Evening Star Newspaper, February 18, 1882, Page 3

THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON SATURDAY, FEBRUAR¥ “18, ss 1882—DOUBLE SHEET. THE POTOMAC MARSHES. MEMORIAL. Celebration of Wars! by the € Superintercen Cireular of in supervision: T! that th THE S@-CALLED MALARIA FEVER. ued the following schools under his board of trustees has directed wols of the District of Col- 1 opportnnity to show | late Presi eid The following per on “The Potomac Marshes at Washington as a Pothogenic Agent in the Production of the So-called Malarial Fever.” reaa by Dr. A. Y. P. Garnett before the National Health Association at Savannah, and printed in Gailliard’s Medical Journal, merits re- production in Washington, both on account of its local interest and the importance of the gen- eval question discussed of the real nature of that mysterious agent that goes under the familiar name of “Malaria.” Dr. Garnett true conception of the <t and import cessarily leads wm: hich establish 3 of man to his natural surround- nz his physical being through the of recognized physiological, chemical, cent natural phenomena and the relations of celestial bodiestoeach other itutes the basis ef all intellizent invest! tion. so with man in his physical surronn it behooves us to familiarize ourselyes with those natural laws and azencies which hold him i n to his environments and whieh fect the varied and complex pheno- mena ef his health. It would be entirety beyond the limits or pre- ions of this paper. as well as an impossi- ity, to enter npon a comprehensi wide a subject, or even to seribed a field the innumerable and po- agencies which affect th indi- celled, with the view of havi furnished with a eopy to be Talso send herewit t wn to the pupils for distribution among the of cirenlars containing the cutive Committee of the ings Garfleld Mem to have the f their pnpils t in contributi rs shail see fit to do so The supervising prin hme with lists of indi are entitled to receive eng and they will in due time r ¢ tor delivery. ve also to reqitest that Tuesday afternoon, st of February, be devoted in all ef the schools above the second to a tel of the anniversary of t ton with exercises it proposed to inetnde many of the most widespread and active causes which concern the public health, and with which the members of this body are called upon specially to deal. The particular subject to which your attention is invited, as the title of the paper discloses, is THE SUPPOSED MALARIAL INFLUES: SS OF THE | MARSHY DISTRICT OP THE POTOMAC immediately contiguous to Washington city. The nature, mous operandi and pathological eapal ‘8 of the so-ealled marsh miasm upon farther the human system will claim our noti on. Contemporaneous with the lo ional Capital on the banks of the Potomac we are told that the sanitary probabilities and sibilities of its surreundinzs became the sub- f consideration by nation, com- it is no set form in ch the oce Lin all the ols, 2 to indicate its object and gutline. Each teacher is expected to freely use Be oc ber oon en 3 good taste and ig up the outline so asto ple and pleasant to the E part of my ig fevers, and r: izing the future pos of such paludal formations, they were by imous or hasty in determining ction of its present site. Whilst from the date of its formation to the present time, Washington, like most cities located upon ch Wi rs. and in the immediate vieinity al influences producing fevers of Ypes, it is well known that such mor- bile agencies have been comparatively teeble | thelr pathogenic results as manifested in. mild types of intermittent and remittent fevers, re- | stricted in their active development more par- ticularly to those portions of the city expe | to the marshy rezions, and contiguous to are | of ned localities. It is perhaps due retothe mild character of the uupposed to arise from these sources that the citizens of Washington have for so long a | period neglected to adopt some active and effi- , cient means ‘to remedy the evil, content RIES AND EARLY VEGETABLES— ¢ TRAVEL—SOME FLORIDA FRACDS— ‘S “FLORIDA BIRDS” RS—WANT OF REASE OF IMMIGRATIO: erespondence of Tar Evexine Sra Pavarka, FLorspa, February 12, 1s Since my last! have taken a run up to Ville, the county town of Alachua county, themselves with the hope and belief that Com where is Ic land office for this | ste would some day become sufficiently im state. While it has a few residences | Press ed with so important a subject as the avd one very neat appearing hotel, it is far from | M¢alth of the National Capital as to make it a matter of national concern and accomplishment. Whilst there has existed for a long period a | large area of marsh along the southern border of the river opposite the city, as well as cons erabie deposits of a similar character against its | northern bank, imme city, it was the Long bri 803. nec ing te the plan adopted, the ¢ two-thirds of the river, obstructing its channel, | and otherwise affecting its natural outlet, tha this paludal area has been rapidly ausmenting, ing at present several hundred acres of , almost obliterating the north channel gz its use for purposes of | navigation for vessels of the lightest draft. In contemplating this prolific and acknowledged | source of di: j of the ional | ed with the mat | the whole country, the qn | urally suggested, why has to exist so long a time? with so many mples before us of the disastrous cc lect, inaction, and di requirements, we have supinely and willing victims to the or healt? being a handsometown, having a di pearance, which a little attention, toge mt and e round, it is said by the native: rE edzed to be as healtivy as any part of the state. There isa very fine military school, with about eighty students, lecated inthe town. While Gainesvilie duri account of its be era, and the ste is naturally a d that the ew tating, accord- lamming up of reap quite a harvest, i and it is to be hope tiers who are now pure “e andenergy into it. The Florida n tothis place,it being sita- ated on the main line of the Transit railr the Fernandina and Ce it d ish capitalis dhe ha many that he is after and It is to be hoped that | I be chanzed by the | ¢ his time they have | chances of disea: | my mind is found OF ORGANIZED EFFORT ON The failure of our profe: the legitimate custodians of public as well as | private health, to’ realize and appreciate tie pre-eminent Importance of this subject by organizing boards of health, and selecting for such work not only scientitic, active, and expe- | rienced iaborers in special subjects but those who can be impressed with a