The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-09-13

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other problem when they went to Por-
to Rico. There upon the hillsides dwelt
9 race Of people unthinhably poor.
shabby. degenerate-a race with only
suhtcient energy to sit In the sun as
death crept upon them. The Spanish,
the French, the English. had owned
such islands inhabited by such peoples
for centuries and had complained Of
their Worthlessness and shiftlessness.
The Hookworm.
Major Bailey K. Ashford was the
young American surgeon who was
sent into Porto Rico. He had not been
there six months when he announced
that the Porto Ricans were not suf-
fertng from laziness but from disease.
There was among them a malady that
was responsible for thirty per cent
Of the deaths Of the island. "A thous-
and Of them were dying each month
tromi it There was within them par
lashe. the hookworm. that Slapped their
vitality and converted them into the
miserable creatures they were.
In q little while Major Ashford had
developed cure. When the cause
Of the disease is known the greater
part Of the task is usually accom-
lplished. With a dosage Of thymol the
parasites were banished from their
victims. These worms live in the sand
and enter the body through the bot
toms OF bare feet. Methods of keep
ing them out were devised.
DR.. Charles Waddall styles, Of the
Public Health Service, was at the
same time working along similar
lines among the poor whites" OF the
South. There he found the hookworm
also. 1t has since been found the
world around and millions Of people in.
the tropics who had previously been
thought to be merely lazy and good
for-nothing are being treated, cured.
of q disease and converted into useful
men and women. 1t is another ac-
mplishment for the permanent good
of humanity.
When the present war got we'll I'M
der way in Europe one Of the most
pathetic calls was from Serbia, where
Ia whole people was being attacked by
|typhus fever. Had the war come five
years earlier typhus fever would have
been q mystery, and no man would
Have known the method Of its trans
mission nor how it might be fought
Secrets Wrested.
But two surgeons Of the Public
Health Service had gone to, Mexico
City five years ago and there wrested
from the slums OF that unfortunate
capital the secrets Of typhus. They
were DR.. j. r. Anderson and DIR. Jo-
Iseph Goldenberger, the latter Of whom
came down with the disease, but re-
covered. They proved that the dis
ease was carried by a body insect,
and in no other way.
Typhus fever had been variously
known as army fever, prison fever,
ship fever and latterly as Brill's dis
case. 1t had baffled the scientists
Through the centuries. But here its
riddle solved and so were army SUR
geons able to stamp itsout in Serbia.
These are but the nights Of the
accomplishments that have come
about in that era Of sanitation that
has followed the Spanish
war. Each Of the riddles solved has
been one that has baffled mankind.
through the ages and has always TAX
en- its toll Of human life. Nearly all
OF them came about; because the
Spanish American was thrust armies
into the tropics and with the the mill
Itary surgeon whose business it was TO
keep those armies healthy.
1t is Infinitely to the credit of the
American army surgeon that he solved
in a decade most Of the great puzzles
that had baffled similar organizations
OF other nations which had been In
the tropics for decades and even CEN
turtles.