The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-27

| supporting the weakness of the heart,
| a special danger in the old and debit
| tated
HYDRoPHoBIA.-Ra remarka-
BILE and in certain countries wide
spread. disease of animals. when
transmitted to man by the bite of
! rabid dogs. wolves. etc. is known
as hydrophobia The specific germ
is unknown. but by a series of brilliant
observations Pasteur showed % that the
! poison has certain fixed and peculiar prop
critics In connection with the nervous sys-
tenn; (2) that susceptible animals could
be rendered refractory to the disease, or
incapable of taking it, by certain
method of incubation, and go that an
animal unprotected and inoculated with
a dose of the virus sufficient to cause the
disease may. by the injection of proper
anti-rabic trea tment. escape. Supported
by these facts Pasteur began system of
treatment OF hydrophobia in man. and a
special institute was founded in Paris for
the purpose. When carried out promptly
the treatment is successful in an immense
majority of all cases. and the mortality
in persons bitten by animals proved TO be
anti-rabic treatment has been reduced to
less than one-half of l per cent. The dis
ease may be stamped out in dogs by care
full quarantine of suspected animals and
by thoroughly carried out muzzling or
der
MALARIA.-Among the most remarka-
BILE of modern discoveries is the cause OF
malarial fever, one of the great maladies
of the world and a prime obstacle TO the
settlement of Europeans in tropical re-
gions Until 1880 the cause was quite OBJ
scure 1t was known that the disease pre-
vailed chiefly in inarshy districts, in the
autumn. and that the danger of Infection
was greatest in the evening and at night,
and that it was not directly contagious
In 1850 a French army surgeon, Laveran,
discovered in the red blood corpuscles
small bodies which have proved to be the
specific germ of the disease. They are
not bacteria, but little animal bodies re-
sembling the amoeba-tiny little portions
of protoplasm. The parasite in its earliest I
form is a small. clear. ring-shaped body |
inside the red blood corpuscle, upon which |
il feeds. gradually increasing in size and |
forming within itself blacklist grains on.
of the coloring matter Of the corpu5cie- |
When a little parasite reaches certain |
size 1t begins TO divide or multiply, and an |
enormous number of these breaking up |
at the same time give off poison in the |
blood which causes the paroxysms of |
fever. During what is known the chill |
in the intermittent fever for example, one
can always find these dividing parasites. |
Several different forms of the parasites |
have been found, corresponding TO differ
ent varieties of malaria. Parasites Of
very similar nature exist abundantly in |
birds. Ross, an army surgeon in India,
found that the spread of this parasite /
from bird to bird was effected through |
the intervention of the mosquito. The
reach maturity in certain cells
of the coatss of the stomach of these in
sects, and develop into peculiar thread
like bodies many OF which ultimately
reach the salivary glands. from which. as
the insect bites, they pass with the Sc
erection of the glands into the wound.
From this as a basis numerous observers
have worked out the relation of the mos
quito TO malaria in the human subject.
Briefly stated, the disease is transmitted
chiefly by certain varieties, of the mos
binary cuIex, which is present chiefly in
the Northern States. does not convey the
disease The Anopheles sucks the blood
from a person infected with malaria takes
In a certain number Of parasites. which /
development in the body of the
insect the final outcome of which is num-
erous small. thread-lfke structures which
are found in numbers in the salivary
glands. From this point, when the mos
quito bites another individual. they pass
into his blead. infect the system, and in
this way the disease is transmitted Two
very striking experiments may be men
toned. The Italian observers have re
peatediy shown that Anopheles which
have sucked blood from patients suffering
with malaria. when sent to a non-malariai
region, and there allowed to bite per-
fectly healthy persons. have transmitted
the disease. But "A very crucial expert
ment was made few months ago. Mos