RURAL SANITATION IN TROPICS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 49, 26 February 1916, Page 14

RURAL SANITATION IN TROPICS.

Bγ MALCOLM WATSON, M.D., Ck. D.P.H. John Murray, 12/- net^S' -sat ject of international Watson has for a Jong period- bfci directly responsible for the :health: td efficiency oft 40,000. tropical. laboureril 1 the Malay States,- and his duties Bpr necessarily caused, him to giveiattentk to problems associated with .trojpjal diseases. He observes that throughout:the tropics activity and scientific investigation i disease have followed Ross' epoch-mik-ing discovery of the role played Ky ; tj»' mosquito in the propagation of malaiii. From India, from the Philippines, jnd from other countries a series of inv»lt able reports are being issued, arid thee will before long go far to make ?&: tropics, if not a permanent home for the white races, at least a part of the jrftrkL in -which the white man may Jive liitl little more danger to health tßan in his 'own country.": The author gives a very instructiTe account of the measures he adoptedfto cope with malaria when he was appointed SistTict surgeon of Klang, JTediniW Malay States. After careful examinttkt of the country affected he came ti>"ti* conclusion that the only effective meial . of grappling with the disease .'Was reducing the breeding places ~of US* mosquito, and for this purpose .h*Ci» sorted to drainage. The effect wastaiiif" \ vellous. In' Klang the cases of m»l*ri» fell from 334 in 1901 to 12 in 1905." %!* Port Swettenham there was a decwi*.. from 188 to 11. The deaths fromott*: causes also shewed a remarkable decfiit, namely, from 215 in 1900 to 68 in IMSk Extensive drainage operations were tt«e carried on' in adjoining rural .dietrijSl* ,with Biiclu excellent results, Dr.-W»t$o» : states, that he has traced from, yeirtf year the steady disappearance of ttito* from 500 square miles of country. •.'■ In the course of these opefatioMj*, strange fact is brought to light. It '**• found that while success was acW^rt,. where least expected in the eradiciti** of malaria from low-lying, swampy, lipv the disease for a long time v baffled''W efforts for its suppression in the Sfift'; where nothing "but pure running strwe* abounded. Careful investigation-* vealed the. fact that the mosquito, TW; was responsible for the disease, waS iti» to breed" among the rocks and;"'p*Mw* of the clearest streams where not »;Wm» of grass or other vegetation was ; found. The system- finally -»d?jit«4; under these conditions was to JoeW*** population of an estate on one.ot.insanitary areas, and drain all the*»t*y for a certain distance around by W&&. of ordinary agricultural pipe-drafa , - "£ this way a considerably abatement of «■ malady-was effected. .' ■'•X^" Dr. Watson, in the course of hl«>t^; of malaria and its causes, extended lv» personal investigations to Suin»Wi Hong Kong, Panama, British Gui?*: andjJarbadoes. Panama is a uniqu»i£ ample of the conquest of. scientific measures vigorously, perse***™ with, and one-half of the book is.dewW to the results of the author's inqujn? -during a visit to the Isthmus. Hβ,«* sets out fully the carefully tabotag*information which has been accinniUM* , by the Medical Officers of the.'U**: States. He bears the warmest tW* mony to the work accomplished by, V* Gorgas, who, he declares, 'Tias do* ■what in the history of the whole »OT has never been done before,-tind.. .?**• perhaps only half-a-dozen men.™.™ world believed could possibly be dM*n The book is a most valuable eonUM? tion to the study of a subject of fira*"**! , ] importance, and the information •bodies-is set out in that form of &0£ narrative which makes it attractit* w the general reader as well as t¥ «#•** tist. One of the most encouraging I«" with Tegard to malaria which Dr.vW I son believes the experience of v.jj* 'Malay States has demonstrated is » I marked decrease of the disease (is c"."' , . ■ vation extends—a fact that nlToril.s.K I stautial hope for its lir.nl enulittiiio ll (* ■■ ' the future.