Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-06-27
INSECTS ARE MANS
GREATEST ENEMIES
Pioneers Of Future Will Be Led by
Doctor - Engineers Armed
with Chemicals.
TROPICS WILL BE RECLAIMED

SAN FRANCISCO, June 26.-Dr.
Woods Hutchinson Of New York,
president Of the American Academy
of Medicine, in his address before the
academy here today, said the world
would see still further remarkable
progress in the development Of the
tropics and that in all colonization
schemes the physician should prepare
the way.
"The Physician as a Pioneer" was
his subject, in line with the general
topic to which all the sessions of this
years academy meeting are devoted,
namely, Medicine in Its Relation
ships to Commerce and Transporta-
ton
DIR. Hutchinson said, in part:
The real enemy Of the pioneer. the
chief obstacle to the spread OF civiliza-
tior "a not Indians, or wolves. or rattle
snakes or even famine or flood or win
Ter cold or tropic heat. but insects, Most
tchomes Of colonization that failed
failed not from famine. or the attacks OF
enemies. but through disease. And more
shan half Of them from one disease
malaria. This IL not merely the csc Of
man. but the age Of insects, geoloeicslly
considered, and the battle is TO the Geath
between them for the possession OF the
earth.
Will Rout Ancient Foes.
"In the tropics the insects get the whip
rsnd OF man and keep him stupid. snort
lived, uncivilized. II was the plague OF
flies, the bloody tyranny Of insects that
drove man out OF the warm. comfortable.
fertile tropics into the chilly, rain-swept'
haif-the-year frozen north. Now grown
20 fun human stature he IL coming back
tn.invade and reconauer the tropics and
Tut TO flight the ancient foes OF the race.
In an earlier day the first requisite
OF a new colony. or a pioneering expedi-
ton, was a captain. bold and sSillful
fighting man with muskets for every
e. own man in the party and plenty OF
powder and ball. But now the first and
most fundamental requirements OF new
colony are doctor-engineer with micro
scope and test tubes, spades and trench
ine machines and plenty OF quinine. kero-
aAeeNAaANN @%NNN~~-N
New Kind of survey Needed.
I'm the near future no colony o land
company viii be permitted 20 tale set
tiers into their new homes until a
thorough and complete survey shall have
been made OF the region-sanitary. medi-
cal. chronological. expert agricultural.
And at least sufficient area to accom-
modate In safety the first group o. set
tiers shall have been drained and kero-
sened and supplied with good water. so
a. to be protected against malaria, ty-
phoid, hookworm and water and fly
borne diarrhoea and dysentery.
I'm the light OF our present knowledge
II should be regarded as little short OF
nAnslaughter TO permit men, women ana
little children who are unfamiliar with
the country. unaeasoned 20 the climate,
20 enter and face tho dangers Of settle
ment In a new country or district with
out this preliminary survey and protec-
tion. whether in their own land or across
the sess. II would cost few thousands
or hundreds OF thousands OF dollars.
but not very much more than the adver-
tislng literature and would save ten
times It's cost In human life ana suffer
ing and failure. besides being the best
possible advertisement for the enter
prise.
New Countries should Ne Models.
New countries can and ought 20 be
made models OF health, efficiency and
comfort for tho older communities. and
could easily be made 30 at moderate ex-
pense. II the physician-pioneer be given
q free hand in advance. as Gorgas was
AZ Panama. In fact, we can pretty
nearly nssure success II the soil be good
and the water sufficient
1T must be remembered in fairness
that bad as insects arc. they do not or
ielnate the diseases they spread. but only
carry them from one infected human
being 70 other healthy ones Deprive
them OF their source OF infection, and
they become comparatively harmless. II
the new country be uninhabited or
sparpeiy settled. Il Is easy to cure or
isolate such cases of malaria. yellow
fever, typhoid. summer diarrhoea or
other disease carriabie by insects Then
sitter few weeks or at the outside
months waiting the infected insects will
be all dead. Generally speaking. how
ever. new settlers bring their diseases
With them, and a most effective way OF
protecting new settlement against not
merely 'nsect-borne. but all other com
rpunicabie diseases. would be thorough
physical examination OF ell intending
settlers and their families. A few weeks
isolation or appropriate treatment with
auininc. saivsrsan, thymol. etc would be
sufficient In the vast majority Of cases
20 clear up al risS, Such examinations
would be worth twice their cost TO the
individuals examined alone: and. IN COM
bination with proper sanitary survey,
would turn new countries and new coll
onies into little heaith-heayens on earth .