PRACTICE OF MEDICINE AND HYGIENE 



the result of saving lives and reducing the pain 

 of scorpion poisoning. 



Hook-worm disease, uncinariasis, is due to a 

 parasite which attaches itself to the inside of 

 the intestine and sucks the blood. It threat- 

 ened to invalid the whole population of Porto 

 Rico ten years ago. The recent studies of 

 Stiles show that 12.6 per cent, of the employes 

 in the cotton mills of the Southern United 

 States are afflicted by the disease. Mr. John 

 D. Rockefeller has given one million dollars to 

 be employed by a commission towards the 

 study and conquest of the disease in this re- 

 gion. It is now capable of control as a result 

 of experimental methods. Fortunately a sub- 

 stance has been discovered which when taken 

 internally causes the parasites to becomes dis- 

 lodged, after which the only treatment neces- 

 sary is that for the anemia. 



Filarial disease is caused by a nematode 

 worm of which there are over 200 species. 

 Some are parasites in dogs and birds. They 

 find their way into the lymphatic and blood 

 vessels of man, and are causes of many of the 

 common diseases of warm countries. How these 

 parasites entered the body was not known until 

 the notable discovery of Meson (1879) of the 

 9 115 



Hook-worm 

 disease. 



Filarial 

 disease. 



