THE PRESEXT EVOLUTION OF MAN — PHYSICAL 275 



The above table is even more significant than it 

 appears. Had the habits and customs of the Euroj)eans 

 been the same as those of the Asiatics, without doubt 

 their death-rate would have been higher than it was, as 

 may be judged from the following extract — 



" It has been stated over and over again that negroes 

 and natives of the countries where malarial fevers 

 are endemic are themselves immune to the poison of 

 malaria. 



" This is too sweeping a statement to make, certainly 

 so far as regards British Guiana, and I believe of other 

 tropical countries as well. 



" It is quite true, I think, that the negroes and 

 Creoles of this colony do not suffer to nearly so great an 

 extent as foreigners ; a very marked difference in this 

 respect being evidently noticeable in the numbers of 

 the coolies attacked compared with those of the negroes 

 and Creoles. Coolies all suffer to a very gi'eat degree, 

 and are probably tlie class of foreigners most subject to 

 the malarial poison. 



" On the other hand, we must take into account in 

 dealing with the question of immunity in the natives of 

 tropical countries the various conditions under which 

 they live as compared with those of foreigners. Now, 

 unfortunately, the natives of this country live under the 

 most insanitary conditions — conditions which would 

 soon be fatal to Europeans unaccustomed to tropical 

 life. Yet their death-rate would jjrobably compare very 

 favourably with that of foreigners. 



" Again, the reason why the coolie suffers so terribly 

 from malaria as compared with other foreigners is 

 obviously due to the conditions under which he lives, 

 and doubtless partly also to his occupation. The coolies, 

 as we all know, live in huts built on the ground, in 

 many cases no attempt being made to raise the floor, the 

 latter as often as not being mother-earth ; so that they 

 may be said to be literally grovelling in malarial dust. 

 Their occupation being mainly that of agriculturalists. 



