332 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



this cause were due to the activation of latent stages by acute 

 respiratory diseases. 



By comparing the morbidity and mortality in our army dur- 

 ing the six months of 1917-18 with the records for the first six 

 months of the Civil War it appears that the advance in medi- 

 cine and sanitation has prevented one half million cases of dis- 

 ease and some ten thousand deaths. During the Spanish- Ameri- 

 can War the annual death rate from typhoid fever in our camps 

 per 100,000 was 879; during the six months of 1917-18 it was 

 1.3. In 1898 there was not a regiment in the United States 

 Army which did not suffer from typhoid fever and in most 

 regiments from 10 to 20 per cent, of the strength acquired this 

 disease. In 1917-18, twelve divisions had not a case. If 

 typhoid fever had prevailed in our camps in 1917-18 to the 

 same extent as it did during the same time in the State of Dela- 

 ware there would have been in the army over 50,000 cases and 

 more than 5000 deaths from this disease alone. The morbidity 

 from typhoid fever in Camp Dix, the mobilization camp for 

 Delaware troops, was less than four times the mortality from 

 this disease among civilians of that State. And if the mortality 

 among the civilians had been calculated for the group included 

 in the draft age there would be but little difference between 

 the figures indicating morbidity from typhoid in Camp Dix 

 and mortality from the same disease among the civilians. It 

 is quite certain that every case of typhoid that occurred in our 

 camps during the winter of 1917-18 was due to the fact that 

 the man reached the camp and received his typhoid vaccination 

 after he had already contracted the disease. There is no evi- 

 dence that there was a case infected in any camp. The degree 

 of protection furnished by this vaccine will be discussed later. 



In the winter of 1917-18 our large camps were occupied by 

 National Guard and National Army troops, the former in tents 

 and the latter in barracks. The figures given in Table 2 show 

 that this difference in quarters had no recognizable effect on 

 the death rate. It is desirable at this point to set before the 

 reader the information contained in Table 3. 



