The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-09-19

until they leave the body.
Anaemia is the first effect. The
skin changes to a waxy white or
| dirty yellow. tallOw or tan (the color
being a general superficial indication
Of the degree of the anaemia) 1t be-
comes parchment-like, Precipitation
being more or less suppressed; in
chronic cases the skin is trOphied-
The patients face usually shows an
anxious, stupid expression; the eyes
stare bIankly, the pupils are dilated,
occasionally there is night blindness.
In the neck cervicaI pulsation, espe-
cially in severe cases, is very evident;
sometimes this can be seen twelve
feet from the patient. A prominent
abdomen is common. There is a
tendency to the development of alb
normal appetites for sour things, as
lemons, pickles or buttermilk; or a
perverted appetite for mud, sand,
gravel, shells, dried mortar, clay, de-
cayed wood, paper, tobacco ashes, or
garments. DR.. Stiles met one boy
who had eaten three coats, thread
by thread, within a year. The dis
ordered digestiOns added to the amaze
mias lead to the dirt eating, not vice
versa.
Effect Upon the Mind.
The effect upon the mind of such
infection is quickly apparent. In
terest in affairs, even the COmmOnest,
wanes. In severe cases there is a
noticeable delay in answering simple
questions; frequently the patient re-
peats each question before answering
What's your name?" one asks of
an infected boy.
Whats -my-name?" he drawls,
staring stupidity.
Yes, what is your name?"
'My-name's -JOhn -ny-JOnes."
After taking a few cents worth OF
thymol and EPSON salts in the next
rev weeks, the boy responds quickly:
What's your name?"
Johnny Jones'"
Thus is indicated the character OF
the change that comes to these amaze
mic people They grow stronger, they
tire less easily, their minds are more
active, they take an interest in things
TO which they had never given a
thought, they are more careful in the
ordering of their simple affairs and
their clothes, they strive to be clean.
The transformation of home IS sur
pr1sing: the yard is cleaned, the stock
and poultry penned, the fences mend
ed, the house repaired and scrubbed,
and all the work about the place is
>
The first case of Uncinariasis which
DR.. Stiles saw was in a hospital in
Washington, d. c., in 1902 He had
pFophested in a lecture delivered IN
1895 that from theoretical conditions
in the Southern states there must be,
inevitably, anaemic diseases in man
there corresponding to the hook-worm
disease in dogs, cattle and sheen. and
which had been overlooked. DR.. Stiles
VI
prominent physicians who said that
he had no right to make such a rash
prediction on theoretical grounds.
A Clever Diagnosis.
The patient whom the government
doctor was called to see in the WASH
ingtOn hospital in 1902 was a white
boy from Virginia The doctor said
Immediately, There Is the disease l
have been hunting" His visual dag
EOsis was confirmed by the use of
the microscope A few days before
this DR.. Stiles had received specimens
from a physician in Galveston, Texas.
who had found some parasites and
wanted, to know what they were. The
same sort Of parasites had been found
in the Virginia boy. A little before
that time DR.. Bailey K. Ashford, U. S.
A, stationed in Porto Rico, had found
there. DR.. Stiles thought the cases
in these three places-Virginia Porto
Rico and Texas-were not isolated,
and he started Immediately to search
for uncinariasis In the South.
First he examined the COnYictS in
the Virginia penitentiary at Richmond
without results. Then he went into
the copper mining district Of Appa-
lachian North Carolina. The miners
would not let him examine them
The negroes were eager to have him
do SO until they saw his miscroScOpe:
then they fed from him, called him
hOOdOO doctor, and some even crossed
to the other side Of the street when
they saw him approaching. One
mining company asked him TO leave
because negroes wouldn't work while
he was in the neighbOrhOod. In des-
peratiOn he went into the woods
There three of the first five persons
he examined were infected just as
the Virginia boy had been. But though
the doctor searched for days in a wide
territory, he found but few additional
cases and decided that he was off the
track.
A Midnight Inspiration.
One night while lying abed he re-
called that the hook worm disease
udu Deeu uOJeu IN seas on the SdUI
TOOkeries of Alaska, in some dogs
whose kennels were on sandy ground,
and in sheep and cattle in sandy parts
of Texas. Next day he got a local
physician to take him into the sand
country. In some gold mines in Ian
caster county, South Carolina, he saw
dirt eaters for the first tiue-men
and boys who ate sand, clay, resin
and SCOT out of Chimnevs. He asked |
to be taken to the biggest plantation /
in that part Of the state. OF the sixty /
white hands working there the first /
twenty he found were infected and /
the planter told him IL was useless t. 4
examine the rest, as all were in the !
same condition.
Near the plantation was a cabin II /
which lived a father with ten emil /
dren; the mother had died recently. /
The old man was pitifUlIy afflicted I
and all the children were in various I.
stages OF the disease.
How much do you and the children