Manual of military hygiene for the military services of the United States / by Valery Havard ... illustrated with seven plates and two hundred and twenty-eight engravings.

  • Havard, Valery, 1846-1927.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Manual of military hygiene for the military services of the United States / by Valery Havard ... illustrated with seven plates and two hundred and twenty-eight engravings. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    For the production of infectious diseases two factors are necessary: the germs must be absorbed in the body by ingestion through the stomach, by inhalation tlirough the lungs, or by inoculation through the skin; and, being absorbed, they must find a suitable soil in which to grow and breed, that is to say, the body must be in a susceptible or receptive state. The hygienist, therefore, should have a suflQcient knowledge of bacteri- ology, but the description and reactions of the pathogenic micro-organ- isms are of less consequence to him than their mode of transmission and introduction into the human body. Thus we know how yellow fever is conveyed, and this knowledge has enabled us to stamp it out from Cuba and other places, although the causal micro-organism has never been seen. On the other hand, we know the bacillus of leprosy, but on account of our ignorance of the manner in which it effects an entrance into the body, under natural conditions, very little has as yet been accom- plished for the prevention of that terrible disease. As a country develops its material resources under the favorable condi- tions of peace and acquires wealth, its hygiene, as a rule, progresses correspondingly; the people eat better food, are better clothed and sheltered and make more frequent use of the bath, while the cities and State construct public works of sanitation. The result has been a remarkable fall in the death-rate of all civilized countries during the past quarter of a century, as shown by the following figures from the reports of the Census Oflice: In the United Kingdom (England, Scotland and Ireland) the yearly mortality per looo inhabitants which was about 22 in 1870, has dimin- ished steadily until the present time, being 18.2 in 1900 and 15.5 in 1905. This means that, since 1870, for each 1000 inhabitants there is a saving of 7,5 lives or, for a population of 40,000,000, of 300,000 lives a year. In France the mortahty fell from 26 in 1820 to 21.5 in 1900 and 19.6 in 1905; in Germany, from 26.8 in 1850 to 22.2 in 1900 and 19.9 in 1905; in Austria, from 32.2 in 1850 to 29.5 in 1890, 26.6 in 1900 and 24.1 in 1905; in Italy, from 27.1 in 1890 to 24.2 in 1900 and 21.8 in 1905; in Spain, from 30 in 1900 to 26.1 in 1905. In the United States the death-rate for the registration area was 19.6 in 1890, 17.8 in 1900 and 16.2 in 1905. The registration area consists chiefly of cities. The rate, outside this area, namely in rural districts, was only 15.4 in 1900, giving a mean of about 16.3 for the total population. If the same correction be made for 1905, the rate for that year will be reduced to about 15. If, furthermore, we take into account the fact that the colored people, which form such an important