172 



Before 1818 there had been some malaria attacks but hitherto they had not 

 been very conspicuous. In 1826, after a very warm summer, a terrible epidemic 

 broke out. On the island Langeland about, one fourth of all the inhabitants were 

 attacked; the leading physicians supposed that the whole generation of the period 

 living in the middle part of Seeland would succumb. Again in 1831 the epidemic 

 ravaged Denmark as one of the most terrible epidemics we have ever had; the term 

 "Lolland fever" originates from that time. It lasted to 1834. In the years 1847 49; 

 1853 56, 1859 62 a series of smaller epidemics appeared. From that moment we 

 observe an uninterrupted fall of the curve though with some undulations and a 

 series of low vertices; nowadays endemic malaria does not exist in our country; 

 from abroad cases of malaria have been brought in; in the year 1914, 33 foreign 

 malaria cases have been treated; not a single one of them can be regarded as 

 indigenous. It is a disease nowadays extinct in our country. 



How terrible was the epidemic about 1830 will be seen from the following 

 description (C. A. HANSEN) (1886 p. 151): After a few days of a nasty smelling 

 blighting fog in July the malaria suddenly attacked a very great part of the popula- 

 tion. As by a flash of lightning several hundreds were attacked in all directions in 

 the same parish. Upon Lolland there were two parishes with 2000 inhabitants of which 

 1800 were attacked and 98 died. The percentage of mortality was greater in the 

 Cholera year 1853 when more than 50 /o of the attacked succumbed, but the actual 

 number of attacked persons was much greater in the malaria years. Suddenly 

 during work in the fields the workers dropped down. The whole stock of servants 

 even of larger farms and estates would be attacked simultaneously ; the cattle could 

 not be milked and any stranger who cared to was allowed to take the milk. In 

 Maribo county (Lolland) 28,788 persons were attacked i. e. about half of the 

 whole population; 1114 died. The malaria occurred mainly in the benign form, but 

 also perniciosa occurred. The malaria devastated the whole country, especially 

 Lolland Falster, a district in Middle Seeland, North Seeland round Lyngby, the 

 island of Langeland and the area round Silkeborg, Jutland. 



It is very peculiar to see that in the same county where formerly more than 

 28,000 people were attacked in one of the large epidemics, the medical officer of 

 the county was only able to count 300 attacks in the time from 1875 87, from 

 1887 1900 only 10 and after 1900 not a single one. Old people are still living 

 who have either had malaria themselves or have given me the most vivid descrip- 

 tion of the disease and its general character. 



If now we will try to combine the description of the disease in old days with 

 what we nowadays know with regard to the transmission of the infection and with 

 the biology of the Anophelines nowadays in our country, we shall see that these 

 different facts, gained in very different ways, cannot be brought into connection 

 with one another. 



Before discussing the matter I wish to call attention to the following fact. 

 Being no physician I am forced uncritically to accept the material at hand as it is. 



