Roman fever : the results of an inquiry during three years' residence on the spot into the origin, history, distribution and nature of the malarial fevers of the Roman Campagna with especial reference to their supposed connection with pathogenic organisms / by W. North.

  • North, William, -1854.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Roman fever : the results of an inquiry during three years' residence on the spot into the origin, history, distribution and nature of the malarial fevers of the Roman Campagna with especial reference to their supposed connection with pathogenic organisms / by W. North. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    486/518 (page 392)
    If it be possible for such large volumes of water to carry any malarial poison at all, the area supplied by the Acqua Vergine (Trevi) ought to be the most affected, as the aqueduct is the shortest, and the site of the head-waters the most malarious. As a matter of fact, there is, perhaps, no part of Rome so generally free from the disease. The question, so far at all events as Rome is concerned, is indeed not worth further discussion, as it has been abundantly proved that the distribution of malaria within the walls is strictly governed by density of buildings and population. It may appear unnecessary to demonstrate that the Roman water supply is above suspicion as a source of malarial in- fection ; the enormous quantity of water and the distance travelled being probably sufficient to account for the de- struction of any possible number of organisms. Nevertheless there are those who hold that, inasmuch as the head-waters of these aqueducts all arise in malarious localities, there is a danger of infection by this means ; it is therefore perhaps well to place the facts on record, and leave them to speak for themselves. There still remains the question. Is the local water (if one may so term it) of a malarious country capable of carrying infection ? Proof of this is absolutely wanting. Ague-stricken districts generally abound in stagnant waters which from every point of view are unsuitable for drinking purposes, but there is no proof whatever that the water of springs and run- ning streams, however malarious their immediate neighbour- hood maybe, is a source of infection, and such evidence as there is on this point worth considering is entirely against the theory that the poison of malaria, if such there be, is water-bred or water-borne. Were this the case, despite the overshadowing influence of other conditions, some proof would be forthcoming that, in a generally malarious country, the better the water supply the less the malaria. There is no evidence in this direction whatever, and we are abundantly justified in assuming, so far as our present knowledge goes, that the disease cannot be acquired through water.