PREVENTION OF DISEASE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3804, 8 February 1927, Page 16

PREVENTION OF DISEASE.

ROTARY LUNCHEON. ADDRESS BY DR ARGYLE. In regard to disease, the trend of thought in the world to-day is as much towards its prevention as its cure. Discussion on the prevention of disease forms an important part of the proceedings at the Medical Congress now in service, and not only medical men, but the public generally must be fully alive to the fact that the encouragement of research in this direction is a matter of world-wide importance. At the weekly luncheon of the Dunedin Rotary Club on Thursday, the Hon. Dr S. Argyle, Chief Secretary and Minister of Health to the Victorian Government, in a brief but interesting address traversed the growth of research work in the past 25 years, and touched on the work of the pioneers of the movement, who laid its foundations. The president, Rotarian J. Brown, introduced Dr Argyle, who said that one of the most important problems to be discussed at the Medical Congress was that of the prevention of disease, as well as the technicalities of its causation. There was, said the speaker, a great deal of romance attached to medical research during the past quarter of a century. Some people might ask what the medical profession had to show for its research during this period, and what it had done to ameliorate the ills of mankind. The best answer to this question could be obtained from a study of the vital statistics of the various countries of the world which proved beyond dispute that the average life of mankind to-day was 10 years longer than it was 25 years ago. The full significance of this fact could be gathered when one considered that many persons walking about to-day would, a quarter of a century ago, have been dead at the same age. This, Dr Argyle pointed out, was something accomplished, but there were still many vital problems to be solved. The real genesis of research into the prevention of disease was probably the work of Pasteur in Paris. He was followed by Lord Lister, the father of modern surgery, who made the performances of present-day surgeons possible. Then came Manson, who began to make research into the cause of filaria, and finally traced it to the mosquito. This set the world thinking until Ross, following on Manson’s work, carried out a series of investigations into the cause of malaria, which, if they were put into book-form, would read like fairy-tales.

Others had discovered that malaria was due to an organism in the blood, but no one knew how it got there. Ross was convinced that the mosquito was responsible, and put his heart into proving the assumption correct. After many unsuccessful attempts and almost discouraged, he found himself left with only two species of mosquito on which he had not already experimented. A possible sol® tion of the problem came to him during the night, and he hurried to his laboratory in the early morning hoping against hope that these two mosquitoes might still be alive. They were alive, and Ross was able to continue his experiments, which have since resulted in the saving of millions of human lives. Another man to whose painstaking research the world owed much, continued Dr Argyle, was Reid, a young American, army surgeon. During the SpanishAmerican war, the American Army whilst at Havana was almost decimated by malaria, and unable to take the field. Reid was of opinion that if the district could be rid of mosquitoes the malaria would he stamped out. His theory yas put into practice, and proved so successful that in two years the roll of deaths dropped from hundreds to a few which could be counted on the fingers of two hands. ■>

It was. also, to a large extent due to Reid that the construction of the Panama Canal was successfully carried out. . .s In the initial stages of the work.workmen were dying like flies from yellow fever, and deaths from this malady on more than one occasion caused a complete suspension of operations. At the. time, the popular opinion was that yellow fever was a filth disease, and was contracted through coming in contact with those-suf-fering from it or their belongings. Reid, ho ./ever, thought otherwise, and again laid the blame at the door of the mosquito, and to prove his assertion conducted a series of remarkable experiments, along with two other officers and three noncommissioned officers. He constructed two mosquitc-proof houses side by side, and in one, from which all mosquitoes were shut out, weri placed the contaminated clothes and utens’ls of fever patients. Here three of them lived for a fortnight, but did not contract the disease, proving conclusively that contamination did not cause its spread. In the second house, where the other three lived, everything was clean, but mosquitoes were admitted and allowed to bite the experimenters. As a result, one of them died, and the two others, although they recovered, also went down to the fever. “These men,” said the speaker, “were living up to the true spirit of Rotary. They were heroes and martyrs in the cause of humanity and of science.” In conclusion, Dr Argyle said the researches of such men could never be valued in mere terms of pounds, shillings, and pence, and it was for those present to enlist the sympathies .of their legislators, doctors, and business men in encouraging research into the causation of disease. At the conclusion of the address, Rotarian Marshall Macdonald thanked Dr Argyle on behalf of those present for his interesting lecturette.