The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-05-01
For Sunday Eagle

For Sunday Eagle
| 1t seems even stranger than fiction that
the most deadly enemies of the human
race should belong to the smallest of liv-
ing organisms. But truth is frequently
stranger than fiction and it is scientific
truth to assert that the most deadly
enemies of man, the ones that have
caused and will continue to cause the
greatest loss of life belong TO the most
minute forms of life that is known. When
scientists first announced that diseases
were caused by microscopic forms of
plant life known as bacteria. the general
impression produced was that they did
not know anything about the matter and
that it was all conjecture, theory that
could never be proven. Every one at
that time knew that humors. in the blood.
bad blood, etc, were the cause OF all
diseases. However, we have come to ac-
cept the verdict of the bacteriologist and
know that bacteria are the cause of
nearly all of our contagious and infectious
diseases. And those that are not caused
by these minute plants are probably
caused by more minute animals.
It seems strange that some of the dis
eases that have caused the greatest loss
of life are the last ones to be scientifi-
cally worked out. In recent years some
of these diseases have been studied very
closely and no bacteria could be found
that produced them. Patient and careful
work with these diseases has yielded re-
suits and we have added TO our general
knowledge in these lines by knowing that
such diseases as malaria, yellow fever
and small pox are caused by microscopic
animals These animals are even smaller
than most of the bacteria and belong in
zoology to the general group of Protozoe,
which means that they are one celled and
so small that they have to be magnified
several hundred times in order that they
may be studied.
1t is a peculiar thing that there should
have been worked out the means of con-
trolling and preventing the disease a
century before we learned the cause and
three quarters of century before we
ever suspected that microscopic forms of
either plants or animals could cause any
disease whatever. And 50 completely was
the means of preventing the disease by
vaccination understood that il IS doubt
ful if the knowledge CT the cause Will add
very much 10 our ability TO prevent or
CONTROL small pox or aid in the treatment
in z way that viii lessen the horrors Of
the disease
The origin of variola or small pox IS
unknown. The supposed original foci Of
the disease may be looked for in central
India or in central Asia In these
countries the ignorance and superstition
of the people have made the ravages of
small po1 only second to that OF the great
plague or black death OF the fourteenth
century. The religion OF the Hindoo
makes him a fatallst and he is unalter-
ably opposed to vaccination. instead h
erects temples. TO the goddess OF small pox
To which thousands Of children arr liter
ally sacrificed every year The aversion
10 any sanitation that generally exists
among people OF tropical climates makes
such countries a very hot bed for the
existence and spread Of all contagious and
infectious diseases and especially such as
the one under consideration
TIE disease over which science has
achieved such wonderful results was for
long period Of the worlds history one OF
the mos, dreaded Of the terrible scogr-
N--E aA4NS nils - r-S'-%--t-
alike and one that seemed impossible 70
CONTROL ar avoid. \ scourage that count
ed its victims by the millions and one that
for centuries that continued to exact its
death toll from all nations whether
European or Hindoo. Lord McCauley in
writing OF the death Of Queen Mary IN
isSl+. thus siScribes the raVages % small
pcx: The havoc OF The plague has been
far more rapid. but TIE plague has visit
ed our shores only once OF twice II the
living memory. hat thS small pOx IS a.
ways present. filing the church yard with
corpses. torturing with constant fear all
whom II has not yet stricken. tsaving on
those whose lives il spared the hidecus
traces OF its powers. turning tie bah-e into
a changeling at which the mother Sind
cered and making the eyes and cheeks