RELATION OF MALARIA TO AGRICULTURE. 523 



Mississippi for the same year there were 20,251 deaths, of which 983 

 or a trifle less than one twentieth were from malaria fevers. In 

 Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina, taking these three states as a 

 whole, a trifle less than one twenty-fifth of the whole number of 

 deaths was due to malaria. Evidently then malaria is responsible for 

 a surprisingly large part of the whole number of deaths in these five 

 states. 



But there is another and much more significant fact to be drawn 

 from the afore-mentioned table. It is seen that, in general, consump- 

 tion, heart disease, pneumonia and typhoid fever caused more deaths 

 than malaria and these were the only diseases that did. But these 

 diseases are much more fatal than malaria. That is, where one person 

 sick with either of these four diseases recovers, dozens are sick with 

 malarial chills and fevers and recover. In other words, malaria 

 causes much more sickness than any one or all of those four diseases 

 rolled in one. Taking Celli's own basis of estimate, we shall find 

 that there were in the five states mentioned, approximately 635,000 

 cases of malaria in the year ending May 31, 1900, a factor truly 

 appalling in its influence against the wealth-producing power of a 

 people. 



Again we must just here take into consideration the fact that the 

 census figures do not give an accurate and full report of all the deaths 

 by malaria. This is an important point because where one death 

 from malaria is not taken into account a dozen or more cases of sick- 

 ness from chills and fevers are not accounted for, whereas when one 

 death by consumption is not reported, it is simply one death not 

 reported and nothing more. The same is largely true of the other 

 three diseases used in our comparison. There is not a doubt that the 

 cases of sickness as a result of malaria would easily number a round 

 million could we obtain full and accurate reports. 



Finally by taking all the foregoing facts and deductions into con- 

 sideration, we are forced to but one rather startling conclusion, 

 namely, that malaria is responsible for more sickness among the white 

 population of the south than any disease to which it is now subject. 



We must now consider briefly what six hundred and thirty-five 

 thousand or a million cases of chills and fevers in one year mean. 

 It is a self-evident truth that it means well for the physicians. But 

 for laboring men it means an immense loss of their time together with 

 the doctor's fees in many instances. If members of their families other 

 than themselves be affected it may also mean a loss of time together 

 with the doctor's fees. For the employer it means the loss of labor 

 at a time perhaps when it would be of greatest value. If it does not 

 mean the actual loss of labor to the employer, it will mean a loss in the 

 efficiency of his labor. To the farmers it may mean the loss of their 



