The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-09-21

his thousand and one kettles and pots.
which he carelessly leaves around and
which the first rain fills with water:
and also TO his mines. And man, hav
ing provided stagnant water for the
larvae, provides hiding places for the
fullgrown insect. And this is why the
European has always instinctively
taken up his dwelling place at judi
cious distance from native settlements.
At Accra and at Freetown the thing
is perfectly clear: houses thus isolated
are never infested.
And now let us draw a conclusion
from the two facts we have establish
ed. So much is evident; the first step
toward the extirpation of malaria
from a settlement is to enforce a sys-
tenn of sanitation. And sanitation. in
this case, means the suppression of all
the stagnant pools where mosquitoes
can multiply; the removal of rubbish
heaps and their litter of broken bot
ties, broken crockery and tin cans; the
covering of tanks or the adoption of
metal screens for them, so that the in
sects can't get at them. This accom-
plished, we must deal with the natural
ponds and marshes of the neighbour
hood We must fill up the little ones
lie t e big ones. Finally, having put
obstacles in the way of the multiple
cation of mosquitoes, we must pitch
into their accomplices, the natives, and
pull down their shanties and so get
rid of the hiding places they furnish.
Perhaps you will say that this last
step presents a good many difficulties.
Doubtless But the fact remains that
it is possible to establish healthful set
Elements in the neighborhood of the
most unhealthy native villages, and
that is the important point. 1t is only
on these terms that the white man can
live in the same country with the
native.
The preceding data show by what
methods we must prosecute the work
we have undertaken in Algeria, and
at the same time they define it's char
acter. It would be puerile to attempt
an unlimited task and to pretend to
accomplish the sanitation of the entire
country. This can be done only by
drainage and in the mountainous dis
tricts it will be little short of impos-
| sible to destroy all the marshes-per-
manent and ephemeral. We must
! therefore content ourselves with the
sanitation of the malarious centres by
|
| ignorance; with organizing a system
of sanitary inspection: with seeing
that every water tank is provided with
a cover; and with destroying the
neighboring ponds and petrolizing
those that can't be filed up. We shall
thus establish healthful centres, and
those centres will remain healthful if
only we are careful not to hold out ir-
resistible attractions to the mosquitoes
of the surrounding country. This is
an easy matter.
| AS for the territory round about, we
shall presently see what is to be done.
| For we know how we can plough and
! harvest all day in that region without
suffering any inconvenience; and we
know how we can live for months in
| the heart of the most malarious coun-
try on this sole condition, namely, that
at night we take the precautions die
tated by the results of the experiments
at Ostia. We can exploit the country
without having accomplished it's COM
plete sanitation; and the sanitation
will progress as the population in
creaSes.
| 1t is thus that, so far as malaria is
concerned, we must face and solve the
problem of the tropics" and of so
still unable to do anything. And this
is to be the secret of the conquest of
the marvellous delta of the Mississippi,
perhaps the most fertile area in the
world (save only the Sahara, if it were
irrigated but where only vegetation
exists, while man looks on from with
out-a land of promise from which a
miserable insect has banished human
| ity. Thus, also, is the work carried
on at Lagos: which despite winds and
| swamps, is to be made sanitary; thus
also is the work carried on at Hava-
ma, from which yellow fever and mala-
ria have been expelled by several
months of intelligent application of
! hygienic principles. Even in Algeria
attempts have been made; and, though
the resources at the command of the
operators were by no means adequate,
the results We're quite satisfactory.
The Alma railway station NM. T.
and E. Sergent tell us, is a most per-
| feet sieve. From July 1, 1894, to Dec.
l, 1901, there had been nine station
masters or assistant stationmasters.
Since the first year all were stricken
with malaria and had to be replaced
such-in a words the unhealthful
character of that delightful place. NM.
Sergent then made an experiment. On
the 18th of August, 1902, thirteen per-
sons lived at the station; nine had been
there a year and all nine We're sick;
four, who had just arrived were still
well. MN. Sergent Immediately pc
trolized the neighboring canal and put
screens at the windows Of the station
Result: no more mosquitoes and the
four newcomers have remained i'm
mune.
On every hand we find encourage
ment, on every hand examples to fol-
low. We can, therefore, confidently
undertake the projected work in AL
geria. And we shall succeed, if only
we are willing to content ourselves day
by day with the results that are real
ly attainable; if only we know how to
act upon the very exact conclusions
which this little article has hastily re-
viewed.