30 



ANALOGIES OF WEKDS AND DISEASES. 



The Days of Few Weeds and of Little Disease: The first settlers 

 cultivated only small patches of ground, olten only a "truclv patch" ; there 

 were few Ivinds of weeds and these were natives and easily destroyed. 

 The Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisia-folia) was proI)ably the chief among 

 them. 



Of the diseases of the native Indians at the tinio the white man first 

 came among them, we know notliing. but we do know that their life was 

 not conducive to the evolution and pro])agation and dissemination of dis- 

 eases, and we can assume that, in all probability, they were practically 

 free from disease. Men who live in isolation, and in proportion as they 

 do lire in isolation, are almost free from the common pus formers, the 

 Staphylococci and Streptococci, with an absence of many of the common 

 ailments of life dependent more or less on them. 



"J I^ early settlers wdre a hardy set of men and women ; they had left 

 their weak and feeble behind, and they led a hap]>y life, especially in the 

 northern part of the State where the Indians were not savage or warlike, 

 owing mainly to the influence of the French pioneers. There were few 

 weeds and likewise few diseases; they had left both behind. But they 

 found at least one native disease, namely milk sickness, or in other words, 

 they found the cause of it, and when this got into the body, through the 

 use of infected milk or the tiesh of cattle with the trembles, a reactiou 

 came on, and this reaction was called Milk Sickness — a disease about 

 which there has been miich discussion. 



The Days of Dog Fennel and Jimson Weed — Of Malaria and Ty- 

 phoid Fever: The Dog fennel came in early, from Europe. Jimsou is a 

 corruption of Jamestown, the early colonial settlement in Virginia. Both 

 weeds flourish in neglected places, on farms, in villages and in towns; 

 they disappear with the advance of progress and civilization. On clean 

 farms and in clean villages and towns we see no Dog fennel today — but 

 there are still Dog fennel towns in Indiana. 



JNIalaria and Tj'j)hoid fever may appropriately be compared and con- 

 trasted with these two weeds ; both were brought in by the white man. 

 Malaria came lirsi and was known as "The Fever." When typhoid fever 

 came in it was called "Continued Fever," to distinguish it from malaria 

 also known as "I'eriodical Fever." T^ntil the decade 1840-18.50, physicians 

 the world over were not able to clearly differentiate typhoid fever, it was 



