MALARIA 



There in a wailful .choir the small gnats mourn 

 Among the river sallows, borne aloft 



Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies. 



JOHN KEATS : * To Autumn.' 



IT has been said that one-half the mortality of the 

 human race is due to malaria. This may very well 

 be an exaggeration, but there can be little doubt that, 

 of all the ills that flesh is heir to, malaria is the most 

 deadly, and exercises the most profound influence on 

 the distribution and activities of man. It will be seen 

 later that the disease is most rife where the densest 

 populations are found, and the mortality of such a 

 closely crowded area as India gives some idea of the 

 enormous loss of life and the widespread suffering 

 caused by this disease. In 1892, out of a total popu- 

 lation in India of 217,255,655, the deaths from all 

 causes reached the figure of 6,980,785. Of these, 

 4,921,583 were ascribed to 'fever.' All these fevers 

 were not, of course, malarial, but comparison with 

 other statistics leads to the belief that a high per- 

 centage of them was caused by malaria. Major Ross 

 states that in 1897 over 5,000,000 deaths in the same 

 country were recorded as due to ' fever,' and that out 

 of a total strength of 178,197 men in the British army 

 in India, 75,821 were treated in the hospitals for 

 malaria. Fifty years ago the loss from malaria 

 amongst the European population of India was 13 per 

 thousand. With improved methods of living and 



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