Why should this general evidence count for less than the few
experimental cases upon which the mosquito theory is built up? These
latter are mostly conspicuous by their weakness. Take, for example,
the mosquito-proof hut placed at Ostia, and inhabited for three months
by Dr. Sambon, Dr. Low, Mr. Terzi, and their servants. What analogy
does this well-ventilated erection, raised above the soil, bear to
many of the insanitary homesteads of the Campagna? What analogy is
there between its healthy inhabitants, further fortified by zest for a
theory in dire need of proof, and the permanent dwellers in those
unpropitious surroundings? If we admit strength in the case of the
infected mosquitoes sent to the London Tropical School, whose stings
are said to have produced attacks of fever in the late Dr. Thurburn
Manson and Mr. George Warren, we must also remember that Abele Sola in
the Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome, according to the account quoted by
Herms in his _Malaria: Cause and Control_, is claimed to have fallen a
victim to this disease from the bites of mosquitoes that had developed
from larvæ in his own room, and therefore could not be reckoned as
infected. Moreover, they numbered hardly any Anophelines, and of the
very few present, it was not known whether any stung the patient. Yet,
according to the modern theory, Anophelines alone could have been
responsible for the mischief. The proverbial grain of salt seems a
necessary condiment for the cases of experimenters.
In the short space at our disposal, we are not concerning ourselves
with the micro-organism, first discovered in Algiers by Dr. Laveran,
and considered to be the parasite of malaria. Without in the least
committing oneself to a general belief in the germ-theory of disease,
there may, here and there, be maladies produced by parasites. Yet,
apparently, fever, bearing all the clinical symptoms of malaria, may
occur without the presence in the blood of such organisms, no matter
whether parasitic or inbred. On page 8 of the Medical Report of the
Federated Malay States’ Government reference is made to an unusual
swarm of sandflies, and the following commentary is given. “Whether
sandfly fever exists we are not prepared to say, but many cases
_with all the clinical symptoms_ were noted and _no malarial parasite
was detected_ on blood examination.” Hence the sandflies come under
suspicion! Might not another moral be drawn, and that is that fever
may be due to causes less crude than the inoculation of parasites by
objectionable insects?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account