The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-01-27
Malarial Esver Oae of the
Worlds Great Maladies.

Malaria-Among the most remarkable Of
modern discoveries is the cause of malarsaI
fever. one Of the great msladies OF the
world, and q prime obstacle to the settle
ment of Europeans in tropical regions. I'm
I'll 1850 the cause was quite obscure It
was known that the disease prevailed chief
ly in marshy 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. Layeran, 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 resembling the ameoba-
tiny little portions of protoplasm- The par
asite in its earliest form is a small. clear.
ring-shaped body inside the red blood cor
puscle. upon which 1t feeds. gradually IN
creasing In size and forming within itself
blackish grains out OF the coioring matter
Of the corpuscie. When the little parasite
reaches a certain size 1t begins to divide or
multiply. and an enormous number OF these
breaking up at the same time give on poi
son in the blood. which causes the pa
roxysms. of fever. During what Is known
az the chill In the Intermittent feve-. for
example, one can always md these dividing
parasites. Several different forms of the
parasites have been found. corresponding
to different varities Of malaria Parasites
of a 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 inter-
vention Of the mosquito. The parasites
reacn maturity In certain cells OF the coats
Of the stomach of these insects. and de-
veiop into peculiar threadiiks bodies. many
Of which ultimately reach the saiivary
glands. from which. as the insect bites. they
pass with the secretion of the glands into
the wound. From this as a basis numerous
observers have worked out the relation Of
the mosquito to malaria in the human sub
1ect-
Briefly stated. the disease Is transmitted
chiefly by certain varieties Of the mosquito,
particularly the Anapheies- The ordinary
eulex. which Is present chiefly in the North
ern States. does not convey the disease.
The Anopheles sucks the blood from q per-
son infected with malaria, takes in a GER
tain number of parasites, which undergo de-
velopment In the body of the insect the
final outcome Of which Is numerous small.
thfead-like structures. which are found in
numbers in the salivary glands. From this
pSAni- ~ncn IHe MOSQUITO DiIeS announcer
Individual. they pass into his blood. infect
the system, and In this way the disease ID
transmitted Two very striking expert
ments may be mentioned. The Italian
observers have repeatedly shown that
A~nopheles which nave sucked blood from
patients sunerins with malaria. when sent
to = nonmaiarial region. and there allowed
to bite perfectly healthy persons. have
ira nEni<rRd thu Ai0RAaA np< . rn--- Ar~rrIov
experiment was made q few months aga.
Mosquitoes which had bitten malarial
patients in Italy were sent to London and
there allowed to bite Mt. Manson. son Of
Doctor Manson. who really suggested the
mosquito theory of malaria. This gentle
man had not lived out of England. and
there Is no acute malaria In London Hs
had been . perfectly healthy, strong man
In = few days following the bites of the In
fected mosquitoes he had a typical attack
OF malarial fever.