Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-08
(To be continued.)
HEALTH AND SCIENCE

A great deal is said of the unhealthiness
of a climate, and people in a vague general
way condemn a town or locality because of
this impression. Statistics. of course, can
not lie: and when the death rate in any
community approaches thirty per thousand.
there is reason to pause before deciding Or
that locality as residence. But for all
that the statistics may mislead unless ana
lyzed For example: Port Elizabeth. Cape
Colony, town of 10000 people, has a death
rate of about forty per thousand, and yet it
is an extremely healthy town for Europeans
living under decent conditions. The high
general average is caused by the enormous
death rate among large Kaffir population,
living without any knowledge of hygiene
sanitation, crowded into filthy novels, and.
therefore, subject to every Zymotic disease
which affects the town. So that here, in
spite Of a magnificent climate, a sandy SOIL
an adequate fall in the ground, and a con-
slant sea breeze during the hot summer
days. the enormous statistical death rate
would lead the majority Of men to avoid
residence in that town. AS shown above
this would be an error.
1t behooveS us, therefore to inquire care
fully into the causes of any alleged I'M
healthiness in a locality, to find out if they
are remedlable, and to pursue our course &C.
cordingly.
The marvellous discovery that malaria is
conveyed by mosquitoes has revolutionized
our ideas of the inherent unhealthineSs of
the air of so-called malarious climates. The
mere derivation of the word from Italian
NAL (eviD and aria (air) shows what its
cause was thought to be. Its remedy was
found in having drainage, and 1t was sup
posed that from some unexplained cause
the soil when drained could not give off the
bad air supposed to cause the disease We
now know that the remedies of drainage
and paving were successful, because they
abolish the shallow pool and slow-running
channels of water which are the breeding
grounds of the Anopheles mosquito. the only
carrier Of malarious infections. Now but
for malaria the death rate of tropical eli
mates Wo!ld not be a high one, neither tu-
berculosis, pneumonia, bronchitis, scarlet
fever nor smallpox possessing the terrors
there which they have for residents in the
temperate zone; so that the so-called I'M
healthiness of the tropical climates is al
most entirely due to malaria, which has
nothing whatever to do with the climate
directly, but like any other parasitic dis
ease can be prevented by not allowing the
parasite to reach our body
The mode of infection is as follows: Ano-
pheles bites a patient having malaria In
that patients blood are the malaria para
sites Ito be described in future column)
Suffice it to say that they cause the fever
and other symptoms characterizing an at
tack of ague. Anopheles swallows the
blood; every one has seen mosquito swell
up while feeding. From her stomac the
Gus changes, reach the sucking apparatus
of the same mosquito. She may then seek
another human being upon whom to feed:
and If she is successful, will infect him with
the malaria parasite as she sucks his blood
Ihere are three means of preventing this
infection:
l. To exterminate the Anopheles mos
quito
This is only possible in cities or where
drainage can he conducted without enor-
nous expenditure
CD BY killing their young Qarvae) as they
swim near surface of shallow pools
This can be done by a thin film of petro-
leum, which prevents the larva from
breathing, by choking its breathing pore.
This is on a large scale, an expensive pro-
ceedng and has to be repeated at fire.
quent intervals. Besides, it must be very
thoroughly carried out. In recent Gem
fury magazine is an account of how the
method was pursued near Oyster Bay,
Long Island.
2. To prevent the mosquito from access
to infected human beings. This can be
done by seeing that every malarious pa
tient lives during the night in a mosquito
proof house or room; for Anopheles as a
general rule bite only at night hiding dur
ing the day in the shade under the trees,
in curtains and clothing. AS this method
never be quite satisfactory, some in
dividuals avoiding surveillance, especially
in sparsely settled countries and among
the ignorant, 1t may be reinforced by pre-
venting mosquitoes which may possibly be
infected from obtaining access to any one
at night. Protection is secured either by
remaining in a mosquito-proof house or
room, or when compelled to go out by
wearing mpervious anklets, wristlets and
gloves and protecting the face by yelling
These precautions were adopted with ex-
traordinary success two years ago in Italy
one Of the most malarious countries in
the world, among the railroad employees in
the outlying country Among nearly 200
employees with their families who adopted
these precautions less than per cent were
affected by malaria. The usual incidence
of the disease in the unhealthy season was
over 80 per cent, and to show that the
decrease was not seasonal in it's cause, the
surrounding peasantry continued to be as
malarious as before. The year before DR..
Sambon. professor, of tropical medicine in
London, had volunteered to prove his be-
lief in the truth of what was then the
theory that mosquitoes were the only
cause of malaria. His offer was accepted,
and he lived through the whole malaria
season In the Roman Campagna with an
other doctor and his servant. This coun-