In India, the work started in 1900 by the Royal Society Commissioners,
and by the Nagpur Conference, has been widely extended; especially by
such researches as those of Major Buchanan, I.M.S., Superintendent of
the Central Jail, Nagpur. The following paragraph, from the report of
the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India, refers to
Major Buchanan's published work, _Malarial Fevers and Malarial
Parasites in India_:--
"A remarkable note is struck at the outset, in the
acknowledgment made, by the author, of the capable assistance
rendered in these researches by several of his Burmese
prisoners, whom he trained to the use of the microscope, and who
soon became expert in detecting and distinguishing the various
kinds of parasites.... Besides a systematic clinical account of
the different forms of fever and the associated parasites, which
is the first attempt of the kind in India, there are a summary
of the facts showing the relation of the seasonal prevalence of
_Anopheles_ to the incidence of attacks; experiments exhibiting
the protective effects of mosquito-curtains;
inoculation-experiments; researches on the blood-parasites of
birds; and many other points.... Nor can we pause to notice the
many attempts now being made by health officers and others to
pursue the methods of prophylaxis indicated; these efforts are
necessarily in the tentative stage, but, so far, and especially
where carried out in connection with small communities and
institutions, they are giving promise of gratifying success."
The famous experiment made by Dr. Sambon and Dr. Low in 1900, must be
recalled here:--
"Dr. Luigi Sambon and Dr. G. C. Low, both connected with the
London School of Tropical Medicine, volunteered to live from
June till October, that is to say, through what may be called
the height of the malaria season, in a part of the Campagna near
Ostia, which is so infested by the disease that no one who
spends a night there under ordinary conditions escapes the
effect of the poison. Dr. Sambon, Dr. Low, Signor Terzi, and
their servants, have now exposed themselves to the pestilential
influence of this valley of the shadow of death for over two
months. They live in a mosquito-proof hut; they take no
quinine or other drug which might be regarded as prophylactic.
Not one of the experimenting party has the least sign of
infection.[38]...
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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