full sense of the responsibility and comprehensive duty w | attach to such organizations. fig | Short period has elapsed. as you are aw aha | this subject of public sanitation | in mae after | itself upon the attention of the profession and F ublic by demonstrating its tremendous | and incalculable importance to the material | prosperity and ported by the scientitic labors and practical sue~ s of those few bodies of organiz: arians who have thus far embarked upon this wide Held of professional labor; but only within the past few years has the sanitary condition of Washington city and its surroundings become the object of such public anxiet, the attention of the whole country The fact that W: government, the a heads of the departments. including the high- est public functionar:es of the land—the tempo- Tary residence of our national legislature, the habitation of wumber of the leading and most influential citizens of our countr; ithin the last decade awakened an act terest in its sanitary surroundiags, and cally resulting so far in organizing and formu- ‘ting several plans for the removal or reclama- ion of these marshy districts, attempting to secur d_ condition’ of health, and paying more garden- ine. and in a little while the northern markets will be able to have them during most of” the ad at a comparati ime, the rding houses are more than they come, most if not all of St. John’s and € hotels ar crowded and them takea tri Tivers, and f: paid &e., &¢ Comparatively a e e pri three nd oniy came state in wiich hundreds of au leave. weuld astonish the fashionable hotels , ant dress- t to me that | 1 be so tew y are decidediy ny Indies there shi ooking ones. The mai a aver idea of the mi-sration to this state than 3 NOKMOUS AMOUNT OF LAND sold, &c., at the United States land During the last month | ere were 11.096 acres sold; there were 190 adds entered, emb 178 final proof entri One matter which our postal authorities should look after is the irregularity in which the mails | st every portion of the the water courses, | as the St. John’s and the lake ronte: | I happened to be at one of the river iandi afew days ago, where the m: three times, not even sounding hi while on Lake Harris a short time. sinc ed only two mails in one week. When it i that the contractors get paid for dajiy wails. and the inconvenience and anhoy- ance it gives the merchants and strangers it is an Just that they should be cor io Letter; and a little wholesome talk to the postal agents, postmasiers and assistants, which would lead them to mend their manners and treat strangers with at least a show of courtesy, nate reputation which it a present throughont the It is not necessary detail | THE VARIOUS PLANS WHICH HAVE BEEN PROPOSED for the abatement or total removal of the public nuisance. Qne embraces the simple removal of the causeway of solid earth composing a part of the Long bridge, thereby permitting the free | flow of the river, carrying off with it the con- | tents of sewers and other matters inimical to heaith which may empty into it above this ob- | struction. Another provides for the construc Colas iene | tion of dykes on the water margin of the Ex-Vice President Wheeler spent some days |™Arsh and the formation between these some rain ands few cool ayy tant we (ip ‘lake of pure water, suffictently deep to prevent day it is again quite suimer-like and pleasant, | the growth of vezetabie matter, the whole to be The frult trees are Increasing their bloom and ppd ae enealie ding ont ¥, and the variegated | Structio Spd Ne posi a follage and the perfume ét the wild or yeline: | A third plan’ contemplates the ‘iitae up with mine makes it bieth pleasant te the eye and | Solid earth the entire area of marshy deposit to nose. | the present boundary of the river, utilizing the ‘The Palatka and Indian River railroad ispnsh- | space thus reclaimed for building purposes or ing its work ancad ina way which means bust | fr the construction of a public park. adding hess. Their engineer corps has reached Titus- | beauty te the city and securing cowfort and Ville, the senthern terminus of their main line, | Pleasure for its inhabitants. No one of these While the werk of construction at this end oes | Plans it appears to us would fully and effectually steadily forward. With this amd ether roads | accomplish the important end in view. since it iy made a fixed fact we will soon | obvious that the first, whilst preventing the fur- whele of Flerida, including the | ther accumulstion above the obstruction, would matera.” weke up with the whistle ef the loco- | leave the extent of are Memting 85 40 ue motive eud stridin: ard te tak j- ent. and probably exercise no. uence what- men porate tae theta Snes ns | cares ee ee sTow with pretit mest of the trepical fruits, and | be Teupepetionsie so long gas the causeway Below inthe vezetable line ean compete with’ the | Femained, as a dam. to occasion new deposits by Iegeid enh toring eaten tele tcc ne | cieniae soe ace woe are willing te work than ang other bien free fow of water charged with debris and section ef eur great coun! . K. a —! = third, by far the most eligible and sub- — v Broturr Barve: ) the children, | stantial in its practieal resuits, would also be aptly. The | rendered futile for the reason Just given of the Barnes—*If | obstructions below offered by the . ofa | solid causeway. In order then to secure com- ete success and provide against all fature con- invencies, it will be necessary to combine the the | first and last plans above set forth; destroy the Barnes | entire area of marsh by converting it into solid all silent.