New-York tribune., 1905-07-14
THE ISTHNTAN PLAQUES.

The President spoke words of sound sense
and truth, which were much needed, in his Wig
orous talk to the Long Island physicians on
Wednesday. Especially is this to be said OF his
criticisms of alarmist tales from Panama and
his judicious discrimination between the two
fevers which prevail on the isthmus 1t is little
less than criminal for men to emit the rubbish
which has lately been published about condi-
tons at Panama. Thus we have recently seen
reports, intended to be taken seriously, about
swarms Of tarantulas as large as Holsters In
Testing the sleeping quarters Of Americans;
about the natives of Panama walking the city
streets naked; about there being no sewer sys
tenn, and the water being bad. These are sim
ply grotesque falSehOods, as every well in
formed man must know. A year ago such tales
about sewers and water would have been true
Now a fine sewer system is being finished, and
the city has water supply equal in quality and
quantity to that of New-York. The President
does well to liken these and similar fabrications
to the tales told by army poltroons and de-
serters.
1t Is quite true, as the President says, that
there Is, and will be, great deal more ma
larial fever on the isthmus than yellow fever
| although we hear much less about it Really
malaria and not yellow fever is the chief enemy
to health with which we must reckon. It is not
so deadly as the latter, but it is vastly more
prevalent, and it is going to be far harder to
eradicate it. These plaques are both propa-
gated by mosquitoes but the malarial mosqui-
toes are the more numerous and more active
and the more difficult to get rid of. Moreover the
| centres Of insect Infection are much more nu-
merous in the case of malaria than of yellow
fever. Either kind of mosquito is perfectly in
nocuous until after it has bitten person suf-
fering from the disease. If, then, there are only
twenty or thirty persons on the isthmus suffer
ing from yellow fever, there are only those few
centres at which mosquitoes can charge them
selves with poison. But there are probably
fifty thousand persons on the isthmus suffering
to some extent from malaria, offering that num-
Der of opportunities for mosquitoes TO become
noxious.
There are two methods Of fighting the plaques
which DR.. GOrgas is pursuing with discretion
| and vigor. One is the destruction of the mos
quitoes and their breeding grounds If that
were perfectly done, the diseases would vanish
| because of the lack of means Of propagation
The other means is the isolation of fever pa
| tients and the screening of them with netting
so that the mosquitoes cannot get at them
This latter work can be done pretty readily and
are so few suffering from 1t. But it is. of course
impossible to put all the fifty thousand malaral
patients under netting. and that is what makes
the malaria problem so much the harder to
| solve. The solution of it is likely to be found
partly in the destruction Of the mosquitoes and
partly in getting the people to adopt thorough
quinine Notwithstanding they have not
hitherto done 1t by such means that ma
lara of the worst type was banished from Suez
and what was done there can be done at
Panama.