Dr. Francesco Genovese Of Caulonia, To Whom I Am Indebted For Much
Kindness And Who Is Himself A Distinguished Worker
In the humanitarian
mission of combating malaria, has published, among other interesting
pamphlets, one which deals with this village of
Foca, a small place of
about 200 inhabitants, surrounded by fertile orange and vine plantations
near the mouth of the Alaro. His researches into its vital statistics
for the half-century ending 1902 reveal an appalling state of affairs.
Briefly summarized, they amount to this, that during this period there
were 391 births and 516 deaths. In other words, the village, which in
1902 ought to have contained between 600 and 800 inhabitants, not only
failed to progress, but devoured its original population of 200; and not
only them, but also 125 fresh immigrants who had entered the region from
the healthy uplands, lured by the hope of gaining a little money during
the vintage season.
A veritable Moloch!
Had the old city of Caulonia, numbering perhaps 20,000 inhabitants,
stood here under such conditions of hygiene, it would have been expunged
off the face of the earth in fifty years.
Yet - speaking of malaria in general - a good deal of evidence has been
brought together to show that the disease has been endemic in Magna
Grsecia for two thousand years, and the customs of the Sybarites seem to
prove that they had some acquaintance with marsh fever, and tried to
guard against it. "Whoever would live long," so ran their proverb, "must
see neither the rising nor the setting sun." A queer piece of advice,
intelligible only if the land was infested with malaria.
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