} | ca confine the body of the river within a : ‘tly narrew space to secure a permanent nnel, remove entirely the ‘pons coniing takeuniine nee Sow thet the pparently enjoys at country that we should give in pleasure drives. are good children, Tnitaren all together—"-Y is proposed to gi forees, either in the maintainance of. ributmz not less than £1 ensraved onions performance of all the vital fune- ipts. filled ont with the name of of the animal economy, or militating with or (whether an individual or a| nee of the human machin- ud the autesraphs ef Gen. Sherman, | ‘quent production of disease. stor Windom and Tr Uillan. T send of the universe a correct knowl | ewith a package of these i n of our | | h I public wAfare of a nation, sup | and ativacted ; relieving the National Capital from the unfortu- | and the con- | whole country has been interested in this sub- ject. we may expect that the National Lezisla- ture will pe urged to devise some such practical scheme for the accomplishment ofa beneficent project so universaily recognized and so impera- tively demanded. Whilst recognizing and advocating the sani- tary necessity of removing this acknowledged source of disease in obecience to the popular clamor, based upon THE GENERALLY ACCEPTED THEORY OF MARSIt MIASM, we by no means lutend to comnit ourselves to the vague and undemonatrable opinion that our | autumnal fevers are due to a specific agent per | se, generated in these marshy deposits. Doubt- less it may be said that we are groping in the | twilight of ignorance, but not I hope of impo- tent effort, in pursuit of the truth respecting the proximate element or specific nature of the so-called marsh malaria,and though aided in ourresearches for more thanacentury by the most | delicate, ingenious and complex mechanisms, | as well asa perfect and thorough knowledge of all the mysteries of chemical analysis, iu the hands of patient, pains-taking, and accomplished in- vestigators, we have so far failed to detect by the most careful analyses of atmosphere, water, | or organic matters of these paindal districts, | any materia! or imponderable azent to which may be ascribed this pathogenic force calied | malaria. | _ Proceeding upon the idea that certain types of | fever prevailing among those whose habitations | were in the vicinity of marshy districts de- | pended in some way upon the relation of con- tiguity to each other, and associating them as | cause and effect, the early investigators into | this subject very naturaily directed their efforts to discover In what this supposed materies morbi consisted, whether of vezetable, telluric, or paludal origin; resulting in the popular_belief, | maintained by a majority of our profession at the present day, that froin the decomposition of organic matters with moisture, under the infla- ence of solar heat, there emenated a specific im- ponderable gaseous element capable of pro- | ducing these fevers. WHAT IS MALARIA? The problem which presents itself at the present day is identically that which for so many | handreds of years has eluded the researches of | sctentitic observers, and remains, so far aa it re- | lates to this particular agent, a hidden mystery. | resolves Itself into two questions: Ist. What is nalaria? Is it a distinct material entity of liv- Ing organisms:the gaseous results of the decom- | ; Tefutation of the bacilius malarial theory ad- ress, ete. Among this number, accordit may’ be mentioned the hich rlateaus of Osstile, th Pisins of Aroxea, the terrace lauds of Persia. ‘The ne- cessary conclusion from all this is that the tluric and atmospheric fufluences referr-d to above are not suffi- cient to acconnt for the orizin of malaria, and there miust be additional causes at work, thus farunknown to as ere, then, we have a complete abandonment by one of the most thorough and scientific ob- servers of the theory of marsh miasma. or gase- ous exhalation from decomposition of vege- table organisms, and an acknowledgment that as yet we are groping in the dark in pursuit ot some cece eaCne or factor as the true and real cause of these paroxysmal fevers. More recently, as late as 1879, a memoir was published by Klebs and Tomasi Crudeli, entitled ‘udi sulla natura della malaria Roma,” con- taining an exposition of results obtained by carefully conducted experiments upon rabbits, by means of subcutaneons injections of material taken from the Pontine Marshes and other spots in the vicinity of Rome, vlaiming the discovery of a bacillus malaria capable of producing in these animals a form of fever, accompanied by certain patholoxical changes which they declared to be positive evidence of malarial infection. Without gomg into the physiological, pathological, and chemical questions invelved in a consideration of these experiments, and the logical or illogical deduetions arrived at, It oecurs to us to say em passant that the aceuracy of their conclu- sions might very properly be qnestioned, when the fact is considered that these very animals upon which they were experimenting were prob- ty the natives of those marshes, and had pos- sibly subsisted upon thesé organisms. as a part of their natural food, without detriment; that if i these bacilli malaria, which abounded in the | very habitations of these rabbits, were capable of producing a specific disease when introduced into their bodies, is it not reasonable to suppose | that they would have been affected as other | anima are known to be whenexposed to hizhly | ing to Hirsh, exhibit the true intermittent type of malarial | fever when subjected to. those agencies in a po- 4ential decree, which produce similar fevers in the human system. The report of Surgeon Geovge M. Siernburg, of the United States army, made. at the request of the National | Board of Health, upon the memoir of Drs. Klebs and Tomasi Crudeli, farnishes a very conclusive vanced by those distinguished observers. The | observations made by Dr. Sternburg seer to have been conducted with great scientific skill diligence and impartiality, with the commend. able object of seeking the truth and not to sus tain a theory. Closing his report with the con- position of organic matter; or_is it a hyperther- mal force moditied by humidity? 2d. In what | manner does this invisibie agent impress itself | upon the human organism, and accomplish those de-spread ges which destroy the integrity d result in its decay | and death? the fact that the grand mi uitarian is to prevent disease, and to destroy its souree, its zerm, and | its spread—to deal with the prophylaxis and not the therapeusis. In order to successfully ac— complish this mission, he must arm himself with | ot scie nd a perfect knowl- of what itis he iscalled upon to combat. In what does malaria consist? Whence cometh it: Whither goeth it? In contemplating the mag- {| nitude of this problem, the vast ilelds of labori- | ous and scientitic research which its solu- tire, we are painfully nificance and inade- | quacy of any effort which so humble an indiyid- ual as ourself might make in the direction of | its elncidation. It would be an act of presump- | tion on our part to aspire to any higher achieve- | ment than the presentation of such crude hypo- | thetical suggestions as way have occurred to | our minds whilst investigating the recorded re- | | sultsof other observers: with themodest hope that | they may possibly prove auxiliary to the labors | of future inquirers. Whilst we ere not prepared to concur in the proposition of Reber to ABANDON ENTIRELY THE TERM MALARIA, | to avoid erroneous ideas which may result