The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-02-06
TO The HILLS.


gates the malady. A large quorum
of the Hawaiian Medical Association,
considering the question, had but one
mind in that gratifying conclusion
Yet, as We have other species of the
pestiferous insect, we may one day
be visited by Mrs. Anopheles- rms
possibility should lend a powerful
stimulus to the crusade against all
kinds of mosquitoes found here which
was started through a citizen move
1nent about two years ago. Though the
campaign has at times appeared to
Ianguish-ft certainly has lacked the
degree of popular enthusiasm at its
back which it should always have
there is no gafnsaying the fact that the
nuisance has been considerably dl-
unfinished. Since whatever the good re-
suits may amount to are very much
due to the enlistment of individuals
in the cause, to the extent of taking
measures for protecting their own
homes, there is good reason for hoping
that complete extirpation of the pest
might be realized by means of more
strenuous missionary work among in
feIligent householders and some en-
HANGED official pressure upon the peo-
Die who lack intelligence. AS to the
latter part of the campaign, it ought
to mean but the addition of single
item to the details of sanitary inspec-
aance of any still water receptacles
found upon private grounds, equally
with any disease breeding refuse.
Thus far a depression to improve an
occasion The immediate significance
of the discussion held by the medical
gentlemen on malaria is its repetition
of a lesson that has been periodically
read TO the people of Honolulu for Some
wears past. This is the hygienic ad-
visibility of going to the hills envir-
oning the city for homes. The cloud
of rniasrnatic vapor which DR.. Herbert
smoke about does not rise to a great |
height, being absent from the medlan |
slopes of Punchbowl excepting in rare |
Gains. 1t is strongly present upon the |
plains that extend in very slight |
gradient back from the reefs. No doubt |
the morning mist is held somewhat by
the profuse tropical foliage that, in It's
prime function, constitutes the chlel
beauty of the older residence sections.
AIthoueh the local fever that is attrib-
uted to paludai exhalations is not
particularly dangerous malady, 1T is
bad enough to be avoided by all ra-
tionai means. Living at goodly ele-
walton above the lower, or coral bench,
of the town plot has for some time been
recognized as means of immunity
from febrile affections of the human
system. Gradually the people have
been moving their residences up into
the foothills and the slopes of the val
ley sides, this movement of population
having occasionally been accelerated
by the opening of new residence tracts.
With the large proportion of Orient
ais and natives of the laboring class IN
the population OF Honolulu, probably
it would he idle to- imagine time
when the fiat ground adjacent to the
sea and harbor frontage will not be
numerously inhabited. Therefore, in
sanitary conditions in which these peo-
pie live, will, to the degree wherein
they are neglected, constitute menace
from the inviting of epidemics that,
when they come, are liable to spread
beyond the confines wherein they orig
mated. For the people living in the
hills must come down to the marts
and exchanges near tidewater. mo
man liveth to himself is a scriptural
maxim that has never greater force
than when applied to the sanitary con-
ditions of a community.
Thereby another lesson from the med
zeal gentlemen's discussion of fevers is
to be learned and put into practical
effect. The sanitation of the city ought
to be made, in times when no danger
Immediately threatens, one of the chief
concerns of the Government and of the
mercantile and industrial organiza-
tons 1t should be ascertained by sci
entific inquiry whether the matutinal
vapors indicated at the doctors meet
ing cannot be minimized, if not abol-
ished, by extending the drainage sys-
tenn. If anything is lacking toward the
prevention of sewer gas exhalations it
should be discovered and the remedies
applied. The poorer classes should be
fully warned of the dangers of sleep
ing close to the ground. There is a
building regulation to establish a mini
mum height of house floors from the
ground and it should be vigorously en-
forced Swampy and damp ground
ought to be condemned against becom-
ing home sites.
To -