Biology and Medicine 449 



marked success, the comparative failure of the earlier experi- 

 ments -being apparently due to the fact that the injections 

 were not made directly into the space surrounding the spinal 

 cord, so that the anti-serum did not gain direct access to the 

 seat of infection. 



While the results with anti-meningitis serum are not per- 

 fect, they are nevertheless very encouraging. Whereas the 

 mortality in the disease previous to the introduction of anti- 

 serum treatment was about 75%, mounting in very young 

 children to over 90% ; in 1294 cases treated with the anti- 

 serum the mortality was only 31%, and when the injection was 

 given early in the disease this was reduced to 18%. Even 

 more striking results have been obtained in the case of 

 diphtheria anti-toxin, while in the use of vaccines as preven- 

 tive agents the immunity secured is virtually perfect. The 

 practically complete elimination of typhoid fever from our 

 army in the recent war, and in the wild goose chase after 

 Villa in 1917, is sufficient testimony to the effectiveness of 

 anti-typhoid vaccination, while the prevention of tetanus in 

 the wounded, when injected with anti-tetanus serum in time, 

 tells clearly the story of the blessing of this remedy to man. 



With the extent to which trench fighting was developed 

 in the great war, men, with rats and like rats, burrowing 

 and living underground in trench and "dug-out," came new 

 diseases and we heard for the first time of "trench foot" and 

 ' ' trench fever. ' ' The first of these was clearly an individual 

 infliction due to imperfect circulation caused by long standing 

 in the wet. But the latter was apparently communicable, 

 caused by some sort of micro-organism. Here was a new 

 problem for biology to solve. Suspicion quickly fell upon 

 the * ' cootie, ' ' and conviction soon followed. Twenty-two men 

 allowed themselves to be bitten by lice from trench fever 

 patients, as a result of which twelve of them acquired the 

 disease; while four who were bitten by lice from healthy 

 men did not contract it, and eight others living in the same 

 quarters as the bitten men, but kept free from lice, also 

 remained free from the disease, proving conclusively the guilt 

 of the ' ' cootie ' ' as the carrier of infection. 



In the field of protozoology, medical entomology and para- 

 sitology America has rendered conspicuous service both in 

 discovery of new facts and in their application to human 

 welfare. While the proof of the role of the mosquito in the 

 spread of malaria is mainly due to English, French, and 

 Italians, the extension of that proof to include the relation 

 of the mosquito to the yet more deadly yellow fever is due 

 to the devotion and courage of four young Americans (one 

 a Cuban), as a result of which two of these suffered an attack 