from its use, and substituting that of hyper- therma, or excessive heat, we have for a long Period entertained the opinion that the term was vague and calculated to mislead us, and have sought to trace to some other o: | | the so-called marsh miasm, those types of fevers | supposed to be produced by tliis imaginary ft. Quoting fro the profound, philosophical | learned work of Professor Joseph Jones, | touching cognate subject: | fo distribution of the solid an. the climate i4 mubject to yaris dicted and are not_uniforni are produced in man. n is conclusiv Prupo ¥ deraonstrated by the relations « ther, end wh the distirh ou ified to a creat ex 1¢ valne of the di ret 1 phenomie; etions in t 2, progress aud treatment of erestimated.” | ng the force and truth of these ob- | ions, it has often occurred to us that the { possible solution of this question may be | hin the domam of thormo-hyxi phenomena, i | human organi: | and writers since the days of having sinaliy fail mind by 2 r | of the existence of atmospheric abnormalities in producing regions, it i uld absndon the thu ctory and barren tield of atmos bservations if po: re promising channel. Dr. Oldham, of the y. ina very able and upon this subject entitles is book with the fotlo f tnight ing malaricus locality necessarily invo psuire to chill.” “That ali the effecta prodaced by ro-calied ma'a- | mence, may be caited by the rapt extra | heat without the intervention of any speciiie ie analysis, ible in some es, WOUS exposure to a to disuiish the h-at-gener f the system, and to increase the suscc ti to nialarial fever, as well au to agvravate 1 of the disease. ' Under ull these circumstances it Mears impossible to e at any other conclusion n than that moéria is chil It is somewhat remarkable that Dr. Oldham, who seems to have been a close and intelligent | observer, should have pronounced in so dog- matic a manner his conclusion that “MALARIA IS CHILL,” especially ashe manifestly had considered the condition precedent by his remarks upon the predisposing effect of heat upon the nervous system in producing chill. Having prosecuted his investigations into this subject for the most | part in a torrid climate, where he could not fail to observe the constant and unvariable condi- tion of high solar heat preceding the develop- nent of a chill, it would seem but natural that | he might have associated the two together as indirectly cause and effect. If the simple sud- den abstraction of animal heat constituting chiil isa synonym for malaria, how does Dr. Oldham explain the occurrence, in many per- sons, of intermittent and remittent fevers in the so-called malarial regions, who have no chill. Every practitioner of medicine residing in those localities will testify to the fact that a large pro- portion of cases occur without having been pre- ceded by chill at all, and yet we are forced to believe that they are produeed by the very same causes which operate in those cases accompa- nied by chill. In view of the wide range of antecedent changes in the constitution of the blood interfering with the normal action of those organs which elaborate the blood, result- H ing in alterations of the fibrin and colored biood corpuscles and a disturbance, those chemical | changes upon which the capillary circulation de- pends, as well as the profound impression made upon the cerebro-spinal and the sympathetic system of nerves, constituting, in fact, the pre- existing and essential conditions to the produc- tion of malarial chill, and manifestly the pro- greasive result of some causative agent, the con- clusions of Dr. Oldham seem hasty and unscien- tific. Whilst Oldham declares malaria to be chill, Reber, who has written a clever and in- genious treatise upon this subject, also reject- ie neem malaria,” proposes to substitute wat of “HYPERTHERMA, OR EXCESSIVE BEAT.” In 1866, Dr. Saulsbury, of Cleveland, claimed that he had discovered the cause of malarious fevers to exist in the sores of Gemiasma, a form | of algoid vegetation resembling the Palmellz. He supported this claim by some ingenious ex- periments, which failed, however, in the light of subsequent investigations by others, to estab- jish the truth of his theory. Hertz, in a most. elaborate and exhaustive treatise on diseases, found in Ziemsennis Encyclopedia of the Practice of Medicine, after discussing the various theories which have been presented upon the etiol or genesis of malarial fever, uses the following language: s ition to. re” to oof Tap Be Soa tata ime pe Sea eleewhere), ye mors netorous from | than invertebrate « K | clasions to which his investigations had led him, he say i the orranisms found upon the swa and fn the cutters witht: which closely rescinble and p Ht the baciliis mzlarial of Ki mp Iands ne the city: 4 nt there is no satisfactory other of the bacterial « idence animus found eat the skin of a. te rial fever corresponding with the ordinary paludal fevers to which mun is subject.” Tt is ctear to our mind, in the light of Dr. ernbarg’s experiments, as well as in accord- ace with daily observations, based upon ortho- | dox pathology, that FEVERS PRODUCED IN TI ‘~ ANTMALS were purely septic, and resulted from the In- troduction into the tissues of foreign matters capable of exciting inflammation and suppura- tion, and not to any specific organism as they claim. The metastatic abcesses found in some of these rabbits conclusively establishes this opinion. With other conclusions touching the origin of the so-called malarial fever embraced in his report we are not prepared to concur, but readily accept the one just quoted as cor- responding with the views which we are di posed to entertain upon this subject. THE SECOND QUESTION presented above for our consideration was, “In what manner does this Invisible agent impress itself upon the human organism, effecting pa- thological results and producing paroxysmal pyresis.” Accepting the hypothesis of a thermo- hygrometie pathogenesis based upon the fagt that along-sustained high solar heat, modified by rapidly varying conditions -of atmospheric moisture, is always found to exist, we are natu raliy led to determine in what particular man. ner, or throuzh what particular organs, heat Ir a plus.or mi dies. that “as th: St ale of animal and yeg- | etable existence the phenomenon of life become | | mm re complex and the conditions of their being more complicated and restricted. The simpler the structures the feebler the vital nervous and phy f and the less complicated the , ditions of existence. Cold-blocded yer ‘ate animals, although more highly organized