Volume 1

The prevention of malaria / by Ronald Ross ; with contributions by L.O. Howard [and others].

  • Ronald Ross
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The prevention of malaria / by Ronald Ross ; with contributions by L.O. Howard [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    3 Christ by soldiers or slaves from abroad, as it was certainly introduced into Mauritius in 1866 (section 30 (21)). Spreading gradually up the valleys, it would have tended to destroy rural prosperity, to drive the people into the healthier towns (as in Mauritius), and, assisted by other causes, to sap the vigour and physique of the race [Ross, 1906]. It is well known that the ancient Greeks recognised the quartan, tertian, quotidian and semitertian (probably malignant tertian) varieties of paludism, and many of its accidents; and were acquainted with its seasonal and local variability, and, above all, with its frequent prevalence near marshes. This last point is most germane to our present part of the subject. Thus there is an old story that Empedocles of Agrigentum (say 550 B.C.) “ delivered Selinus (in Sicily) from a plague by draining its marshes, or by turning two rivers into them ” —that he was able, as Matthew Arnold says, to “ Cleanse to sweet airs the breath of poisonous streams.” Doubt has of course been thrown on the story ; but whether it is true or not matters little. The mere fact that such a tale was told proves that the Greeks, even at an early date, had become in some way aware that marshes tend to generate sickness, and, still more important, that by drainage or other treatment this may be prevented. There are many passages connecting malaria with marshes. Thus as already stated Strabo (first century B.C.) says that Alexandria, in spite of its site, was free from marsh-fever even in his time. “It is to be inferred from this,” Mr Jones says, “that damp places were generally known to be unhealthy, so that exceptions to the rule were noticed by observers as remarkable phenomena.” Hippocrates (Airs, Waters, Places) noticed that those who live in low, meadowy and hot districts tend to be neither tall or well-built, but stout, fleshy, dark-haired, dark-coloured, bilious, and wanting in courage and endurance. For ancient Italy we have a similar theory, namely, that