ENDEMIC DISEASE AFFECTING PROGRESS OF NATIONS. 37 



" We now come face to face with that profoundly interesting 

 subject, the political, economical, and historical significance of this 

 great disease. We know that malaria must have existed in Greece 

 ever since the time of Hippocrates, about 400 B. C. AVhat effect 

 has it had on the life of the country? In prehistoric times Greece 

 was certainly peopled by successive waves of Aryan invaders from the 

 north — probably a fair-haired people — who made it what it became, 

 who conquered Persia and Egypt, and who created the sciences, 

 arts, and philosophies which we are only developing further to- 

 day. That race reached its climax of development at the time of 

 Pericles. Those great and beautiful valleys were thickly peopled 

 by a civilization which in some ways has not been excelled. 

 Elverywhere there were cities, temples, oracles, arts, philosophies, 

 and a population vigorous and well trained in arms. Lake Kopais, 

 now almost deserted, was surrounded by towns whose massive works 

 remain to this day. Suddenly, however, a blight fell over all. Was 

 it due to internecine conflict or to foreign conquest? Scarcely; for 

 history shows that war burns and ravages, but does not annihilate. 

 Thebes was thrice destroyed, but thrice rebuilt. Or was it due to 

 some cause, entering furtively and gradually sapping away the 

 energies of the race b}^ attacking the rural population, by slaying 

 the new-born infant, by seizing the rising generation, and especiallj'^ 

 by killing out the fair-haii'ed descendant of the original settlers, 

 leaving behind chiefly the more immunised and darker children of 

 their captives, won by the sword from Asia and Africa? * * * 



" I can not imagine Lake Kopais, in its present highly malarious 

 condition, to have been thickly peopled by a vigorous race; nor, on 

 looking at those wonderful figured tombstones at Athens, can I 

 imagine that the healthy and powerful people represented upon 

 them could have ever passed through the anaemic and splenomegalous 

 infancy (to coin a word) caused by widespread malaria. Well, I 

 venture only to suggest the hypothesis, and must leave it to scholars 

 for confirmation or rejection. Of one thing I am confident, that 

 causes such as malaria, dysentery, and intestinal entozoa must have 

 modified history to a much greater extent than we conceive. Our 

 historians and economists do not seem even to have considered the 

 matter. It is true that they speak of epidemic diseases, but the 

 endemic diseases are really those of the greatest importance. * * * 



" The whole life of Greece must suffer from this weight, which 

 crushes its rural energies. Where the children suffer so much, how 

 can the country create that fresh blood which keeps a nation young? 

 But for a hamlet here and there, those famous valleys are deserted. 

 I saw from a spur of Helikon the sun setting upon Parnassus, Apollo 

 sinking, as he was wont to do, towards his own fane at Delphi, and 

 pouring a flood of light over the great Kopaik Plain. But it seemed 



