HOW SCIENCE SAVED MILLIONS OF LIVES

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6804, 7 January 1929, Page 10

HOW SCIENCE SAVED MILLIONS OF LIVES

CONQUEST OF MALARIA. It was recently announced that Sir Ronald Ross was about, to dispose of his scientific records and correspondence from various scientists because ho is in need of money. He complains that, 'while Britain gave Jcnncr £30,000 tor his discovery of vaccination, he lias never received a penny, although Ins malaria discoveries havo saved thousands of British lives. It is true in 1902 he was awarded the Nobel prize for medicine (of the value of about £S000), but that was twenty-six ycar3 ago, and he has probably spent more than thar. amount since then in investigations and experiments. It is true that Ross was not. the originator of the theory that the malaria germ is carried by a certain species of mosquito, different from that which conveys the yellow fever. Many years ago it was known in the West Indies that there was some mysterious connection between mosquitoes and malaria, and the saying “‘No mosquitoes, no malaria/' was common among the colonists. It was Mansou who first formulated the theory tiiat v.ho mosquito was the active agent in the transmission of the germ. This was in 1594. At this time Dr. Ronald Ross,

of the Indian Medical Service, happened to be in England. Ho called on Manson, who jiersuadcd hint to put his theory to the test. Returning to India, liß threw himself with gre&t dctcmiiiKition into the task of discovering the parasite. He worked so hard that his health was undermined and his eyesight injured by the seven. or eight hours a day which he put iu at the microscope. Many hundreds of iusccls were dissected and examined in vain. A less devoted student would have given up the task in despair! At last, in 1597, Ross- was able to prove the truth of Manson's theory. Working on the foundation laid by Ross, an Italian scientist, Professor Grassi, traced tho life cycle of human malaria in the body of a mosquito and completely verified Ross’ work by giving malaria to four men in Romo by allowing his infected mosquitoes to bito them. But tho medical world, ever sceptical of new discoveries, suggested that the evidence was not conclusive, and demanded more scientific proofs. These were supplied by two English doctors, who lived for four months in the Italian Campagna (a notoriously malaria-strick-en district) in a specially constructed mosquito-proof hut without contractiug tho disease. Then as a final demonstration, mosquitoes were caught in Italy and allowed to bito a young Italian suffering from a mild attack of pjalaria. They

wore then transported to England and allowed to bito two men who had never been out of the country. In a few days they both developed the well-known symptoms of malaria, with temperatures running up to 104 degrees. Later tho malaria parasites were found in their blood. This completed the proof and satisfied the demands of scientific critics. More than one mind had helped to solve the problem. Ross based his investigations on thoso already mado by Manson. who in his turn was influenced by the discovery of germ transmission by Pasteur, but the brunt of tho investigation regarding malaria fell on Ross. It was he who triumphantly proved the truth of what was previously only a theory and applied it with practical results. Pasteur, Lister, Manson, Ross and other workers in. tho same field have been tho means of saving millions of lives, not only of men, but also of the inferior animals.