Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1911-05-31

banner out ninety times In the United
States. There have been ninety Of
these deadly invasions of this mos
quito-borne disease. DIR. Reed made
1t certain that there will never be an
other Of any serious proportions.
Yellow fever will never call forth
the acts of heroism that 1t did in
Louisville, Memphis. New Orleans and
other cities in the old "fever belt"
Reed was sent to Cuba in 1900 to
help clean up the island. Death rates
In all diseases sank steadily under
the improved sanitation. Yellow fever
remained unchanged. Reed became
possessed Of the notion that yellow
fever was carried from victim to
victim by the mosquito. Reed, Car
roll and Lazear offered themselves as
experimental subjects. Lazear died
and Reed came back to the states in
a. weakened condition, and finally
passed away because of the low vital
ity that was left him after his battle
with the tropical disease. (
Doctors and surgeons are dying al
most every month in the year from
cancer. tuberculosis, fevers, blood
poisoning or some obscure ailment
that attacks when least expected.
Most of the research students Of medi-
cine understand that they are taking
their lives literally In their hands
when they enter upon their studies.
Disease germs lurk In the air about
them during most Of their waking
hours. They literally lie down and
get up with death, and their waking
moments are taken up with the han
ding and culturing Of germs that may
at any time infect them. A single slip
may prove fatal. When doctor
starts upon a career Of research he
understands just what his chances are
and accepts them.
1t Is Just year in this month since
DR.. Ricketts, died in the little Ameri,
can hospital in Mexico City. Ricketts,
had come into the City Of Mexico
from Washington for the purpose Of
studying the germs Of typhoid fever.
He was one Of the first authorities ca
typhoid in this country, but his knowl.
edge could not save him from the
clutches Of the typhoid bacilli.
You can find men Of this stripe in
the fever-ridden areas of the tropics,
searching for the secret of the sleep.
ing sickness. of the plague and the
malignant enteric fevers that sweep
thousands into their graves yearly.
Armed with serums, quinine,- micro
scopes and testing tubes. they ven
ture into the valleys of the Amazon,
the Niger and the Ganges, hoping to
add something to the sum total Of
human knowledge in the matter Of
diseases. English and Russian SCI
entists can be found in the hill coun.
tries on the Tibetan provinces making
close and careful studies Of goitre and
the nameless diseases tar slay the
Tibetan in his smoky hut. American
doctors are facing death, sud, worse,
In the Philippines. making careful In
vestigations of the weird affections
that have killed the "listle brown
brother" for generations.
There are laboratories III America
that hold more Of the concentrated es-
sence of death than all the nitro.
glycerin works that arc scattered
over the country. There are rooms
In many of the modern institutions
that make specially Of investigation.
where every test tube helds enough
OF sudden death to deciHate city.
Tetanus. the germs OF hood poison,
meningitis and cultures ef diphtheria
and the black plague are ranged upon
the shelves. Careful scientists whose
white aprons and rubber,gloved hands
brush extinction at every move, watch
the growth and the life history Of
these assassins, that the race at large
may profit by their watching.