The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-08-24
BAN|SHED THE H00WORN DISEASE
FROM HIS RANCE Of PRACTICE
What One Country Doctor Did and What Hundreds of Others Could
Do With Equal FaciIiy-A Twelve Year Old Boy, Who Had
Never Been to School and Was Bed Ridden, Quickly and Easily
Cured.
l am glad to notice

the stand The Progressive Farmer
has taken in regard to those things
which tend to uplift the farmer and
his family, and put them on a high
er and better plane of living. Being
no farmer at all. [ am a subscriber
to your paper because I am in accord
with the work you have undertaken,
not only from a medical point of
view, but also from an agricultural.
The patent medicine campaign you
heartiest support. That these medi-
cines do the farmer and his family
a great Injury, is not to be doubted.
1t Is so easy, among infants and
young children, with various "sooth-
ing syrups," to smother the flames of
acute illness which at last break out
in spite Of the nOStrumS, but not be-
fore they have done sometimes ire
parable harm. [ shall not say that
all patent medicines are
but that they cost the average farmer
annually a large sum Of money with
out any permanent benefit, is GER
tainly a fact.
But the patent medicine problem
fades into insigniicance beside hook
worm disease. If the South has a
medical problem, it is this one. That
the disease has a vast influence NOR
ally. physically, mentally, and fnan-
cially, is putting it mildly. The prob
lem is an economic one, the financial
loss alone to the South annually is
hardly cCmDHtable.
Clearing a Neighborhood of the
Disease.
Last year a gentleman of this place
assisted me in cleaning it up in my
range of practice. Purchasing a mi
crOScope and five thousand pills, l
began work. Every suspicious case
was examined by me, and all cases
treated until cured. A large umbe
of a o1,rn1 in all CfNp pS or
degrees of infection, and no charge
was made for any examination and
all medicine and treatment We're free.
All that was asked in turn TOR my
services was hat they build a prlVy
and use it, which a large per cent
did. Instructions were given to all
as to prevention and recurrence OF
the disease. Needless to say, the re-
suits were brilliant-children went to
school who had not been for years on
account of inva1idism from this dis
ease. One twelve-year-old went for
the first time. He had acquired the
disease when he was five, and had
beea-a physical wreck ever since; was
b~ed-ridden when 1 first saw him. lust
as pitiful are those cases who are
heads of families, and instead OF sup
porting their wives and children, are
themselves a burden and a care.
Isn't it a pity that children of this
class can't receive ar elementary ed-
ucation on of q p~reventable
and easily cured disease? n a
financial loss to the family. county,
and State, where the father is physi-
callv Unable to do any work at all!
If such cases occur in this locality,
there are others in nearly all sections
of the South, and results derived from
the eradication Of this one disease
would be incalculable.
All Sallovy. BIoated, or Poorly Devcl-
Cl@-3V IN FNsp0n tod
What is now known as hoOkworm
disease was formerly thought to be
due to poor food and bad hygiene. A
moderately infected person Will show
unmistakable signs easily
by any one who has previously seen
a case. I nave seen cases at the de-
pot in Raleigh, while waiting for a
train. children coming in from other
places. OF course. l made no exami-
nation, but from appearances l could
hardly have been mistaken But this
point is valuable, for then every land
owner should be awake to any DIRT
eating. salloW, bloated, and poorly
developed children among his ten
ants. and nave them treated. He will
be amply repaid in the increased
amount of work they will do after
being cured. But, them, it will be use
less for him to cure the patient with
out curing his surroundings also.
Build a privy for them and see that
they use it.
The policy you nave mapped out
for the betterment Of country life IN
Guides a consideration Of malaria. bad
hygiene. and flies. 1t is easy to see
how one Improvement follow n
other, for as soil fertility remains the
foundation of agricultural success. the
farmer learning this first, increases
his income accordingly, and with
more mone he is better able to fight
disease and preserve the health OF
his family.
The time will come, I hope, when
the farmers will be able to fully
screen their houses against flies and
mosquitoes. [ have attended children
when sick, where the flies were SO
thick over the bed / could not ex-