THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



383 



new discovery clears up a matter of 

 great importance from the standpoint 

 of the practising physician, and it is 

 not an exaggeration to state that it 

 means a revolution in the treatment of 

 fully half of the sick people found in 

 the southern sand areas. 



One of the most important symptoms 

 of ' hookworm ' disease is an extreme 

 lassitude, both mental and physical; 

 this condition is due to the emaciation 

 and to the thin watery character of 

 the blood, which does not properly 

 nourish either the brain or the muscles. 

 Now, curiously enough, it is especially 

 in the sand areas of the south that the 

 poorer whites, known as the ' poor 

 white trash,' are found, and Dr. Stiles, 

 who has been living among these people 

 for a number of weeks, positively states 

 that it is among these people that 

 hookworm disease is especially common 

 and especially severe. He found entire 

 families and entire neighborhoods af- 

 fected, and owing to the symptoms 

 which the disease causes, he asserts that 

 this malady is very largely responsible 

 for the present condition of these 

 people. He states in fact that if we 

 were to place the strongest class of 

 men and women in the country in the 

 conditions of infection under which 

 these poorer whites are living, they 

 would within a generation or two de- 

 teriorate to the same poverty of mind, 

 body and worldly goods, which is pro- 

 verbial for the ' poor white trash.' 



It is true that the poorer whites are 

 found on clay soils as well as on sand, 

 but Dr. Stiles maintains that on clay 

 soil these people are healthier, stronger 

 and more intelligent, hence that they 

 are better fitted for the competition in 

 life, from which the hookworm dis- 

 ease practically excludes the poorer 

 whites of the sand farms. He has 

 further traced families from sand to 

 clay or to the cities and proved their 

 improvement under the new conditions; 

 and conversely he has traced families 

 from clay to sand and proved their 

 deterioration. 



An important point claimed in 

 these investigations is that hookworm 

 disease is especially prevalent among 

 children, and that it not only inter- 

 feres with their school attendance, but 

 that children who are afflicted with the 

 malady and who have gone from sandy 

 districts to a city have the reputation 

 among their teachers of being more or 

 less backward and even stupid in their 

 studies. All this agrees with well- 

 established symptoms of the disease, 

 for it is thoroughly established, not 

 only by Dr. Stiles's investigations, but 

 by observations in Europe and Africa, 

 that hookworm diseases stunts both 

 the physical and the mental develop- 

 ment. Dr. Stiles states in fact that he 

 has found patients of twenty to twenty- 

 three years of age who both mentally 

 and physically were not developed be- 

 yond the average boy or girl of eleven 

 to sixteen years old. 



There are other points in connection 

 with this work, such as the perverted 

 habit of dirt-eating, the presence of 

 the disease among factory hands who 

 formerly lived in the country, the 

 financial loss involved, etc., into which 

 we can not enter here at present. The 

 happiest part of the entire work is that 

 the disease can be easily prevented and 

 that it can be cured. Under these cir- 

 cumstances, we may look for decided 

 improvement among the poorer whites 

 in the sand districts of the south, 

 although this remark is not to be inter- 

 preted as meaning that we consider that 

 ' hookworm disease ' gives us a com- 

 plete explanation of all ills in the south- 

 ern states. 



The full report of these investigations 

 will be in the printers' hands this month 

 and will be issued as a bulletin of the 

 Hygienic Laboratory, U. S. Public 

 Health and Marine Hospital Service. 



CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF 

 WASHINGTON. 

 It is the purpose of the Carnegie In- 

 stitution of Washington, among other 

 plans, to encourage exceptional talent 



