Evening star., 1925-10-06
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL J.. COLLINS.

Dean Swift little thought that he
was speaking more truth than poetry
when he wrote:
Natlralists observe a nea
And these have smaller still TO bite EN-.
And so proceed ad inf1nitum.
That was written nearly two cen
turies ago. but 1t waited until the
last decade for verification by men
OF science.
Pasteur demonstrated more than
40 years ago the foundations of bac-
teriology. proving that ferments and
putrification did not produce new ami
NAL life, as was generally taught up
to that time. but that everywhere
there EXISTED bacteria. with great
functions in nature, producing
changes in matter, causing diseases,
but sometimes contributing invalua BILE
aid in food production. Pasteur's dis
coveries set scientists at work along
entirely new lines of research, but
neither he nor his successors for 80
years after his demonstration knew
that the immeasurably small bac-
terra which play such part in dis
smaller fleas to bite EN-.
~ X
One OF the greatest achievements
in medical research since Pasteur' 8
day was accomplished by a Washing
tonian, DIR. Henry Rose Carter. as
sistant surgeon general Of the United
States Public Health Service, who
died in this city a fortnight ago. In
I.I ~ nr- ap-fr @
career. issued by the Public Health
Service. following his death. ii il
stated:
Among the most notable of his
sanitary and scientific achievements s
may be mentioned: The determination
of the period of extrinsic incubation
Of yellow fever a foundation on which
the brilliant work Of Walter Reed and
his commission rested, and for which
DIR. Carter was nominated for the
Nobel prize by the distinguished Eng
lish physician and sanitarian. Mai.
Donald Ross. He was intimately as
sociated with Gorgas and Reed
throughout the greater part of their
careers"
Both Gen. Gorsas and DR.. Walter
Reed testified to the greatness of DR..
Carters work as a pioneer in finding
the secret of yellow fever. the mos
quito, as the. host carrying the fever
germs kitasato. the famous Japa-
nese scientist, says Of DIR. Carter S
work: 1T il the only advance in mari
time quarantine since the time Of -the
Nenetians.'
What wonders have really been
accomplished in sanitation and pro-
longation OF human life in recent
years! The Carter achievement
based on Pasteurs work, is one eX-
to raise the average life from 1913
years, in 1855, to SO years and 2
months in 1920. Science thus donates
16 years, on an average, TO all humans
in civilized countries.
The United States Public Health
Service. as is pointed out by its chief,
DIR. Cummings, has eradicated small.
poX in the Philippine Islands, where
IT. had been epidemic for centuries;
has controlled cholera in the same
region. and completely annihilated it
in continental United States. 1t has
checked bubonic plague in California
Texas. Louisiana and Florida. 1t has
helped demonstrate the transmission
of typhus fever by body parasites. 1t
has given the first demonstration that
beriberi was caused by eating polished
rice, deficient in certain vitamines.
1t has shown that the plague was
kept alive by germs carried by ground
squirrels. 1t has developed a method
of treating oysters from polluted beds
so as to make them safe for food.
1t has identified the American hook
worm and, by the Carter research,
conquered yellow fever.
We no longer fear cholera or small
pox. yet as late as 1873 there was a
serious cholera epidemic in the United
States, and 1t was a novel idea put
forth by DIR. Woodwork. supervising
surgeon of the Marine Hospital Serv-
ice, in his report to Congress, to the
effect that cholera came from "unor
Ganic poison gaining entrance through
the alimentary canal"
In 1902 there were in the Philippines
166,252 cases of cholera with 109.46l
deaths. In that year 100000 died
OF cholera in India. So thoroughly
has the disease been conquered that
while in 1911 many ships arrived bear
ing cholera cases, only two cases re-
to maintain that this scheme Of things