3i8 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Italian, Alpine Type. 



matter liow prevalent it may be, and regardless of the few cases that may 

 be found among immigrants as compared with the huge number already 

 existing, the exclusion of those few is a matter of deepest moment. It 

 is extremely difficult to detect venereal disease in the routine examina- 

 tion of immigrants ; even with the greatest possible vigilance, it is prob- 

 able that many cases are not identified. 



Acute diseases, including the ordinary contagious diseases, are 

 stopped at the immigration station and kept in an isolation hospital 

 until recovery has occurred. There is no serious danger from these 

 because acute disease is easily recognized and ordinary quarantine pre- 

 cautions serve to prevent local epidemics. 



Certain parasitic skin diseases such as favus and tinea tonsurans are 

 excluded. These diseases are caused by a minute fungus which in itself 

 is not dangerous to life or necessarily to health. But the lesions pro- 

 duced by these fungi are disfiguring and loathsome, and the disease is 

 easily transmitted by contact, either directly from the patient or through 

 the medium of domestic animals as cats and dogs, or of common hair- 

 brushes, towels or linen. If the fungus invades the hair follicles and 

 roots of the hairs, its eradication is a matter of the greatest difficulty 

 and often impossible. It is this feature that makes favus and ringworm 

 of the scalp practically incurable. The classification of loathsome and 

 dangerous contagious diseases includes a large group, but the desirabil- 

 ity of excluding immigrants possessing any of them rests on a few com- 

 mon principles. These diseases are all communicable and therefore may 

 spread through an ever-widening circle. They are detrimental to the 

 healtli and usually to the life and noruuil activity of the host. Occur- 

 ring in tlie ordiiuiry immigrant class, they decrease bis productivity and 



