El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-10-26
Army Surgeon, With Preventive
Medicine, COnquers Disease Germ
Discovery of Mosquito Theory Yellow Fever Due to British
Army Surgeons Reseach

~ HE value Of preventive medicine
and sanitary science has been
more fully demonstrated in the
military establishments Of the world.
perhaps, than anywhere else. The mill
itary surgeon has made many of the
far-reaching discoveries which crown
I the work Of medical science. With
large bodies of men under their control
in such q way that these discoveries
could be put to a thorough test medl-
cal men in the armies and navies Of the
( world have been able to prove their
value quickly and indisputably.
Some Of the Achievements.
Standing out among those achieve
ments of the military surgeon which
have made him such an important fac
tor in the progress Of sanitary science,
are his discovery Of the mosquito theory
Of yellow fever and the vaccination
treatment as a preventive measure
against typhoid fever No one has been
able to fully gage the results that have
grown out Of the experiments Of Nal
Walter Reed and his cOlabOrers in their
researches into the CausatiOn Of yellow
fever epidemiCs. Many were the years
in the nineteenth century when the
worlds death list from yellow fever
exceeded a half million soldiers Today,
thanks to the army physician and the
International quarantine, this terror
Of the tropics" has been driven almost
out Of existence.
Likewise malaria, propagated in the
same way and which in the past was so
widespread as to entail more suffering
even than yellow fever, has been
brought under control in those coun-
tries which have proper sanitary regu-
latiOns. 1t has been the mastery or
these two diseases that has made posi-
BILE the success Of the United States In
its great undertaking at Panama
Discovery Of British Surgeon.
1t was a British army surgeon who
mosquito to malaria To the credit OF
the medical corps Of the British army
is also to be written down the present
method of VaCCina ton against TYPHOID
fever. one scarcely is able to realize
how effective vaccination has proved
against this widespread disease Cou-
pied with q pure milk and water sup
ply and with the abolition OF files and
sewerage contamination, vaccination
against typhoid fever has been able 70
drive down the death rate from this
disease almost to negligible point.
Not only does vaccination render per
son much less likely to contract the
disease, but 1t serves largely to reduce
the number Of fatalities among those
who contract the disease. In recent
compilation Of statistics Of over zOUY
900 nonvaccfnated men and $4,000 vac
ciuated ones, IT was shown that only
One-third as many cases or IypnOlO
occurred among Vaccinated men as
compared with those who were unTac-
cinated. The percentage Of recOveries
among those who contract the disease
shows an even more remarka Bile cOndi-
tiOn. Only One-tOurth as many Vaccln-
ated patients had a fatal termination 10
their illness IN comparison with the
unvacCinated cases.
The recent maneuvers Of the army Of
the United States on the Texas IRON
tier afforded a remarkable Illustration
Of the progress made in the appllca-
ton OF preventive medicine In the army
since the Spanish-American war In
1888 the Seventh army corps with a
mean strength Of q little less than H.
600, encamped at Jacksonville Florida
for a period Of about four months In
every particular as to camp site, water
supply, and strength, the condlIions az
Jacksonville were practically paEd4le4
with those of the maneuVer division at
san Antonio. Both encampments were
in practically the same altitude me
length Of the service at each encamp-
ment was practically the same yet III
the case Of the Seventh army corps at
Jacksonville. 1929 men contracted ~
phOid fever, with an addlUonal oo1
probable cases In the case OF the ma
newer division at San Antonio, Win
mean strength Of nearly 1900 troops
only one case Of typhoid fever was as
covered, and this case was IhaL OF
private Of the hospital corps. VINO mas
not completed his immuntZatiOn treat
ment. There was another case OF
civilian teGmster who had not been I'M
munized During the same time That
the army was practically exempt from
typhoid fever there were 40 cases ana
10 deaths in the city Of san ANTONIO
close by.
What preventive medicine has done
for the armies of the world IS disclosed
by the fact that En- the Russian apa-
nese war there were 1900 cases OF ma
laria in Gen. Oku's army OF to,OOO men
during a seven months campaign. N
the japanese war with China there
were 1000 cases Of malaria in an army
only third the size Of that OF Cen
Oku's. In the entire campaign OF Gen.
Oku's army there were only IS cases
Of typhoid fever and yet That 0isease
is more than twice as prevalent in the
Japanese army today as II IS IN the I
army Of the United States me deaLn
"a te in the United states army TO-DAY Us
but little more than half the death rale |
among civilians of the same ages
An Illustration Of what the American /
army sanitarian is able to DO IS as
closed in the case OF Porto Rico w men |
the United States took over this Island I
its PEOPLE were suffering from a disease /
which was called tropical anemla- III /
3 short time thereafter an army OCCUR /
Bailey X. Ashford, discovered that this /
was not the result OF starvation ana [
the absence Of nutritious food. but was I
a disease caused by the presence In the /
intestines Of the sOcalled hook worm /
and that it yielded to treatment He /
found that the many deaths and the l
general disability that the hOOkwOrm /
produces in the people OF Porto Rico j
could be avoided by a comparatively /
simple and specific treatment Half a i
million inhabitants of the island have \
been the recipients Of this treatment \
not strew them from one end OF the /
house to the other Certainly the man 4
who has wrestled with incompetent ser
wants and who knows from personal eX-
perience how tricky a gas range can be,
and how il can lie in wait to bring i
YOUR best efforts at cooking to naught, /
viii view with sNmpathy. and not dis