VILLAGE OF THE BLIND

Hawera Star, Volume L, 5 March 1931, Page 9

VILLAGE OF THE BLIND

MYSTERIOUS AFFLICTION. . INFECTION FROM RATS. Air. H. G. Wells’ famous tale of the Valley of the Blind has received remarkable confirmation by the discovery that in the village of Tiltepec, over 4000 ft. above sea level, in the Mexican State of Oaxaca, all the inhabitants were blind from at least one year after birth. The village contained more than forty households. That the general blindness has now been alleviated is principally ctue to the researches of a German doctor, Max Weihmann. This village of the olind had been the object of several scientific inquiries since it was first recorded in 1927, and a report upon the curious affliction of (its inhabitants was issued by a Mexican doc tor. At first it was believed that tne blindness was due to an infectious disease, or to abuse of methyl alcohol. I'hore was. however, no evidence to support these theories. The inhabitants themselves attributed it to the wind-blown pollen of a flower called V’ergueiiza, which has the peculiarity of blooming for half a day only. The researches of Dr. Weihmann, however, led to the discovery of several other villages in the district in which blindness was also prevalent, and to the supposition that it was connected in sonic way with ail infection carried by a midge. Upon examination of the sufferers they were found in almost every ease to, have large bumps or wens on their heads, in which the midge laid its eggs. The correctness of Dr. Weihmann’s supposition was borne out when the surgical removal of these bumps bestowed sight on the sufferers, sometimes after many years of blindness and within the space of a few days. The carriers of the infection having been found, the next question was whore did the midges pick it up. It is supposed that the bats which hang in great quantities upon the beams of the village houses are the offenders.