imals, still show remarkable extremes of heat and cold be frozen and then | x destruction of | horses and dogs are gubject to such attacks, and | ad: | fev | gard to special localities or | sidering the es | rate it from certain physteal teliuric conditions We all agree that continued hign temper- ature is an essential element, or requisite, of the so-called malarial fevers, and many regard it as the only cause of ’ such fevers, maintaining that the fever is simply the result of exhaustion and a paresis of the gangli- onic nerve centers, accompanied by a profound disturbance of their influence over the circula- tion. Reber, who has advanced this theory. attempts by some plausible and iggenious rea- soning to sustain his views upon pathological and physiological grouads. We have already declared our dissent with the theory that hyper- therma per se is the sole pathogenic agent in the production of these fevers, and expressed our beliet that thetrue caust of the so-called paludal fevers may be found in the varying condi of atmospheric heat and moisture. In words, the hypothesis which we propose is that no such agent as marsh malaria, as at present understood, exists, and that those phenomena affecting human heaith, this germinal or gaseous force, emanating from certain marshy localities, are of prolonged ‘insolation— pri ly. ences; secondarily, the sudden moditication of this insolation by atmospheric humidity atlect bodily sensation, but not always thermo caily appreciable, and operati tly upon the impressionable sympathetic nerve centers, ultimately accomplishing through an aberration or loss of functional energy in these, certain | morphotic and chemical changes in the blood and its products. as essential conditions to the development of paroxysmal fevers. Dr. Cop- land, combatting tie doctrine that the causes of fever first affect the cerebro-spinal nervous sys- maiarial regions? Weare all aware that both | °° retuarl « morbid states of temrerature, distinenishi y. As it does not supply no ‘all secreting surfaces and yiands, 60 those early changes of function to those lesions of str citen sibee- quently experience.” “the efficient aents of feve> pon the or- ganic or canr‘iot nection of this system with = respiration, secretion, and assimil: morbid unpressious made upou it must necessarily affect all the organs and parts with which it is related.” Tables illustrating the effects of malaria upon the specific gravity of the blood and of seru:n, prepared by Becquerel and Rodier, and by Joseph Jones and others, the healthy standard of blood being from 1055.0 to 1063.0, and that of serum from 1627.0 to 1033.0, show in malarial fevers of several weeks duration a decline to 34, to 1036 in biood, and 1018, 1021, 1022 In |. The same series of tabulated facis by obser demonstrate a diminution of both red corpuscles and fibrin, as wellas the ‘ulation, show that formation of heart clots in patients who were | the fev subj 4 intermittent and remittent ng to those tables, Professor and rapid'y Gest a wih auy other ceute The fibrin is not orly diminished in malarial but i altered in its properties and in s to the other elements of the blood and the blocd vessels. If excessive lieat. per se, was capable of producing these smal fevers, as Reber would have us should find them prevailing as both temperate and torrid z bel us the features of the country, which we know, with e exception, is not the case. On the the presence or proximity of M have been found almost invariabiy to exist. It would, therefore, seem it ntia possible in con- nature of malaria to sepa- with which it is obvior ated, as cause and effect. and correlated by the more poten factor, solar heat, in the production of the called’ malarial fevers. Resting upon the pos- tulate just presented, we'shall proceed to a con- sideration of such additional fi tions as, in our ju , go far to support it. The experiment of Shubler, (who has been re- cognized as the highest authority by Schmidt, and other distinzuished meteorologists of rope), perhaps the most elaborate, scientific and accurate ever made in the same direction to determine the relative amount of evaporation from different sections of the globe, em bodies of water. damp and arid surfaces of land, show that the evaporation from marshes not covered by water, and from damp, undrained areas of earth, exceeds by Ureefold that from the surfaces of running or staading | bodies of water. 1 plateaus of grass, kept ‘a 1 three times as much area of surface as thus follows that the supply of to the atmosphere by these damp or wet surfaces of earth, ex that from any other sou: extent, and exe more potent! in deterinining. tis on of atmospheric temperature reetly influences our neryons sys It | obyious that those who inhabit s: phy: . such as the cont uscles and the transmission of and from the nervous sens aredue to the che elements wnich have been a and elevated into a state of force, nrough the forces of the san.” Lovstein, in his elaborate work on the strue- re. functions and diseases of the sympathetic the ranclia w dered as the labor “nal 0 redient ot eam improbable the Hy the tr neht to be c Us > while at th ches inia the 1 EoperacHl persy ave netions of jutermi fe perhepa, be found i action of tle abde pears to be ind Opinion : Tet d_perverte nervous xystem, and there | ficient ercunds t render thia | roxysiis of intermittent fever @ rezular rythuus in conseqnence of ed in the nervous syetern upon whic inupreteed a luw according. to n their functions periodicaliy.” In view, then, of these physivlozical facts ad- | vanced by so learned and protound a teacher as Lobstein, and recognizing the important vital tor of heat in the performance of those fane- tions, presided over and directed by the system 3 in maintaining @ state of health—let s consider how far it may be possible for this saine potent agent, solar heat, under certain conditions,to aberrate the normality of those physiologi€al acts, and produce disease. With ‘ny physiologists the belief prevails that there isa special excito-caloric, or calorifacient nerve center which presides over or regulates | al heat, and that’ this center can be influ- d by external impressions capable of pro- ing disease. Lobstein relates the ease of a nd of his whose hair-becaine white in one night, produced by fright at the burning of his house; and asks the question if this was not pro- duced by mental suffering deranging the abdom- inal nerves, thereby disordering and changing the force and function of these nerves, and at feeting the nutrition of the capillaries. MUCH CONFUSION