Februabt 22, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



177 



ease. Prevention of contamination bj- 

 these three means — sanitary measures based 

 on the discoveries of bacteriology prevent 

 the disease to a large extent. But our real 

 triumph over the disease was not achieved 

 until lately. 



I may here call attention to the fact that 

 the antivivisectionists entirely reject bac- 

 teriology, a science which has disclosed to 

 us the causes of many diseases, and has en- 

 abled us to prepare antitoxins to neutralize 

 the poisons developed by these bacteria. 

 Without baeteriologj' the phj-sician and the 

 surgeon to-day would be as helpless as a 

 mariner without a compass. 



Cases Deattas 



During the Civil War typhoid 



fever resulted in 79,462 and 29,336 



In the Boer War there were.. 58,000 " 8,000 



(In that war the total num- 

 ber of deaths was 22,000. 



Typhoid alone, therefore/ 



was responsible for more 



than one third of all the 



deaths!) 

 In our war with Spain there 



were 20,738 ' ' 1,580 



Our Army numbered 107,973 



men. Therefore every fifth 



soldier fell ill with typhoid 



in 1898! Over 86 per cent. 



of all deaths in this war 



were due to typhoid ! 1 



During the Boer War imperfect attempts 

 were made to control typhoid by an anti- 

 toxin similar to that against diphtheria, 

 which has saved such multitudes of chil- 

 dren. Gradually the method has been im- 

 proved so that in our army it was at first 

 reeoiiinieuded as a voluntaiy protection 

 (1909). The results were so favorable that 

 in 1911 it was made compulsory. It has 

 been said that it should still be voluntary. 

 But as every case of typhoid imperils the 

 health and life of multitudes we surely 

 have a right to make it compulsoiy so as to 

 protect all the rest. All that is necessary 



to prove this is to look at these tables of 

 cases and deaths in our Army and Navy. 



TYPHOID TEVER IN THE UNITED STATE.S ARMY 

 Year CoMs Drath^ 



1906 210 12 



1907 124 7 



1908 136 11 



1909 173 16 



AXTI-TYPHOID VACCINATION MADE COMPULSORT 

 1911 70 8 



1912 27 4 



1913 4 



1914 7 3 



1915 81 



TYPHOID FEVER IN" THE UNITED STATES NAVY 

 1909 189 17 



1910 193 10 



1911 222 15 



ANn-TYPHOID VACCINATION MADE COMPULSORT 



1912 57 2 



1913 22 4 



1914 13 



1915 15 1 



On the Jlexican border, though the fever 

 was rife near the camp.s, only oue man out 

 of 20,000 troops, a civilian, who unfortu- 

 nately escaped vaccination, fell ill with it. 



Now let us see the results in the armies 

 in the present war. 



In the British armies, on March 1, 1917, 

 Mr. Forster, Under Secretary for War, 

 stated in the House of Commons that 



The last weekly returns showed only twenty-four 

 cases in the four British armies in France, Salonica, 

 Egypt and Mesopotamia. He added that the total 

 number of eases of typhoid fever in the British 

 troops in Prance down to November 1, 1916, was 

 1,684, of para-typhoid,- 2,534, and of indefinite 

 cases, 353, making a total of 4,571 of the typhoid 

 group. 



Now the English armies number at least 

 5,000,000. If they had suffered as our 



1 Four in the United States; 4 in Hawaii. 



- A form of fever caused by a bacillus somewhat 

 similar to the typhoid bacillus but causing a much 

 milder infection. 



