Evening star., 1935-02-05
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

The great malaria epidemic sweep
ing over Ceylon-to date it has at
tackled fourth of the population and
caused more than 10000 deaths-is a
striking repetition of what, in all
probability, caused the rapid downfall
of some of the worlds greatest civili-
cations, according to British medical
officers who are trying to check its
spread.
Eight centuries ago Northern and
Eastern Ceylon was literally tropical
paradise with great cities, roads and
an irrigation system that was among
the wonders of the world. A military
invasion from India drove out the
populace. The great irrigation reser-
voirs and bitches deteriorated and
mosquitoes multiplied by the millions.
Malaria got the upper hand. When
the refugees struggled back after the
invasion they perished. The great
cities, some of them almost the size
of Washington, tumbled down and
were buried under the jungle. Ever
since the whole countryside has sup
ported only a scanty, poverty-stricken
and malarial population. 1t has been
impossible to settle the land, either
with whites or natives.
Quite different has been the condi-
ton Of Southern and western Ceylon,
where there Is plenty Of rainfall, swift
flowing streams and an equable cli-
mate. It supports a population of
about 400 to the square mile. Parts
of this country are well known as
health resorts. The central plateau
is described as "a tropical New Eng
land"
But right beside it Is the malarial
jungle and every now and then, for
some unknown reason, the disease
breaks out and decimates the popu-
lation of the fertile country. The
longer the epidemic persists the harder
to check 1t because the fields are left
uncultivated and the streams become
clogged. This present Epidemic Is de-
scribed by the Lancet, official journal
of the British Medical Association, as
the worst in history and at a less
enlightened time might have resulted
in depopulating the island.
The efficacy of malaria as a de-
stroyer of civilizations is illustrated
in the fall of the Maya culture in
Central America-which represented
the greatest height which aboriginal
peoples attained in the New World.
The strange decline and disappear
ance of the Maya cities beneath the
jungle often has been attributed to
malaria, which produced a progress
sively deteriorating effect once it had
gotten foothold.
A new kind of visitors to earth
from the vastness of outer space Is
being studied by Prof. Carl Stormer,
former research associate of the Car
negie Institution of Washington and
now at the Norwegian Institute OF
Astrophysics.
These are the luminous night
clouds, blue-white in color, which are
observed during the Summer months
speeding across the sky at speed
of about 40 yards second and at a
height of about go miles. They are
seen chiefly in high ATTITUDES, mostly
between midnight and morning, and
move from east to west, so that they
have been noted over Canada within
about 80 hours of their appearance
over Norway.
After eliminating various other pos
sibilities as that of fine clouds
of water vapor or ice crystals at such
great height-Stormer concludes
that these are clouds Of interstellar
DUST which drift into the earth's at
mosphere and may be considered as
essentially Of the same nature as
f1eteors- Their tendency to recur at