PAPERS OX MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH 331 



MAXUFACTURERS' INTEREST IX PREVENTIVE 

 MEDICINE AXD SURGERY 



LeRoy Philip Kuhx, M. D., Chicago 



When the United States decided to build the Panama 

 Canal, the first great problem confronting our Govern- 

 ment was, "How can our workmen endure the dis 

 prevalent in this section until the stupendous task of en- 

 gineering can be accomplished ! ' ' 



The French did not realize in 1S77 when Ferdinand de 

 Lesseps, a great French engineer, attempted to dig the 

 Panama Canal, nor did they realize when they tried again 

 in 1SS4 to 1889, that the "stegomyia mosquito" was the 

 chief reason why they could not progress with this won- 

 derful undertaking. The United States, recalling the ex- 

 perience of France and the great engineer who had previ- 

 ously built the Suez Canal, realized that it was necessary 

 for the Government to find a means of eradicating not 

 only yellow fever, but bubonic plague and malaria in 

 order to go on with this great piece of engineering and 

 do something France had been unable to do up to that 

 time. 



Our Government at once realized that the first step 

 was to clear this zone of disease so that our men could 

 work and live in reasonably healthy surroundings. After 

 a survey of our possibilities, the surgeon general's office 

 was called upon. General Gorgas was ordered to report 

 to the Commission as Chief Sanitary Engineer for the 

 Isthmus. Our Government had to be convinced first that 

 it would be necessary to conquer the mosquito before 

 any work in the Panama region could be undertaken 

 safely. It required quite a sum of money for the Com- 

 mission, composed of General Gorgas, Dr. Carlos Finlay, 

 Dr. Antonio Albertini. and Dr. Juan Guiteras, who co- 

 operated with the Walter Reed board, to go on with their 

 work, but with General Gorgas' enthusiasm and his 

 staunch belief in his proposed methods, his immediate 

 initiative, and his great industry overcame all obstacles, 

 and between the time of the announcement of the plan on 

 February 1, 1901 and September 15, 1901, a period of 

 less than eight months, he eradicated yellow fever from 



