The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1904-07-13

great QEantltles OF water.
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MODERN MEDICAL
ACHIEVEMENTS.
The current ISSUE of the Review of
Reviews contains three distinct arti-
cles all of which happen to bear on
one subject-the achievements Of
modern medicine in dealing with in
fictitious diseases. One of them. by
Colonel w. C. Gorgas of the army
medical corps, describes his plans
for sanitation on the Isthmus of
Panama; another tells of the success
of a government commission in hand
ling the prevalent and fatal anaemia
in Porto Rico, while the third is an
account of the hospital for consump-
tives conducted by the Marine Hospi,
tai service at Fort Stanton, N. NJ.
Had the United States undertaken
the construction of the Panama canal
in the sos it would have been power
less 10 prevent an enormous death
| rate among the laborers from tropi-
| cal malaria. Under the regime If the
French company this sometimes
reached from 500 to 500 to the thou
sand. Now it is known that the ma
larial infection is conveyed by the
bite of a mosquito which has prev
iously bitten an infected person. Col.
Gorgas hopes by thorough treatment
of existing cases and by an active
campaign against mosquitoes, practi-
cally to eradicate the disease before
the arrival of the unacclimated work
men mex year.. By similar methods
Havana has freed itself from yellow
fever.
In Porto Rico it was discovered
that about o%ne-fourth of the deaths
were from anaemia caused by a par
asite that destroys the hemoglobin
or red coloring mater of the blood.
A government commission has estab-
lished a hospital camp near San Juan
where cases are successfully treated.
Thymol is used to exDel the parasites
and the patients then recover rapidly.
The Importance of this treatment is
suggested by the fact that about 80
per cent of the agricultural laborers
of Porto Rico are infected with the
disease. With the eradication of
anaemia it is believed that the pro
ductive capacity of the population
will be greatly increased.
To Fort Stanton, where the sun
shines $40 days in the year, the gov
eminent sends consumptive sailors
in all stages of the disease. In the
absence of any specific remedy for
tuberculosis the patients are built up
with wholesome food n outdoor
life. About half of them sleep in open
tents and the rest in specially venti-
-
lated dormitories. They live out of
doors and grow fat on eggs and milk
from the reservation farm.
eOf fifty-ive patients with consump-
ton in the first stage, half have been
discharged apparently cured, and 40
/ per cent improved. OF 265 cases in
the last stages, there have been SO
per cent of cures, while SO per cent
have been discharged imoroved and
80 per cent have died. When the dis
ease is taken in time the experience
of Fort Stanton shows that there is
a good chance for recovery.
The recent progress in medical sci
ence is indicated by the fact that none
of these articles in the Review of Re-
views could possibly have been writ
ten fifteen years ago. Ait that time
nothing was known of means to pre-
vent malarial infection, the cause of
tropical anaemia was not understood
and consumptives, given a hit or miss
treatment, rarely recovered. In no
department of knowledge has modern
investigation been more successful
than in that of medicine.-Kansas CT
ty Star.
THE REPUBLICAN, MACHINE.
The New Mexican in a long artic-
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