El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-10-26

and a second campaign is now being
planned 1t is the belief Of the war
department that it viii practically rid
the island Of the disease.
Reri-BerI Due to Polished Rice.
one OF the most obstinate and diff
cult diseases IN the Philippines, and,
indeed Of the whole Orient is "beri-
peri There have been outbreaks Of
this disease in South Carolina, Texas
Arkansas and California. 1T has been
demonstrated that 1t is produced by the
eating Of polished rice. An army sur
geOnt Dr. Fraser is entitled to the cred
1t for the discovery. He took two cOOps
or chickens with u in each coop. To
the chickens in one coop ne fed polished
unpOnshed rice Between the slXtieth
and SEVENTEEN days, eight cases of BERT
Deri developed among the chickens
which were fed polished rice. None
ueEeii9ped among those which were fed
unpOnsned rice Those that were sick
got wei as soon as they were put upon
diet Of unpublished rice. Later, he fed
pO1Shed rice to the ones which had un-
polished rice before, and gave unpOl-
lsned rice TO the ones which had been
eating polished rice in the former eX-
pertinent The results were practically
the same.
Stiu later he selected $50 workmen
and fed One-half Of them polished rice
and the other half unpublished rice. AZ
ter the siXtieth day of polished rice
diet the disease broke out in that body
unpublished rice diet contracted it. When
ne reversed conditions, those who were
changed from the unpublished rice to
polished rice got sick and those who
ished rice got well These experiments
have practically conquered this wide
spread disease Of the Orient.
Taft Praises Army Surgeons.
president Taft, in a recent address TO
medical men, declared it to be his belief
that In the II short years that the Unit
ed states has been responsible for the
health OF Its peoples in tropical eli
mates, the American army physician
has made more progress IN the discovery
OF methods Of prevention and cure for
tropical diseases than all the other
countries together have made in the
two centuries that they have been in
control Of tropical countries
During the Revolutionary war. DIT
Benjamin Rush wrote a pamphlet for
the guidance OF the medical officers Of
the Revolutionary army. He declared
his belief that 1t would be possible IN
der absolutely correct sanitary condf-
tons TO entirely Danish camp dfseas es-
He pointed out that the armies Of
Greece and Rome had few such diseases
One Of the essentials OF army health
laid down by him was a diet generally
made Up Of vegetables He declared
that II every tree on the American
continent produced Jesuit bark there
would not be enough Of 1t to restore
the health Of soldiers who eat from one
to two pounds Of meat a day.
he asserted that It would need the
arm Of a Hercules co encounter the
preJudices in favor OF drinking In the
army, practice which he felt laid the
foundation OF disease and cut down the
effectiveness Of the continental troops.
BE further asserted that II men grew IS
fast and as spontaneously as blades OF
grass the want OF cleanliness in three
campaigns would reduce them to
mere nanQrul. he announced that upon
the health OF the army depended the
hope Of the colonies and begged his
cOmpatriots TO labor diligently to keen
the army clean The recommendation
in this pamphlet were such as might
be made today, showing that BENJAMIN
Rush knew empirically what the army
surgeon OF today knows scientifically.