216 ANKVLOSrOxMIASIS : DIRT CONTAMINATION 



of profound anaMiiia, whicli occurred amongst the 

 labouring population, and was known as Egyptian 

 chlorosis. During the construction of the St. Gothard 

 tunnel there broke out an intense an^umia amons'st the 

 workmen, which received the name of Tunnel Anaemia. 

 In more recent times severe loss -svas caused by its ex- 

 tensive prevalence under the name of Miners' Anaemia 

 in the coal mines of ^^"estphalia ; and still more recently 

 Professor Haldane has given prominence to it by 

 making accurate observations upon its presence and 

 cause in Cornish mines. In tlie tropics, under the 

 name Tropical Anaemia, it produces a very great 

 sickness and death rate amonijst the labouring" classes ; 

 this is notably so in India and Ceylon, and to a certain 

 extent amongst the coolie labourers employed in the 

 West Indies. The disease is therefore widely distri- 

 buted over the globe. Its leading feature is profound 

 anaemia, and the consequences of amemia — i.e. loss of 

 working capacity and invaliding ; it is therefore the 

 labour-paralysing disease, and it has in consequence 

 received great attention from scientific observers all 

 over the world, and we are now reaping to the full 

 the benefits of their discoveries. Observers found that, 

 whether the disease was called " tropical," " miner " or 

 " tunnel " anaemia, " Egyptian chlorosis " or " earth- 

 eater's disease," "grounditch " or "hook-worm disease," 

 the cause was one and the same, a small intestinal 

 parasite, the Ankijlostomum dnodcnd/c, which inhabited 

 the intestines in very large numbers and led to a 

 considerable loss of blood in consequence. The egg^ 

 of the adult worms were passed in tlic excreta, 



