The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-09-12

become Of the greatest consequence.
There is all the material here necessa-
ry for the establishment Of tropi-
cal medical school and all the knowl-
edge necessary for that purpose is
also here
"I found here conditions which Of
fer special interest with regard to the
etymology of the disea. wanted to
learn as much as possible of pellagra
while here The time was short but
we have been hard at work.
Some years ago when l began to
investigate the, fundamental facts l
was able to observe that they did not
coincide, almost without exception,
with the maize theory. This has al
ways been an Italian theory. Pella-
gra was first discovered in Spain,
but the disease was not there ascrib-
ed to maize. In France the Italian
theory was taken up and espoused.
Later it was believed that moisture
rising from streams was the cause
of the disease which was contracted
by the stream and the patient in dy-
ing, was supposed to turn to the
stream. These theories were not in
any way connected with maize.
Where They Never Ate Maize.
"since coming the the United States
I have had no difficulty in obtaining
material for study" continued DR..
Sambon, and remarked on the fact
several more times during the course
of his interesting talk.
"I examined Italian districts and
found the disease areas coincident
with streams, generally where there
were both hills and streams numerous
and usually in the foothills of the
Alps and Apprentices. 1 also examln-
ed districts in Hungary and Spain
and in the southwest Of France, find
ing the same conditions everywhere.
I'm the Pyrences conditions were SIM
liar with those in the Apprentices.
The disease was pronounced in the
foothills. Later I published map
showing the prevalence of the disease
in the hilly regions by the rivers.
'In Sicily and Messina, where
Maize had never been eaten, the peo-
pie still had pellagra. The discovery of
the disease in the British Island
completely disproved the maize the
ory. In one family I found three
cases wnere maize had never been
eaten.
Due to Insect, He Says.
eff maize was not responsible, what,
was the cause? The seasonable re
currence of symptoms was another
feature to be looked into. The whole
literature of pellagra shows tnat the
disease is not contagious, Cases prove
that women can even nurse children
without communicating the disease,
even if they are infected themselves.
l took one child in my own home
suffering from pellagra and she llv-
ed with my own three children and
my wife. They are all perfectly heal
thy at this time, although when the
child came there she was very poor
specimen Of humanity.
while the disease is not contagious.
when the people come from a healthy
locality and go to the infected zone'
they are almost certain to contract
the disease within a year.
cit appeared to be an insect-born
disease, and that is absolutely my own
opinion. Everything seems to tend
to the support of such a theory
What is that insect?
Malaria and pellagra, I discovered
have generally an absolutely inverse
distribution. Indications seemer to
point to an aquatic fly, however, as
the insect" DR.. Sambon cited the
case of the Lower and Upper Tiber,
where malaria is found in the lower
region and pellagra in the upper and
there is no mixture Of the two in the
intervening region.
May be the Stable Fly.
whatever the insect was, it eVi-
IDENTITY preferred swiftly flowing
stream, and the season in which the
flies appear coincided perfectly with
what we know of pellagra. The f1y'
l decided, must be biting fly. The
stable fly, stomoxys calcitrans, seem
od favorable for the transmission OF