The prevention of disease / [by various authors] ; translated from the German ; with an introduction by H. Timbrell Bulstrode.

Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The prevention of disease / [by various authors] ; translated from the German ; with an introduction by H. Timbrell Bulstrode. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    67/1090 (page 45)
    [In almost every zone smallpox struck down men by the million till a means was found which., wisely used, protects us against this evil.] The experience of the Franco-German war showed that although protective for some years vaccination loses its protective effect after a certain lapse of time. And then in Germany and in certain other countries re-vaccination in the twelfth year of life was made compulsory. Unfortu- nately we have no similar prophylactic measures against other epidemic diseases. Another disease against which prophylactic measures have befen usefully employed for many years is malaria. The opinion that this serious disease is sometimes con- tracted by merely breathing the air of malarial districts is now known to be incorrect, as it as been shown by Koch and others that malaria is conveyed largely, if not entirely through the instrumentality of certain mosquitoes. Though this was not known in earlier times, yet it was tolerably certain that malaria was confined to marshy districts. And many of the ancient civilized races endeavoured to drain the marshy ground, and thus render it healthy. Some historical documents show that such efforts to drain districts were made in the remotest ages, Reliable in- formation about this matter is first met with, in history in connection with the Pontine Marshes. A large plain thirty to forty kilometres long and eight kilometres broad, lying to the south-east of Rome, separated from the sea by a tableland, was once one of the most flourishing districts. It is said that thirty-three towns stood there under the Volscians. Numerous canals drained the region, and fertile gardens and fruitful fields are said to have covered it. In the year 358 b.c. the Volscians were defeated by the Romans after several sanguinary battles, carried away from their homesteads and scattered. From that time the drainage works were neglected. The houses of the towns fell in, and the district became one of the worst in Europe. In spite of its fertility no one ventured to settle down there, for he would undoubtedly have fallen a victim to the pestilence. The practical Romans did not fail to try and restore this unhealthy region to its former flourishing con-