The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-05-23
"Provc all things and hold fast that

AIOfC ali IuluSS auu uOlu laSC LuaL
which is good" Science is doing
that, but it seems to me that the mod
crn doctors attach too much impor-
tance to germ theory. They are
trying to cure all sorts of diseases by
cxterminating germs, microbes, bac
terra and other invisible infusoria.
Maybe they were not intended to be
cxterminated hut arc part of the
economy Of nature. There are bolts
in horses stomach and wolves in a
cows back and feas on dog for some
useful purpose, and it may be that
these invisible germs are a necessary
part of our organism. We cat them
in food and drink them in water and
breathe them in the air, but still
reckon there are poisonous, infcc-
tious kind that do produce disease
and pcstilencc. l was Illuminating
about this from having read in a Lon
don paper an account of tie expert
ment now being made by the British
Medical Society to discover the true
cause Of malaria in the Pontino marsh
es that for centuries has proved q
slow and certain death to the poor
peasantry who work there and have to
work there to making living. These
Campaguean marshes lie adjacent to
Rome and cover territory twenty
Eve miles long and ten miles wide and
are wonderfully productive, giving
three crops year, but the malaria soon
pales and sickens the strongest men,
and they have to stop their work and
go to the hills to die. To discover
and remove the cause has been the
problem'of the ages. Three hundred
years before Christ these marshes
were solid land and the Appian way
was built upon it. Slowly end surely
the water encroached upon the land
and submerged it, destroying the Ap-
pain way, the aqueducts and arches.
Julius Caesar and Augustus Cesar
spent immense sums to drain them,
but without avail. They were finally
given up to the labor of the slaves,
and Pliny tells Of one man, Cecilius
Claudius, who owned 4,116 of them,
all malea, who worked there and were
not allowed to marry. Their cruel
fate was to work out brief life and
die. About 1875 years ago Pope Plus
vi made another effort to drain the
marshes but failed, and since then all
efforts and all hope has BEEN aban.
doned.
But now new theory comes up be.
fore the scientific school Of medicine
and has agitated the smedical savants
all over tie woyld. t IS claimed chat
o malarial climate does not produce
mosquitoes but that mosquitoes pro-
duce malaria, and it is their bites or
stings and suction Of the blood Of the
peasantry and thereby ir >oulating
them with poison and producing ma
laria that eventually wastes the !iee
away. This theory has found :many
strong advocates in London and Paris
and Berlin, and now they are prepar-
ing to prove it. The English govern
ment is having o wire gauze house
built, and it is to be placed in the
middle Of the Pontine marshes, and
two English physicians have volun-
teered to live in it for year or more
and test the effect Of the climate Sc
cure from the mosquito. Jnst think
Of thati Living in wire gsuze house
right in the midst Of the most noxious
miasmatic climate IN the world, and
all for the sake Of science aud human
ity. II they prove their theory then
they will cease to use quinine for the
malaria but build wire houses and wear
wire cowls or hoods over their heads
and fence out the mosquitoes aud turn
their next attention to exterminating
them. They say it is q big thing,
Anancislly, for there are two million
acres In chose marshes aud will be
wortA If they succeed q thousand dol
lars an acre, and that makes two thou
sand million dollars for Rome and the
pope.
But still I am dubious. I don't be-
lieve the mosquito introduces malaria
into the human system. His probo-
scis draws out blood but puts precious
little in. The germ theory has be-
come scientific fad and has not yet
been proven. The doctors all went
mad about Pasteur aud his inoculat-
ing virus, but that has suboided and
we never hear Of it now. Folks are
TOO ready to believe any new thing.
Appendicitis raised q mighty rumpus
for q while and every sick man imag.
sund hn had ~ eod ~ u,uqk ho cuk oE