EVIDENTLY PREVAILS in regard to the mode by which heat affects the temperature of the human body. The generally accepted opinion, that when the human body is exposed to the influence of heat, the conduction of heat into the body, or Its absorption, causes an actual increase of temperature of the blood, producing the sensation of discomfort expe- rienced. is erroneous. This has been proven by numerous experiments, thowing that whilst the human body may be pissed in a temperature ot 212° F. no material elevation of blood heat en- sues, nor does the individual sustain any injury so long as an active effort of the nervous system to protect the body by means of Increas per spiration and vaporization remains unimpeded. ‘te heat neees y for such a function is not that communicated to the body by convection from the surrounding air, but that which is _envolved by vital forces under ordinary Were the bedy not pro- cireumstané tected. by this increased; flow: of perspira- tion and active — vay , _ prevent- ing the heated atm eve =: Surround- ing it from actual contact with the surface, a | quick destruction of its tissnes;would follow. Instead, therefore, of a-direct. i ion being made oes the nerve centers by the centripetal convection of heat causing exalted excitation, exhaustion and paralyels, these nditions are due. we believe, to the demand made upon the nerve centers through the ‘external afferent | nerves distributed to the cutaheous surface, act- ing as sentries stationed at the out-post of the human citadel. Receiving*the impressions of external heat, they arouse the within to active and energetic defence by evolving samsene animal heat to keep the surface of the ly sup) ature physical structure of the human integument, its remarkable Gerard as a ni added to the vi forces auxil ower against the of heat int stand such a theory. Assuming this to be we can readily comprehend how enervating effort on the part ceptive nerve centera must be in maintaining the body when it has insolation, and a | ina state of cult | temperature. An analogous case corrovorative or who are zht, and that | impres- | aud | nso- | ie | by the jon and refrigeration, and not by ~ Insupport of numerous in: Henmen, Ferzu of the British army Ir ea India, who mention that the soldiers suffered from attacks of intermittent fever in regions | remote from marshy districts and en’ so far as they could deterinine, ft any of the | recognized sources of malaria. Thesg men, it | appears, were exposed to great heat difting the | day, but encountered a fall of temperature at night which required them to use blanke! During the months of July and August of the | the direction of the United states government, a survey was made of the | Roanoke river, which runs through the soath- ern border of the state of Virginia. The party ‘ty-four men, ‘They left Dan- te, a small town near the head of navigation, he 8th of July, and proceeded with their work down the river in the direction of the ocean. It is proper to state in advance that for the most part th nd bordering this stream is ‘ation and that there are no marshy districts to be found on either side; in | many places the banks are abrapt and wooded. The areas of low, flat, land adjacent to the river increase as_you descend towards the point at which it enters the state of North Carolina, and are designated by the inhabitants as ‘bottom, or lowlands.” For the first three weeks after leaving Danville, but one case of fever occurred | The average range of thermometer F. being, at Za.m,, 86°; 12 m.. 114°; 7. p.m., 98°; 10 p'm., 88°. About the end of the fourth week, having | reached that portion of the river bordered by greater extent of bottom lands. but entirely free from marshes, the decided influence of the damp meadows upon the temperature at night, was shown by the following average of ther- mometer: 7 a.m., 84°; 12 m., 114°; 7 gi 10 p.m. Contemporaneous with this varia- tion of 32° F. between midday and 10 o'clock at night, several cases of intermittent fever ap- | peared, notwithstanding the men were required to be under cover on board of the vessel at 9 p. m., and not allowed to go ashore until after Suarise. A sudden fall of temperature. produc- ing what was called a ‘cold snap,” occurring soon after, reducing the temperature at midday some twenty-five degrees, the attacks of fever became general, inciuding in the s] of afew days the eatire number of inen on board at that time but one. THE OBVIOUS CONCLUSION, from the above brief statement of the facts and clreumstances attending the survey, fally sus- tains our hypothesis, and demonstrates that these attacks of fever resulted from exposure to @ higher solar heat for the first three weeks, deleteriously impressing itself upon the sympa: thetic nerve centers, and thus preparing the organism for the subsequent development of fever when exposed to the immediately exciting cause of that refrigeration produced by the increased evaporation from those low and damp areas bordering the river at this point. For the first three weeks the immunity enjoyed by these men was doubiless dueto the ficient insola- tion and the limited degree of variation of vets of i of this explanation may be found in the well- Known fact that travelers across the vast desert of Pere — being: os : palige- eles heatof arid expanse o! formany days, are aften seized with chill and fever almost ne ptiporare Mes reaching the oases, or and vegetal spots, found scattered by nt hand of nature, along this deso- late waste. It would be at variance with a «ational ito. agents could affeet the human organism witn guch rapidity unless it be some eminently toxic ig pega sled heey oe pt It is somewhere related that during the visit ort ets retofore attributed to | y. varying in | individuals according to constitutional ditfer- | | IT 1S A WELL-KNOWN FACT THAT DRAINAGE AND | tions for building purposes were commenced, | part played by insolation and refrigeration in , cause, and feel constrained to rest | and blood of those affected with malarial fevers, | pathologists in determining the differential diaz | often years, in the person of an old Dasket- | maker, who occupied a hut located immediately | Within the fever district. Naturally supposing | that valuable information bearing on the object of their mission might be obtained from so old | an inhabitant they visited his hut at nine o'clock in the morning, but were refused adinittance. | Feceiving as an answer to their inquiries of the aged occupant the reply that he never opened | his doors or windows until midday; that it had | been his custom