These
Latter Are The Most Trying Of All To Deal With.
They tell you,
truly enough no doubt, that the malaria is in the air, in the
exhalations from the
Ground, which are greatest about sunrise and
sunset, and in the drinking water, and that you must avoid chill,
excessive mental and bodily exertion, that you must never get
anxious, or excited, or lose your temper. Now there is only one -
the drinking water - of this list that you can avoid, for, owing to
the great variety and rapid growth of bacteria encouraged by the
tropical temperature, and the aqueous saturation of the atmosphere
from the heavy rainfall, and the great extent of swamp, etc., it is
practically impossible to destroy them in the air to a satisfactory
extent. I was presented by scientific friends, when I first went to
the West Coast, with two devices supposed to do this. One was a
lamp which you burnt some chemical in; it certainly made a smell
that nothing could live with - but then I am not nothing, and there
are enough smells on the Coast now. I gave it up after the first
half-hour. The other device was a muzzle, a respirator, I should
say. Well! all I have got to say about that is that you need be a
better-looking person than I am to wear a thing like that without
causing panic in a district. Then orders to avoid the night air are
still more difficult to obey - may I ask how you are to do without
air from 6.30 P.M. to 6.30 A.M.? or what other air there is but
night air, heavy with malarious exhalations, available then?
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 681 of 705
Words from 188092 to 188377
of 194943
