Evening star., 1932-06-30
GERMS MAY CAUSE
'LAN' FEELINGS
Howard U. Sayant Improves
ListIess Students by
Fighting Disease.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

'Iaziness" may be a menacing or
ganic disease.
such. at least, is the conclusion of
DR.. A. B. Jackson OF the Howard Uni
versity faculty. based on experiments
with college students.
BY medical treatment alone DR..
Jackson reports, he was able to change
listless college boys behind in their
grade because they lacked the energy
for mental application into ambitious,
hard-working students in good standing.
He sees also a possible vague relation
ship between laziness and cancer, in
that both may result from a common
fundamental cause. There is no evil
dence that the former actually is likely
TO develop into the latter but the lazy"
college boy of 10 may be more apt than
his fellows to become the cancer victim
at CO.
Habit Rules Some.
DR.. Jackson does not claim that his
| theory-sustained chiefly by impirical
results and advanced cautiously-is ap-
plieable to all cases of 'laZineSS." nor
does he deny the probable force of habit
in producing some cases, He developed
his theory while medical advisor to the
Howard University students. Over sew
eral years. he says. students would come
to him with the complaints of general
lasSitude. SleepineSS, inability to study
for long periods, poor grades. tired feel
ing on awakening in the morning. in
different attitude and q general don't
care" feeling
A casual medical examination. he
says. would have revealed nothing
wrong and the probable diagnosis would
have been that the students simply were
a 10 Dat 1,a
abnormality common to nearly every
caSe-the aSthenic heart that beat
feebly as If it were tired. Rigid exami-
nation in many cases revealed infections
about the teeth, tonsilS or colon. Some
showed a definite tendency toward
tuberculosis, but all these were elimi-
mated from the group upon which DR..
Jackson bases his conclusions.
victims Of Infection.
He concluded that these lazy" stu
dents might be victims of low-grade in
fections, often too obscure to be To-
Gated. which were working continuously
to reduce the efficiency of the individu-
al without producing any diagnoSable
illness. Sometimes even il the Offend
ing organisms were found they would
be passed over as types Of bacteria gen.
orally considered harmless to the hu-
man body. They are often described as
the normal body flora" found in great
abundance in the colon. Most OF them
eventually arrive in the colon, regard
less Of their point of origin, DR.. Jack
son holds. This becomes their strong
hold, where they exert toxifying ef-
feet on various body cells over long
periods.
The way to cure "laziness," Dr. Jack
son concluded, was TO get rid OF them
or protect the body against the toxins
they were producing. Previous work OF
Dr. Jackson on acute rheumatism,
which he believes due essentially to the
same cause, had shown the value Of
various magnesium salts as detoxify-
ing agent. His own work, together with
that OF various European eXperimenters,
point to the conclusion that these in
some way increase the efficiency Of all
the body cells to ward of toxic attacks.
Makes Careful Search.
In treating the college students DR..
Jackson first made careful search for
foci of infection, such as tonsils and
teeth. and eliminated as many of these
as possible Then he administered mag
nesium preparations In very few cases
was he actually able to find toxic ef-
feet manifested by other organic symp-
toms, but he holds this probably was
due to the youth of the patients. Their
body cells were able to ward off the
attacks. but we're becoming tired out
in doing so.
"In every single case so treated"
says DR.. Jackson in describing the eX-
pertinent in the Medical Journal and
Record, "the response to treatment was
remarkable and the students became
fortified for their work" Bright stu
dents who actually were falling in their
work because Of general lassitude and
the don't care" attitude developed am
bition and soon stood high in their
classes
But, DR.. Jackson believes, the impli-
cations from the results may be Of far
more significance than appears on the
surface. He is accommodating evidence
to show that cancer itself may result
from the slow, insidious attacks of
these organisms regarded as harmless
and he has brought about notable i'm
provements in cancer cases by the
same treatment. He stresses that he
is not claiming any such thing as a
cancer cure.
None Of Gases Cured.
None of his cases have been cured
but their general physical condition,
aside from the cancer itself, has Deen
improved and the pain from which
they suffered has been reduced. He
describes one case OF an inoperaple
| cancer the victim Of which was IN