Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-11

TTyHE medical and scientific worlds
have been treated to a new idea in
Il a recent prophecy made by Col.
William c. Gorgas, United States commits
sioner in charge of the sanitation work
on the Panama canal zone, at the gradua-
ton exercises of the Cornell University
Medical college in this city, in which he
suggested that within few centuries the
tropics might be made so habitable and
free from disease that the centers OF
wealth. civilization and population will
be found there rather than in the tenn
perate zones, as at present.
He dilated at length on the improve
ments which have been made in tropical
countries, such as Cuba, Panama, India,
South America and Africa, and 1t was
from the sanitary successes there at
tanned that he drew his optimistic and
utopian deductions. Regarding these
there are conflicting opinions among men
of medicine and science, for while the
optimistic ones would fain see such
pleasant condition of affairs brought
about, those of less bright views are
prone to scoff and look upon even the
suggestion as preposterously farcical in
itself.
Col. Gorgas, however, has faith in his
beliefs and this faith Is strengthened by
the results of study and research in the
tropics in the last few years. Great prog
ress has been made in tropical sanitation
in the last decade. and this work has
wrought wonders in the tropical colonial
possessions of England ana other eoun-
tries. as well as in those of the United
States.
Disease has been RELOCATED far beyond
the epidemic state, food has been i'm
proved. drainage has made difference
in the climate itself, the removal of night
soil the disposal of garbage and kindred
matters pertaining to the betterment OF
general conditions have all helped to form
the conclusion embodied in the recent ut
terance of Colonel Gorgas.
Cause of Disease
But the one thing which has gone far-
Their than anything else to convince san
e,,ine ones that the tropics can be con-
vsrted into blooming gardens of health
and beauty is the discovery of the causes
of the most virulent diseases which anect
people in these regions, and more than
this. the methods of effectively getting rid
of these causes.
After wears of patient investigation 1t
has been found that the main cause for
malaria and yellow fever are the ano-
pheles and stegon1yia varieties OF mos
quito These two disreputable members
of the gnat family are as inseparable
from disease as a New Yorker Is from
his newspaper and on their extinction
rests the solution of the problem of health
in the tropics.
The plague of insects is generally con-
ceded to be the greatest drawback to life
in warm countries but the greatest pest
of this general plague is the mosquito. |
He is to be found from the Klondike TO
Cane Horn in nearly every country ana
every climate, but nowhere is his bite so
dangerous as in warm countries.
There he has been the cause of many |
fatal epidemic, and the greatest sanitary |
problem of experts has been how to get
rid of anopheles and stegomyia.
In the anorasses of South Africa, IN the
swamps of Italy, through our own island
and in other warm countries
men have tested and experimental until
thew now think means have been discov-
cred whereby these pests may be ami |
hilated. and the satisfactory results |
which have followed war on the mosquito |
form the grounds on which Colonel COR
gas and his sympathizers base their hopes
for a future reclamation of the tropics
as a living place for millions, instead OF
thousands, of white men.
Wonders Wrought Already
Both in Havana and Panama wonders
have been wrought in the elimination OF
disease since the mischievous mosquito
was caught sending in his microbe-laoen
bill Epidemics, almost annual have peen
reduced to occasional individual outbreaks
of malaria or yellow fever, and besides
the diminution of these diseases. the re-
suits obtained from better drainage and
measures, the general health OF
the community was vastly improved
Following these results, wholesale war
has been waged on the mosquito in Pan
anna, where fever was rampant in the en-
tire hot season. Panic prevailed among |
the workers on the canal after hundreds |
of deaths followed the ravages of the
dreaded yellow jack" and the deaths
from malaria were hardly fewer in num-
Der.
The falling off in the working force de-
cided Uncle Sam to act quickly, and thus
war was straightway declared on the pest
which was responsible for the greater part
of the trouble Four hundred men were
formed into fumigating brigade, and,
marching into Colon, they went over the
entire town three times, fumigating every
house and keeping close guard on places
where fever cases were in evidenc.
Then came Panama, where the same
process was gone through. Two hundred
thousand pounds of pyrethrum and 100000
pounds of sulphur were consumed along
buckets and other receptacles which might
act as breeding places for the hunted
mosquito were screen-covered and safe
guarded, while other precautionary meas
lres were taken in other places
The result was that stegomyia was al
most utterly routed and the few remain
ing ones left the towns in disgust. These
measures checked the advance of fever,
end eventually lessened it to few iso
lated cases.
The anopheles, being mosquito of
somewhat different personal habits from
the stegomyia. was sought in the quar-
tiers where 1t dwei, among the grass and
algae in clean water.
They never willingly travel more than
100 or 200 yards, so the breeding places in
the immediate vicinity of the camps and
houses were drained by subsoil drainage,
houses screened and garbage removed,
until within sixteen months the place was
strange to all mosquitoes of bad habits.
Rigid quarantine has been kept up effec-
tive hospital service given to the sick,
eternal vigilance maintained, until ma
lariaI cases have been reduced to a mini
mum and yellow fever is rarity among
the denizens of the isthmus.
Pneumonia has been fatal among the
II Il