The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1916-02-09
BIT BY TSETSE FLY
LIFE SLOWLY EBBS
DOCTOR, KNOWING SURE FATE,
COMES HOME FROM AFRICA
TO DIE IN MOTHERS ARMS.
VICTIM OF SLEEPING SICKNESS
Dread Malady Which Has Swept
Parts of Dark Continent With Des-
Olation. Germ Been at Work Sew
en- Years, and End Is Near.

Parts of Dark Continent With Des-
olation. Germ Been at Work Sew
en- Years, and End Is Near.
Slowly slipping into that sleep that
knows no waking, before the very
eyes of his agonized mother who,
with all science at her command, is
yet unable to aid him, DR.. Albert c.
Perveil, of Brooklyn, the first victim
in this country of the sleeping sick
ness of Africa, the dreaded malady
which has swept parts of the dark
continent with it's desolation again
and again.
The mosquito was robbed of its
sting when science proved that it was
the conveyor of yellow fever. With
this absolute knowledge mankind is
able to combat that dread disease.
But the tsetse fly of Africa has not
been conquered. Science as yet
stands powerless before this little in
sect no bigger than housef1y, whose
sting brings slow but certain death.
Whole tribes have been wiped out
and million of dollars worth of cat
tie and horses through the sting of
this fly. The microscopic parasite,
the trypanosoma, which this fly in
jects into the blood and through the
cerebro-spinal fluid, is most deadly
germ, which has not been detected
and conquered as the yellow fever
germ has.
For nearly seven years the germ
has been at work in the system of
DR.. Perveil and he is now lingering
in the last stages, too tired and
sleepy to answer questions, unable
to walk, unable to use his arms, but
still a great healthy appearing man
with a good appetite, the object of
solicitude on the part of his widowed
mother, whose only support he was.
1t was seven years ago that the spirit
of adventure led him to enlist as sur
geon with a party of prospectors in
the Congo country. While canoeing
on equatorial river the doctor felt
bite like that of a mosquito. That
was all Yet that was the beginning
of the end
Too well he knew from his books
the symptoms that shortly developed.
Too we'll he knew the sleeping sick
ness had overtaken him, from which
there is no escape.
From that time it has been a brave
fight. Repeatedly he jOurneyed to
Paris for treatment, then back to the
Congo, apparently cured. At last he
was too tired to go back. He man
aged to get over to Belgium, where
| he tried to collect what was owed
him for his surgical services; but war
! had worked havoc and all he could
get was $500.
! So with his 5000 DR.. Perveil cross
ed the ocean for the last time, to find
rest with the arms of his mother
about him, He desired only to be at
! the little old home in Brooklyn,
where he had been brought up. Hos
pitfalls are ready to give him the best
care surgeons want to study MS
case; but he only wishes to be left
alone there with his aged mother,
his life slowly ebbing out, as he we'll
! knows.
A great six-footer, weighing 200
pounds, an athelete before that fatal
! insect on the river in the dark CONT
nent stung him seven years ago, Dr.
| Perveil, only 40 years old, is still
powerful looking. Apparently he isl
! in health, but the awful stupor is on
him, the dreadful curse whose ehd
he knew from the start The gray
HAIRED mother. Mrs. Frances c. Per-
veil. alone, in moderate circum-
| stances. her whole life wrapped up in
her only son. whose life she sees
slowly ebbing away before her, IS
/ picture of despair.
Nurses from the hospitals where
! DR.. Perveil was known as student
back in 1894, have volunteered to
take turns caring for the sick man.
Doctors of high repute have come in
consultation. DR.. Louis l.. Seaman,
surgeon major. U. S. A., retired, an
authority on Oriental diseases, says:
Sleeping sickness is one of the most
terrible maladies that can anlct
mankind. Thousands of physicians
are investigating the subject and ap-
parently they are little nearer So
! luton of the trouble than they were
a decade ago. No effective remedy
! for the sickness has been found. l
wish some American would find
cure for the trouble. 1t would be
great honor to the nation II TINS
could be done"
But DR.. Perveil yawns and slowly
draws answers to questions his
mother puts to him, entirely con-
scious of his fate, then let's his eyelids
gently drop and enters again slumber
! like a weary child.