Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-07-12
| No FEAR OF MALARIA
No Epedemic Of Malarial Fevers
Expected as a Result Of
the Floods.
The Executive Council Begins on
Assessment Equalization
Next Week.
Insane Hospitals Overcrowded
and Conditions Call for In.
creased Space.
Special to Times Republican.

! Special to Times Republican.
Des Moines, July 12.-Will there not
be great danger of an outbreak of ma
4 laria along the streams of Iowa where
there has been overflow from the Hoods,
after the subsistence of the water and
before the mud and Slime and filth can
be cleared away?
| The question was asked of DR.. Joseph
+. Kennedy, long time secretary of the
state board of health of Iowa and spe-
cialist in sanitation. He has had an
experience in the medical profession
at once conservative and progressive.
| No that does not follow" he replied,
tho the conditions which follow flood
tend to weaken the vitality of men and
make them easier prey to diseases. But
the medical profession has got away
! from the old and popular notion that
what is called malaria or malarial fe-
| vers, remittent and intermittent fevers,
is caused directly by the bad air.
which is the significance of the name
| malaria We 90 not look for any Sc
rious consequences, tho, of course, a hot
season with dampness is conducive to
ILLNESS"
But how about the experience of the
| pioneers in Iowa who suffered from
fever and ague and typhoid and malaria
and the same experience of the 'front.'
| iersmen of Illinois and Indiana who set
tied in the Swamps?"
There are some hard things to un-
derstand in this" continued the doc
tor: but a great deal has been firmly
established which overturns all the old
theories SO long accepted. We have
much to learn but are learning. For in
stance. it is now generally believed that
the malarial fevers are caused by
germ or bacillus carried To the afflicted
person generally by mosquitoes. This is
the view generally accepted by physi
clans. and experiments have gone far
To prove the correctness of the theory.
There is no doubt that the remittent
and intermittent fevors are caused by
bacilli in the blood. Examination OF
mosquitoes has shown that they nave
been affected in many cases. There are
two kinds of mosquitoes and the one
which does the damage has a habit of
dropping down the rear part of its body
as it bites. Some years ago the Brit
iSh government sent two competent
surgeons and two assistants to the dis
trict in Italy near Rome which is
known to be the most deadly of any dis
trict in the world, where persons not
acclimated nearly always fall a prey to
fatal malarial fevers. They Went into
the heart of the district and remained a
long while in house protected by
screens so that it was impossible for
q mosquito TO get in. They breathed |
the air that was supposed to be freight
ed with deadly malaria and they lived
in perfect health That and many other
experiments is conclusive. The medical |
profession has come around almost
unanimously to the belief that malaria /
is due to the mosquito and that yellow |
fever germs are carried in the same
way, while flies carry TYPHOID germs and [
the most common source of the plague /
is the rats which infest the tropical 7
Cities
Then you have no fear of an epidem-
ic of fevers due directly to the decay
ing vegetation which will line the
streams in Iowa.
Not directly, tho it will be necessary
to clean up as soon as possible and
avoid that Weakening of the body which
Will make possible all sorts of ailments.
But malaria will hardy spring up in the
wake of the floods that have covered
Iowa.
The work of equalizing assessments
in the state of Iowa on personal prop
erty Will be commenced next week by
the executive council The members
Went to Glenwood today to estimate the
damage to state property by allowing
the Burlington railroad to go direct
thru the grounds of the institution for
feeble minded. This is the only time
this visi. could be made. Next week
the assessment work and the equaliZa
tion of assessments will be commenced
by the governor. auditor secretary and
treasurer. Thus far the reports from
the county auditors have not been very
prompt in sending in the returns. Four
are yet TO be heard from
Wright, Monroe. Dubuque and Linn.
The last two are always late. The real
estate assessment will not be touched
this Year, but there is a big job ahead
If equaliZing the personality, unless the i
council does as it has in some years, /,
leave it all alone.
The state board of control and the (;
heads of the state hospitals are becom-
ing anxious that the work of getting
re ady the new state hospital at Chero-
hee should be done as soon as possible.
The three state hospitals are already
over crowded. They can accommodate
not more than $500 or 2.600 patients.
but they now have more than 3.loo pa {
uents. The largest can accommodate {
only $50 without crowding. and yet l.loo I
have been placed there at times. The !
following table shows the number of {
insane persons, not including those out
on parole or i'm the custody of friends,
in the state of Iowa on June 80 of this :
year and the corres ponding date of each
If the previous three years, With the +
increase in the total from year to year /
1899. 1900 1901. 1902. S
In county asylums 999 979 971 $50 t
In private institu- t