during the entire period of his | residence there to retire before sunset to luis hut, | close all avenues from the external air as far as | practicable. and keeping up a fire until noon the | followin day, and that he had enjoyed aninter- rupted . Whilst his neighbors had fallen victiins to the fever within a short | or been compelled to change their reside: some distant point. The absence of feve | case was manifestly due to the ma’ an equable temperature through the fires kept up during those nours whe: st tall of temperature was supposed at the time. to th heat of an imaginary marsh miasma. THE PERTINENT ENQUIRY may possibly have suggested itseit, that if these sare developed by sadden tra heat to cold or rapid decline of temperature, why is it that the inhabitsats of mountainous regions, where ench rapid yariations constant occur, are known to escape? We reply, that in consequence of the topographical features of the mountain, its irregnlar surface of deep ravines and angular peaks, th the | | thereby lose their power and fore ably in consequence. thea, of t that the inhabitants of sich essential antecedent cond solation, and hence are m turnal fall of tempe: principle may be ex n of f ot affect ture. U ined the phenc often witnes: of individuals who sided for ath of time in materious tricis di ¢ heated term, and who have | ly bi ected with intermittent the patholo it only needs the agent of refrigeratica to produce the paro: If the same thera status of the jon Ov | | elev feet above the level of the sea as th found on the plains below, subject t hese fe ing on or near the iands in Eastern Virginia to light fires at night tor the pose, as they ving off the fever, hout, of cour ending the 1 cperandi or rationsle of their sanitary precan- tions. ne idea advanced where he makes { { of Limerici Pa, anid please y wet, swampy that brow killed both his honor ar honor, ‘onuitry, ent f on the flux whi sid withou water, nor was it, ax hin hy cutting # i these who brady’ nicht e theinaide of the y fo and Car eous earth preventing the percolation of, rain, aud covered by a superti porons sandy soil, for the greater year kept damp, but remote from any tions of water or rshea; et owe find here intermitttent fever prevailing for many of the year, evidently produced | refrigerating effect of the moisture sup- rT nightfail from the damp earth. cor- by the continued high solar heat through | the day. During the months of July. August and September, we are informed that intermit- tent aud remittent fevers appeared along the valley of the Connecticut river, and m other localities in the northern section of the United States, where it had rarely ever occurred be- fore, and where there was no visible source of ia. This was doubtless due to the pr zed solar heat during the day, with the sud- den decline of temperature at night iu these localities. CULTIVATION abates or entirely destroys the so-called malaria. Suburbs of cities previously unhealthy in con- sequence of the presence of wet or damp areas, become healthy as soon as they are thoroughly drained and built upon. We are told that the island of Hong Kong, which consists entirely of weathered and decaying granite, so long as it remained undisturbed, the existence of malaria a8 not eyen susp but so soon as exeava- turning up and exposing to the air the disinte- wud moist granite, intermittent and re- mittent tevers, to an alarn xtent, atta®ked those engaged upon the work. Instances of a milar character going to show the important the production of parox: port of the therino-1 might be cited almost a dum. WITH REGARD TO THE RYTHMIC CHARACTER OF THESE FEVERS, concerning which there has been so much fruil less speculation, we have noexplanation to offer beyond the admission of our ignorance as to the r the pres. ent under the belief that it is regulated by some occult principle of our organisins, or perhaps | controlled by some of those naturai laws which unconse! ical beings. can no more demonstrate why a| n intermittent should observe that perio- than we can expiain why in wornen the | auenial evolution should occur with reu- | larity at the end of ever, ight days, or at the same period at should an- mal fevers in sup- gromnetrie hypothesis 'y twenty: the serpe ly divest itself of its epidermi: In conclusion, we desire to emphasi pothesis which we haye attempted to present this paper, by repeating that the hitherto recog- nized sources of marsh miasma, whether they consist of genuine paludal districts or areas ot damp earth, exercise their pathogenic influence SOLELY BY VARIATIONS OF TEMPERATURE, or hygrometric conditions of the atmosphere af- fecting our bodies, producing in those who have undergone antecedent insolation, paroxysma) fevers; but in those who have not, possibly at- tacks of acute pyrexias, such as pneumonia, bronchitis, nephritis, pleuritis, diarfhea, etc. The researches of Virchow long ago demon- strated that malarial fever was closely related to heat, since he showed that pigment granules were found in abundance in the livers, spleens, | afact which bas been relied upon by modern nosis of typhoid and malarial fevers. The pig: mentation being the crucial test by which the latter is recognized, no such element being found in the blood of the former. In this connection question suggests itself, that inasmuch as it isan admitted fact that the negrorace is capable of resisting the extremes of heat far better than the white, and are also said to be less liable to attacks of so-called maiarial fevers,can it be due to the presence of the thick pigmentary layer in the rete mucesum of the former, provided nature as a natural prophylactic against the ra} of the sun. that antagonizes or neutralizes the tendency of insolation to produce an abnormal pigmentation of the blood? ———— New Location for the Jefferson School Needed, To the Editor of Tas Evrxine Star. The apparent acquiescence of the general public in the proposed plan of rebuilding the Jefferson school on the present site is to be re- gretted. Immediately after the fire there wasa decided conviction, generally expressed, that a | new location should be selected. No good rea- sons have been adduced for changing this well- founded conviction. It is well said in Tue Star. that ‘the shot-tower style of school house has been generally condemned by leading school au- thorities everywhere.” Why then e this error in the Jefferson school? All t! cautions that might be taken in rebuildin; the present Sees not render the iz on == nea fi f. to the the children and teachers, in must still be dreaded.’ Besides case of another fire, and great annoyance from theimmediate vicinity of the railroad, with ite network of tracks, can- perpen th saeietiiy or tae park from the rr 1€ COI itol tothe Potomac to be broken, and symmetry and marred and destroy by the privil given to the Baltimore and Poto- mac Its depot or station building oc- cues: a prominent and valuable of the public Roeaicon: The vnrobabalties of its re- moval ote and The ‘of Baptist churches in 7) are of African ¢ ] | of any other city of RELIGIOUS NOTES, — The Rev. Mr. Green, the English ritualist, is still in prison, but, as his bishops say, the key is in his own pocket. — Rey. Dr. Henson, of Philadelphia, has ae cepted a call to the First Baptist chu: of Chicago. red — A missionary at Benita, in western Africa, reports that he has solemnized nine marriages, but has not received any marriage fees — There are now more than 700,000 y the United States whe see - Tne Rev. F a Chicago Unitarian minister, whoa few weeks ago said he drew sone of ‘his best inspiration from the theater, has now renounced all faith in God and inmor tality. — Bishop Colenso’s name has been strack from the lis: of th ney. and thus he is no longer om Jas Bishop of Natal. A singular fe is that his. Rey. Geo. W. S president of the Co n ris now preaching in . in New York city. have been recently baptized — Chicago has the largest Hebrew population D.D., formerly the University. ia this the church on 534 Seventecn pervons ing in the avera take part in reli; — The Khe@ive of Egypt says he is opposed to my and is working te make his people t with one wife foreach husband. He wants to inspire them with a lil ng toward all religions be them respectful to Chri as weil as to people of their own faith. — The Baptist Weekly, after qnoting from an exchange its opinion th: t fault with those who regularly at is that they do not. kindiy strangers, and make them w This is true, only if you do try to be courteous, do it courteously. ome time azo in achureh vestibule we knew an official to spr ‘ rin such police Ave” Buford, is said to be due to the result of a shock which he by the act of his brot Colonel Buford. who in March, 187%, shot and killed Judge Eliott, of the ju the 1 state cou 4 seh given @ | decision a Buford family in a case | which had been before the courts for eight years. — The Washington-street Me dist church of M. Ireland, @ . on the charge of ing fellow: x ft Rev. Dr. Krohn, the of immorality pi — In one Connecticut's most thriving cities the church bells became objectionable, prine+ pally because the church services were held without any concert of action as to the hoar of meeting. Action by the council was invoked im order that the bells might be rang six ously instead of janglinz at half-he during the morning, afternoon, ar The common council passed a resolution: solved, That hereafter the churches that have bells that are rang, be rung at the same hour for morning and afternooa servic ringers are puzzled, and are wo will be the effect on the Sunday —The Christian Leader recently pointed to Rev. T. De Witt Talmage as the typical Ameri- can preacher who regards the material nature of hell torments as “not even a matter of discus sion.” The Independent Las asked Mr. Talmage what he thinks about it, and he repiies that he does not know much of thefuture state of those who wicke diy reject the only Saviour, but knows that the Bible represents it’ as very sorrowful, “I do not think,” he says, “that God déstroya Every case of ‘destruction is self-de- or suicide. God does not push any man of the precipice. The man jumpsoff. There is so much suffering in this world Chat it is nob dificult for me to imagine suffering further om, Many of the descriptions of the futare state of grief must be figurative; which of them I cannot say. Through th pel of 12 wide-open gates may you and I escape all suffering and enter with all joy!” @ The protracted meeting at the Metropolitan E. church—Rey. R. N. Baer pastor—im gress for some three or four weeks past, has tus far resulted in about forty couversions and thirty accessions of the chureh, eT pastor, © Ireland. At the coming conference Mr. Baer will be able to report the e reh in a fiue condition spi wrezation are hoping that U ments ma aajority of the membership are r. Baer should be returned for his third a ually, and the | Year. for he has proven an excellent pastor, and. | has made many fricuds here outside of the denomination as well as within it. The late | movement for a change seems to have been with | the expectation that Rev Dr. Newman obtained as the pastor, him indicates that he will remain as pastor of @ Congregational church in New York fur sume months, if not permanently. The Foundry M. E. church will, as a course, have Rey. W. F. Ward as th again next year, for he is now in his here. Mr. Ward, when he came found the debt of the station about £23,000, and with the subscriptions then on hand, and others, he has brought it down to about £11,000, and at the same time he will be able to report the current finances in excellent condition. He will also re- ters a membership of about 400, ee en joners—nearly a hundred having been added this year. There seemsto be brt littledoubtastoachange at the coming conterence in the pastorate of Ryland chapel, and At present Rey. Richard Norris, who a few years azo was stationed at Dunbarton street, rectown, is spoken of as the successor to Rey. Dr. J.S. Deale. It will be remembered that the appointment of Rev. Dr. Deale last spring te Ryland was the cause of an unpleasantness in the church, which resulted in the withdrawal of a number of members. Most of these have united ina new religious move- ment and have formed the congregation of the Tabernacle, under Kev. Dr. W. W. Hicks. One of the members of Ryland is authority for the statement that this difficulty, uupleaszut as ft was, has been productive of good to Ryland and to the cause of religion in South Washington. He states that there was some sympathy felt for Dr. Deale by families outside of the church, who have endeavored since the split to encour age him by their attendance, and the congrega- tion has' ‘more closely cemeuted in work- ing for the common good, and the result is the oe which has been in progress for some weeks. ir pastor first year —— Upon my Word She Did! . Whiel In fact It was extremely scant), Soa from her belt a lily pale And four sunflowers hung— Four dig sunflowers hung. She would not touch a bit of meat, But oft she'd sit and . Chain mileage,” replied the constable, heut ing wit! “bol have i all to pay?” gasped the ranches. é