122 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 
diseased seamen. It was sometimes impossible for those in charge of 
the hospital to keep the patients under control, and their disorderly 
behavior caused much worry to the Spanish officials. 
Among the many wise and benevolent acts which characterized the 
administration of Governor Schroeder was the establishment of a civil 
hospital. ‘The corner stone was laid by Mrs. Schroeder on the 10th of 
June, 1900, and the building was dedicated by the Reverend Father 
José Palomo.” One of the principal causes of the stationary condition 
of the population, as shown by the census of the island, was the death 
of new-born infants and of women in childbirth. A school for the 
instruction of midwives was accordingly established, and all women on 
the island employed in this capacity were obliged to undergo a course 
of instruction before receiving license to continue their profession. 
The doctors reported typhoid fever to be endemic. Diseases of the 
eye were not very common, though several cases of conjunctivitis and 
iritis were treated. Malaria is apparently absent, though mosquitoes 
abound, Among the parasitic diseases are tapeworm and lumbricoid 
worms. In one year 17 deaths from the latter were reported, and in 
the preceding year 5 cases of the former were successfully treated. 
Tuberculosis exists on the island, but is not widely spread. 
It is not strange that the early inhabitants complained that. the 
Spaniards brought curses to their islands without bringing remedies 
for their cure. The last serious epidemic was that of smallpox brought 
from Manila in March, 1856, by the schooner /. ZL. vost, and lasting 
until the following November. More than two-fifths of the popula- 
tion perished, and in some cases whole villages were wiped out of 
existence. 
In the summer of 1899 the Spanish transport /eano brought to the 
island a disease thought at first to be cerebro-spinal meningitis, but 
afterwards believed to be anterior poliomyelitis. In some respects 
it resembled beriberi, but it was not attended with dropsical symp- 
toms. ‘The victims, all adults, were suddenly stricken when in appar- 
ently perfect health. Frequently death ensued in three or four days. 
If the victim survived, paralysis either in the arms or legs was sure to 
follow, and the muscles of the afflicted parts became atrophied.” The 
disease was chiefly contined to the village of Sumai, on the shore of 
the harbor of Apra. It would be interesting to know whether this 
epidemic could be traced to the importation of moldy or damaged rice, 
which in Japan and the Philippines is supposed to be the cause of 
beriberi. 
“ Report of the Secretary of the Navy for the year 1901, p. 82. 
’ Alfred G. Grunwell, assistant surgeon, U. 8. Navy, in Report of the Surgeon- 
General of the Navy for 1900, pp. 224-227. 
