332 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE . 



Panama where it had extended continuously for over one 

 hundred and fifty years. 



If sanitary conditions had remained as they were previ- 

 ous to 1901 and we had lost, as did. the French, 200 of our 

 employes out of every thousand on the work, we would 

 have lost 7,'SOO men each year, and 78,000 during the 

 whole construction period ; thus, the Gorgas sanitary pro- 

 gram saved the difference between 78,000 estimate of 

 deaths under the old regime and the actual 6,630 deaths 

 under the new, or a total of 71,370. General Gorgas esti- 

 mated that the saving to the United States Government, 

 due to the work of sanitation, was a total of $80,000,000. 



The Walter Reed board, working under General Gor- 

 gas, not only conquered the i l stegomyia mosquito ' ', and 

 the "anopheline mosquito" which produced malaria, but 

 also conquered the rat flea which transferred from the 

 rat to the human being the dreaded disease known as 

 "bubonic plague." 



"The Canal Zone," says General Gorgas, "for the past 

 400 years, ever since it has been known to white man, 

 has been one of the most unhealthful spots in all the 

 tropical world and now it is one of the garden spots of 

 our civilized world, with a health condition excelled by 

 no land." 



Many of the great problems were brought to the atten- 

 tion of the medical profession at a time when progress 

 was impossible. Did you hear of typhoid, malaria, or 

 yellow fever epidemics during the great World War? 

 No. You say, ' ' We did hear, though, of the flu epidemic 

 which caused a death rate nearly as great as the number 

 killed and wounded in battle." How our laboratories 

 worked during this epidemic to find the direct cause! 

 Eventually, we will find a way to conquer influenza as we 

 did typhoid and malaria. 



When the different Workman's Compensation laws 

 went into effect a few years ago, there was a material 

 increase in the number of accidents, due largely to the 

 fact that all accidents had to be reported. Only a short 

 time before, employers realized that by active safety pre- 

 vent ion a marked saving in time and suffering of the 

 employe could be produced. Immediately, safety devices, 



