SCIENCE USED IN THE DISCOVERY OF MALARIA 13 



look upon as necessities of life. Could any one be con- 

 sidered educated without knowing more than we do about 

 science ? 



Reasons why we should study science. Since scien- 

 tific devices are used so much in and about our homes, we 

 ought to have at least some practical knowledge of the 

 common things in science, so that we may know how to 

 help solve the problems that come to us. With a little 

 knowledge, we can fix leaking faucets; we can find out 

 why the electric bell does not ring ; we can explain why 

 the ice box is not preserving food properly or why the 

 bread does not rise. Some day we shall be called upon to 

 earn our own living. Opportunities for promotion in 

 many fields of work will be small for those who do not 

 understand common things in science. The practical ma- 

 chinist who can apply his knowledge of the principles of 

 science to the working of his machine is the foreman in 

 the shop. Then too, our health depends in a measure upon 

 the knowledge of science. It used to be thought that 

 diseases like diphtheria, for example, were the dispensation 

 of Providence, but nowadays we look nearer for the cause, 

 and find it to be germs. 



An example of how the method of science was used in 

 the discovery of malaria. The Italians thought formerly 

 that malaria was caused by bad air, and hence they called 

 it mat aria. The discovery of malaria is an interesting 

 story. It was near the end of the last century that a 

 French physician named Laveran discovered that malaria 

 was probably caused by a tiny parasite which lived in 

 the blood cells of man. He reasoned that this was so 

 because he found the little animal only in the blood cells 

 of those suffering from malaria. A little later an English 



