Most common to the
every-day observer, and I leave the description of the endless
varieties of classes to those who make entomology a study.
It may no doubt appear very enticing to the lovers of such
things, to hear of the gorgeous colors and prodigious size of
butterflies, moths and beetles; the varieties of reptiles, the
flying foxes, the gigantic crocodiles; the countless species of
waterfowl, et hoc genus omne; but one very serious fact is apt to
escape the observation of the general reader, that wherever
insect and reptile life is most abundant, so sure is that
locality full of malaria and disease.
Ceylon does not descend to second-class diseases: there is no
such thing as influenza; whooping-cough, measles, scarlatina,
etc., are rarely, if ever, heard of; we ring the changes upon
four first-class ailments - four scourges, which alternately
ascend to the throne of pestilence and annually reduce the circle
of our friends - cholera, dysentery, small-pox and fever. This
year (1854) there has been some dispute as to the routine of
succession; they have accordingly all raged at one time.
The cause of infection in disease has long been a subject of
controversy among medical men, but there can be little doubt
that, whatever is the origin of the disease, the same is the
element of infection. The question is, therefore, reduced to the
prime cause of the disease itself.
A theory that animalcules are the cause of the various contagious
and infectious disorders has created much discussion; and
although this opinion is not generally entertained by the
faculty, the idea is so feasible, and so many rational arguments
can be brought forward in its support, that I cannot help
touching upon a topic so generally interesting.
In the first place, nearly all infectious diseases predominate in
localities which are hot, damp, swampy, abounding in stagnant
pools and excluded from a free circulation of air. In a tropical
country, a residence in such a situation would be certain death
to a human being, but the same locality will be found to swarm
with insects and reptiles of all classes.
Thus, what is inimical to human life is propitious to the insect
tribe. This is the first step in favor of the argument.
Therefore, whatever shall tend to increase the insect life must
in an inverse ratio war with human existence.
When we examine a drop of impure water, and discover by the
microscope the thousands of living beings which not only are
invisible to the naked eye, but some of whom are barely
discoverable even by the strongest magnifying power, it certainly
leads to the inference, that if one drop of impure fluid contains
countless atoms endowed with vitality, the same amount of impure
air may be equally tenanted with its myriads of invisible
inhabitants.
