO think of. Every ambulance used for the
| conveyance of persons suffering from con-
! tagious diseases should be thoroughly
| equipped with all possible arrangements
| for the protection of the public against
| disease, and there is opportunity for
| some inventive genius TO perfect an aseptic
| ambulance.