122 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



diseased seamen. It was sometimes impossible for those in charge of 

 the hospital to keep the patients under control, and their disorderly 

 behavior caused much worry to the Spanish officials. 



Among the man}^ wise and benevolent acts which characterized the 

 administration of Governor Schroeder was the establishment of a civil 

 hospital. The corner stone was laid by Mrs. Schroeder on the 10th of 

 June, 1900, and the building was dedicated by the Reverend Father 

 Jose Palomo." One of the principal causes of the stationary condition 

 of the population, as shown by the census of the island, was the death 

 of new-born infants and of women in childbirth. A school for the 

 instruction of mid wives was accordingly established, and all women on 

 the island employed in this capacity were obliged to undergo a course 

 of instruction before receiving license to continue their profession. 



The doctors reported typhoid fever to be endemic. Diseases of the 

 eye were not very common, though several cases of conjunctivitis and 

 iritis were treated. Malaria is apparently absent, though mosqui s 

 abound. Among the parasitic diseases are tapeworm and lumbricjid 

 worms. In one year 17 deaths from the latter were reported, and in 

 the preceding year 5 cases of the former were successfully treated. 

 Tuberculosis exists on the island, but is not widely spread. 



It is not strange that the early inhabitants complained tha* the 

 Spaniards brought curses to their islands without bringing remedies 

 for their cure. The last serious epidemic was that of smallpox brought 

 from Manila in March, 1856, by the schooner E. L. Frost, and lasting 

 until the following November. More than two-fifths of the popula- 

 tion perished, and in some cases whole villages were wiped out of 

 existence. 



In the summer of 1899 the Spanish transport Elcano brought to t A e 

 island a disease thought at first to be cerebro-spinal meningitis, but 

 afterwards believed to be anterior poliomyelitis. In some respects 

 it resembled beriberi, but it was not attended with dropsical symp- 

 toms. The victims, all adults, were suddenly stricken when in appar- 

 ently perfect health. Frequently death ensued in three or four days. 

 If the victim survived, paralysis either in the arms or legs was sure to 

 follow, and the muscles of the afflicted parts became atrophied.'' The 

 disease was chiefly confined to the village of Sumai, on the shore of 

 the harbor of Apra. It would be interesting to know whether this 

 epidemic could be traced to the importation of moldy or damaged rice, 

 which in Japan and the Philippines is supposed to be the cause of 

 beriberi. 



Report of the Secretary of the Navy for the year 1901, p. 82. 

 ^ Alfred G. Grunwell, assistant surgeon, U. S. Navy, in Report of the Surgeon- 

 General of the Navy for 1900, pp. 224-227. 



