The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-02-08


| serious one. and this disease, also, will
| have 10 be wiped out before Americans
VIII be safe in allowing our ships to
come here or for travellers to go
| through the canal after leaving Ecua-
! dor Already several Americans have
died in Guayaquil. and there are new
cases now every day. 1t is not safe
Tor any American TO settle in Guayaquii
to do business in its present condition.
You Will remember that Thomas Mast,
! the famous cartoonist. was appointed
consul here. and how he came TO his
| grave. He died Of yellow fever
have spoken of the death of DIR. Wight
man. lie was supposed to be a yellow
| fever immune. a third prominent case
is that Of Major John a. Hartman, the
engineer who built the railway over the
| Andes from Guayaquil to Quito, and a
| fourth Is that OF Commander Bertolette,
of our gunboat Yorktown, who died
only short time ago
| The yellow fever comes from a kind
OF mosquito that can carry 1t only
after biting n yellow fever patient
After the mosquito bites a human be-
| Ing afflicted with the fever il gets the
yellow fever itself; and it can then
inject the yellow fever bacilli into your
system If 1t bites you. 1 had a good
chance to study this disease during
The great epidemic at Panama in 1905.
That. epidemic came from Guayauuil
and II killed some of the officials who
were working on the canal I was at
Panama several weeks during it's
height. and l frequently sat down to
dinner with man. only to hear a few
days later that he had been bitten
and, perhaps week later, that he was
dead. One of tho most pathetic cases
a of a. n
Johnson. who had charge OF all the
building then going on in preparing
Tor our army OF workmen. Mr.. john
son was young man of about twenty
five. of great ability and of a very
lOvable nature. He was engaged to n
girl In Chicago and wrote to her daily.
During my stay we frequently went
out riding on horseback together along
In the evening, through the region
known rs the savannas, and he told
me how he expected to go home in May
and bring back young wife TO the
isthmus That was in March. l left
Panama in April, and before the end
of the month l received the news OF
young Johnson's death.
Another danger at Guayaquil Is from
malarial fever similar to that which
caused so many deaths on the Isthmus
at the time OF the building of the Pan
anna Railroad. This. the Ecuadorians
call perniciosa and 1t Is known to the
Panamans as the Chagres fever. had
Il severe attack of it when last visited
Guayaquil. Perniciosn comes from the
bite of the anophele mosquito, which is
very different from that of the
stegomyia, which carries the yellow
fever The anophele cannot give you
the yellow fever, and the stegomyia
does not carry malaria. The former
will breed In almost any wet place, but
the latter Is fond of rain barrels, and
it does not like dirty water. The
anophele has Its chief feeding time al
night. and for\the most part 1t lives
out of doors. The stegomyia usually
bites in the daytime. although 1t likes
10 keep out of tho sun. -
Neither of these mosquitoes Is as big
as the New Jersey variety. nor hall
AS ferocious. DR.. Gorgas once told me
that there were about 200 different
kinds Of mosquitoes in the world. and
that they cause many other disease:
than those / have mentioned. There /.
one that will carry the elephantiasis
This is a little devil with a yellowist
body and six yellow bands around Its
abdomen. 1t carries a kind of bacill
that forms worms in your blood. They
make your legs swell and sometime:
cause death.
DR.. Perry says the only way thai
, yellow fever can be permanently wiped
out of Guayaqul is by cutting dowr
the vegetation, cleaning up the gar
bage. covering the rain barrels, put
ting oil upon tho bitches and enlargine
the water supply. The city now hai
good water. but the volume Is no,
sufficient. and the water Is allowed
to be drawn only a certain part OF each
day. For this reason many familie,
have storage tanks. which they fll