12 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



problem of tropical hygiene. As a result of the great amount 

 of medical and popular attention which has been given to 

 these diseases, the average reader who has not been in the 

 Tropics probably has the fixed notion that the chief dangers 

 likely to be met in the Tropics are the specific tropical and 

 Oriental diseases, such as typhus fever, yellow fever, amebic 

 dysentery, Asiatic cholera, plague, leprosy, etc. This, how- 

 ever, would be a highly erroneous conception regarding many 

 districts and cities of tropical countries. On account of the 

 universal fear of tropical diseases felt by the white settlers of 

 tropical countries, an unusual effort has been put forth in 

 nearly all parts of the Tropics to bring about sanitary condi- 

 tions with reference primarily to the specific diseases which 

 inspire an almost universal terror of the Tropics. 



The results of this unusual medical and sanitary campaign 

 have been surprisingly effective, producing, in the case of sev- 

 eral tropical cities, sanitary conditions superior to those of 

 northern cities. All the world knows how HIabana and 

 Panama were freed from yellow fever. The city of Habana 

 now has a lower death rate than has any city on the mainland 

 of the United States. Likewise in Honolulu, there is no 

 reason for fearing tropical diseases. The most serious dis- 

 eases in Honolulu are precisely the same as those which 

 prevail throughout the United States, namely, pneumonia, tu- 

 berculosis, and typhoid fever. Cases of leprosy, plague, and 

 Asiatic cholera are of such rare occurrence as to be negligible 

 in reaching a conclusion as to whether or not to visit Honolulu. 

 The clean-up campaigns which have been carried on in many 

 tropical cities have reduced the fly and mosquito nuisances to 

 a minimum. In so far as mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, rats, 

 and the other annoying and disgusting pests of cities are con- 

 cerned, Habana, for example, is superior to any city of the 

 United States. An incidental result of the application of sani- 

 tary methods for the control of tropical diseases is also seen 

 in lowering the number of cases of other diseases. 



