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2 HE IRRIGATION AGE. 



gruel or bread soup serve as nour- 

 ishment to the afflicted, and if ever 

 a place on earth existed where the 

 effects of medicine alone could be 

 observed, all aid by diet, nursing 

 and hygiene thrown aside, it is 

 here. 



Many ailments, the cardinal 

 symptoms of which are so distorted 

 by their mode of living, temper- 

 ment and climatic influence, exist 

 among these people, the exact na- 

 ture of which is hard to discover. 

 A disease called "neurima" is 

 brought about by anger. Any fan- 

 cied or real insult, family disturb- 

 ance, or neighborhood quarrel with 

 these people, whose livers are in a 

 constant state of irritability, caused 

 by their peculiar food and habits, 



death resulting from pure anger. 

 All types of malaria, stomach 

 disorders and nervous diseases are 

 common; but pulmonary troubles 

 are rare, only two cases of tubercu- 

 losis coming under my care in the 

 last two years. Acute lobar pneu- 

 monia, brought on by exposure, is 

 nearly always fatal here. During 

 the last year we have had a cons- 

 tant epidemic of small-pox. No 

 precaution whatever is taken to 

 guard against the spreading of the 

 disease, people visiting a person 

 suffering with small-pox as if it was 

 a case of malaria. Very few peo- 

 ple are vaccinated, as they regard 

 the disease of no little consequence, 

 though none in this vicinity who 

 have been vaccinated have taken 



may make them actually sick, the 

 malady having all the symptoms of 

 acute catarrhal jaundice, I have 

 two well-authenticated cases of 



small- pox, the natives regarding it 

 as a children's disease. Of the 

 1,500 cases I have seen here, all 

 have been under the age of fifteen 



