The sun., 1910-01-10
CEYLONKNOWSTHEHOOKYORM
MIR. COURTNEY WONDERS IF 1T
HAS GOT INTO COY. HADLEY.
May Not Matter to Missouri whether or
Not an Effective Treatment Is Found
WITH standard OH Money. but II
Makes All the Difference To CeylOn.


Gov Hadley OF Missouri expressed
last week some scepticism about the
,hookworm or the hookworm disease,
and he not only declined to appoint a
Missouri delegate to the Atlanta conven-
non which begins week from next
Tuesday for the consideration and study
of the disease under John ID. Rockefeller's
pift Of 81, 10000 but he refused also
70 invite the convention to st. Louis
next year. as he had been requested by
the st. Louis bureau to do.
The Governors decision when published
here on Friday attracted the attention
among others of Walter A. Courtney,
lately Ceylon commissioner to the United
States and before that British govern
mental commissioner at Ceylon and a
planter there for several years.
= my experience with the hookworm
disease operating on the coolie laborers
of Ceylon," said Mr.. Courtney yesterday.
-and nv knowledge of it's ravages there
at the expense of the planters employing
and dependent on coolie labor lead me
10 read Gov. Hadley's pronouncement
with interest and with surprise. not to
say astonishment. To be sure. 1 know
came TO lie mentioned here in the daily
nress there was a tendency to regard il
with certain degree of humor, but l
thought that not only had that tendency
passcd but that it was generally recog-
nized now among thoughtful people that
this parasite and its work in the human
system presented a serious problem
not only for the medical profession but
to the general community of the South.
at all events. owing to its effects on the
& economic and industrial development
Of so large a section of this country
$50 | couldn't quite understand the
Missouri Governor s a attitude and I've been
wondering if Gov. Hadley has the hook
worm d 'sease'himself and if it has made
hun too lazy to appoint a delegation TO
this forthcoming important convention.
The very fact Of Mr. ROckefeiler's large
gift, ! should think, might cause a states
man 10 give the matter somo thought.
for, after all. million dollars is a million
no matter how many more millions "A
man may have. and Mr.. Rockefeller is
rather an astute man; he doesn't seem to
give away money without thinking care
fully whether il will be likely to do some
good.
so ] was interested 10 note that the
% Governor of one Of the States ridicules
the hookworm disease. lie in turn may
he interested to hear that we have H.
this disease, and recognized it, for twenty
ivo years among our coolies ON the
tea estates. and that medical men and
planters in CevFon are taking great in
teTcst in Mr.. Rockefelier's fund for the
pf r.,5a rob infr tha -,
the South. ! wrote about month ago to
the planters association in Ceylon Offer
ing To distribute any of their published
literature. OF which there is considerable.
10 persons Interested here. and expect
10 receive It in another months time
The disease in Ceylon has been very per
ceptbly checked; and that II exists is
bevond ali dfpbts "A, s.
MS possible that the entire native
oo0Aerpopulation OF Ceylon has the hook
worm disc Use; anyway you cant get
them to do any work: they prefer TO work
two days in a way, and then sit down
for FIVE days. So We have to get our
labor from southern India, few hours
away and these Tamals are to such an
extent victims Of the disease that there
ls great loss in the total output of their
labor on the plantations.
We found that out CT our total force
NJ coolies on the estates we usually could
'uTn Oul LOT WOTh only ABOUT % or bS per
cent. The others were hopeless. 1t used
10 he thought that they were lazy. just
lazy Finally DR.. Thornton. now dead,
a Government medical supervisor in
charge Of a considerable territory, made
up his mind that these people were not
la7y but suffering from illness. and no
determined TO find out what the illness
was and what was thes cause of their
disease. He succeeded and eventually
found the parasite - the hookworm ~
FhuW 4
disease ankylostomiasis. DIR. Thornton
wrote about 1t and Sir Allan Perry, tte
most eminent man now there in the
Gove-nrreHt service. who was kniGhted
af"' rcrrs ago. has written about II.
q 'Dr. Thornton and others found that
they could treat the disease with CON
igde bile Success. partly by the use OF
-,hym"l Il 'pE dangerous and only TO
ne al ninsteTed by medical men and
epson salts. combined with low diet.
-%r or" not inclined to heat the blood at
tro s2pa tim" the dict hpd To he nutri-
u'us The coolies ordna lily live wholly
on nee. or they'll Nat p chicken il they
can sneak 0n" They do not eat meat
Md tho d led fish that they eat you know
.s"m" doctors dcCla'e to be a cause OF
leD'o,v
"Onn wav that tis natives get the
ais"n>A IL through thAir feet. They 60
% "'"ot and ~ they get older the callous
hklu becomes full Of cracks and these
,h+ direct ont'ance for the parasites
lh'n aud To-" gene al conditions Of filth,
WIN p""- nourishmant. tell the story.
IN" doctors found that thew could
cur" the victims of 1he disease in about
month"; time, and that If the people
COW" he m?da to take some ca-e 10 keep
'1ean the cure WIS pe 'manent, hut ri
co'lr~" You can I even make those people |
H-m rradlly or quickly to shoes.
within IN" last five yeas about 200 600
"THS IN C"ylon have been planted to
Tnhner; and these plantations will begin
m Vleld IN the next couple Of wears. There
WI then arise again the question Of pro-
curing labor. n the coolies can work
,oG can sec what it means to the planters.
"2d what i means 10 they cant. So IL is
Easy to understand why the people of
ayion are not only giving study and
%ltentlon TO this hookwOrm disease at
nome and the Government is giving
MtHnton TO il, but why Ceylon takes
great interest in the studies instigated
mere by Mr.. Rockefeller. Ove- there
nay have studied it. but they have not
me money that you have here. They
,,2pe Tor results here and are glad to CON
t,nle any facts and information they