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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



death in those parts of the globe that are 

 most densely populated, the estimate may 

 be taken as at least rhetorically correct.'* 



PROSPERITY OF SOUTH RETARDED BY 

 MAEARIA 



The loss to this country in the way of 

 retardation of the development of certain 

 regions, owing to the presence of ma- 

 laria, is extremely great. Certain terri- 

 tory containing most fertile soil and capa- 

 ble of the highest agricultural produc- 

 tiveness is practically abandoned. With 

 the introduction of proper drainage 

 measures and antimosquito work of other 

 character, millions of acres of untold 

 capacity could be released from the 

 scourge at a comparatively slight ex- 

 penditure. These regions in the absence 

 of malaria would have added millions 

 upon millions to the wealth of the coun- 

 try. Drainage measures are now being 

 initiated by the United States. Parties 

 ■of engineers are being sent by the gov- 

 ernment to make preliminary drainage 

 surveys in the most prominent of these 

 potentially productive regions. The fol- 

 lowing statement concerning the effect of 

 malaria on the progress of this work has 

 been made to the writer by Dr. George 

 Otis Smith, director of the United States 

 Geological Survey : 



"In one of the Southern States n topo- 

 graphic parties have been at work during 

 the past field season. The full quota for 

 these parties would be 55 men, but I be- 

 lieve that something over 100 men have 

 been employed at different times during 

 the season. While I have not exact fig- 

 ures before me, I feel warranted in the 

 statement that at least 95 per cent of 

 these employees have been sick, for 

 periods ranging from a few days up to 

 two weeks, in the hospital. Many of 

 them have been able later to return to 

 work, but at least 30 per cent had to leave 

 the field permanently. By reason of this 

 sickness the efficiency of the parties was 

 reduced, at a very conservative estimate, 

 by 25 per cent. 



* See "Darwinism and Malaria," by R. G. 

 Eccles, M. D. Medical Record, New York, 

 January 16, 1909, pp. 85-93. 



"In my recent visit in this field I found, 

 one man sick in each of the parties I saw 

 and one man who had just returned from 

 the hospital leaving the field for good. A 

 similar state of things was reported from 

 the other parties. I regard the sickness 

 as practically all of a malarial nature, as 

 extreme care was taken in all the camps 

 to use nothing but boiled water except in 

 a few instances where artesian water 

 from great depths was available. In all 

 the camps the tents have been screened, 

 and in every case where the topographer 

 has lived for any time 'on the country' 

 there has been infection. As illustrating 

 the value of the precautions generally 

 taken by our camp parties, I might cite 

 the fact that last year in West Virginia 

 with 30 men living in camp, with typhoid 

 fever prevalent in the neighborhood, no 

 cases developed, while with 6 men living 

 on the country where the same care could 

 not be taken regarding the water supply, 

 two cases of typhoid developed." 



In estimating the weight of Doctor 

 Smith's statement, it must be borne in 

 mind that the men of his field parties are 

 exceptionally intelligent and prepared to 

 take all ordinary precautions. 



Throughout the region in question ma- 

 laria is practically universal. The rail- 

 roads suffer, and at the stations through- 

 out the territory it is practically impossi- 

 ble to keep operators steadily at work. 

 This reduction in efficiency in the survey- 

 ing parties and in the local railroad offi- 

 cials is moreover probably very consider- 

 ably less than the reduction in the earn- 

 ing capacity of the entire population, 

 which, however, is necessarily scanty. 



In an excellent paper entitled "The re- 

 lation of malaria to agricultural and other 

 industries of the South," published in the 

 Popular Science Monthly for April, 1903, 

 Prof. Glenn W. Herrick, then of the Col- 

 lege of Agriculture of Mississippi, after 

 a consideration of the whole field, con- 

 cludes that malaria is responsible for 

 more sickness among the white popula- 

 tion of the South than any disease to 

 which it is now subject. The following 

 forcible statement referring to the States 

 of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, 



