37 



Out, of tlio luiiiiy (lisoas(>s and iifToclions that come under one or the 

 other of the above groups. I desire to make mention of only two, namely, 

 malaria, already referred to, and tuberculosis — one a decreasing, the other 

 an increasing disease. 



Malaria: Malaria was the Grendel of the early Indianians. Today 

 we can scarcely realize what the disease meant to the early settlers ; in 

 some localities it ravaged frightfully. Thus in the early history of our cap- 

 ital city we read that the forest was cleared in 1820 and lots laid out and in 

 the spring of 1S21 the immigrants rushed in to the number of six hundred 

 or more. In the latter part of July malaria appeared, and, I quote from 

 Drake, "liefore the epidemic closed in October, nearly every person had 

 been more or less indisposed, and seventy-two, or about an eighth of the 

 population, had died." In some localities the disease was so severe that 

 farming lands conUl not be sold, and for a long time immigration to our 

 State was retarded ; people went through to Illinois, to the prairies. 



In an account of the diseases prevailing in Indiana in 1872, by Dr. 

 Sutton, it was noted tliat the summer was dry. and in comparing reports 

 from differexit counties of the State it was found that malaria had been 

 more pi'evalent than usual in some of the rolling southern counties and in 

 places along streams and rocky creeks, while, on the other hand, it was 

 less common than usual in the nortliern counties where before it had been 

 very common (but where drainage had made some of the worst places sa- 

 lubrious). At that time the view that decaying vegetation and moisture 

 had a causative influence was xmiversally believed, yet that theory did not 

 explain the conditions. Today, in the light of the role the mosquito plays 

 in the transmission of m.-ilaria, we can readily account for tlie facts. 



In the rolling southern counties many of the small streams are fed by 

 springs which flow a small volume at all times, but in dry seasons not 

 sufficiently to create a current in the rocky, creeks ; hence many pools 

 formed, and these pools served for breeding places for mosquitoes. Or- 

 dinarily even a small continuous cnrr-nit of water will prevent the devel- 

 opment of mosquito eggs, and we must keep in mind the presence of fish 

 and insects which feed on the )nosquito larva, but which die off in times 

 of low water, on account of its stagnacy. In the wet northern counties 

 the drought meant a drying out of the breeding places of the mosquitoes, 

 with a consequent reduction of the nxnnber of insects and of cases of ma- 

 laria. The same reasoning holds for the increase of malaria along the 

 larger streams ; in ordinary stages of water there may be no stagnant pools 



