36 LOSS THROUGH INSECTS THAT CARRY DISEASE. 



scientific investigations concerning disease, one of the projects sup- 

 ported by the General Government was the investigation of Doctors 

 Copeman and Nnttall on flies as carriers of disease. 



A leading editorial in an afternoon paper of the city of Washing- 

 ton, of October 20, 1908, bears the heading, " Typhoid a National 

 Scourge," arguing that it is to-day as great a scourge as tuberculosis. 

 The editorial writer might equally Avell have used the heading " Ty- 

 phoid a National Reproach," or perhaps even " Typhoid a National 

 Crime," since it is an absolutely preventable disease. And as for the 

 typhoid fly, that a creature born in indescribable filth and absolutely 

 swarming with disease germs should practically be invited to mul- 

 tiply unchecked, even in great centers of population, is surely nothing 

 less than criminal. 



ENDEMIC DISEASE AS AFFECTING THE PROGRESS OF NATIONS. 



In referring to the spread of malaria in Greece, the relation of this 

 disease to the rise and fall of national power has been touched upon 

 in an earlier paragraph of this bulletin (p. 9). The subject is one of 

 the widest importance and deserves a more extended consideration. 



The following paragraphs are quoted from Ronald Ross's address 

 on Malaria in Greece, delivered before the Oxford Medical Society, 

 November 29, 190G: 



" Now, what must be the effect of this ubiquitous and everlasting 

 incubus of disease on the people of modern Greece ? Remember that 

 the malady is essentially one of infancy among the native population. 

 Infecting the child one or two years after birth, it persecutes him 

 until puberty with a long succession of febrile attacks, accompanied 

 by much splenomegaly and anaemia. Imagine the effect it would 

 produce upon our own children here in Britain. It is true that our 

 children suffer from many complaints — scarlatina, measles, whoop- 

 ing cough — but these are of brief duration and transient. But now 

 add to these, in imagination, a malady which lasts for years, and may 

 sometimes attack every child in a village. What would be the 

 effect upon our population — especially our rural population — upon 

 their numbers and upon the health and vigour of the survivors? It 

 must be enormous in Greece. People often seem to think that such a 

 plague strengthens a race by killing off the weaker individuals ; but 

 this view rests upon the unproven assumption that it is really the 

 weaker children which can not survive. On the contrary, experience 

 seems to show that it is the stronger blood which suffers most — the 

 fair, northern blood which nature attempts constantly to pour into 

 the southern lands. If this be true, the effect of malaria will be 

 constantly to resist the invigorating influx which nature has provided ; 

 and there are many facts in the history of India, Italy,, and Africa 

 which could be brought forward in support of this hypothesis. 



