HEALTH CONDITIONS 



to increase the countryman's confidence in 

 the medicine bottle, and also the depend- 

 ence on the midwife who in many cases 

 may not be too cleanly or too well informed 

 and the results of whose practice may not 

 at once be apparent. 



Rural diseases 



A number of important diseases are 

 mostly rural and need to be given special 

 attention by those who are interested in 

 country-life affairs. Typhoid fever is es- 

 sentially a rural disease in its origin ; so is 

 malaria. Perhaps the most remarkable 

 example now before the public is the hook- 

 worm disease of the South, to which I have 

 already referred, and which is said to in- 

 volve four million people. The parasite 

 that produces this disease has been termed 

 "the germ of laziness." It is quite hope- 

 less to rely only on teaching and preaching 

 with persons who are ill with hook-worm; 

 they need medical attendance. 



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