Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 February 1910 — $1.000,000 To KILL LITTLE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

$ 1.000,000 To KILL LITTLE

Mr. Rockefeller's gift of $1,000,000, to be used ln eradicating the hookworm disease, fixes public attention* on the dread scourge of the South. When this parasite was found the discoverer Stated, quite correctly, that It was responsible for most of the lassitude and .unwillingness to work of the so-called “poor white trash”—whereupon he was laughgf out of court as the discoverer of "the germ of laziness.” The hookworm, which Is not a germ, is certainly no laughing, matter. It is not: peculiar to the Southern ... States, having been found in animals as early 'as 1782. It Ifes first recognized as the cause of a parasitic disease in 1843 in Italy, and In 1879 its action in exhausting the blood from the system was realized. In succeeding years its wide prevalence was noted in Europe And In some cases were traced to the United States; but it was not until 1,902 that the existence of a purely American variety was demonstrated and announced by Dr. Stiles, a zoologist connected with the United States government service. Tile appearance And habits of the parasite are now well known. It is. a suckingworm less than an inch long and looking much like-“a bit of soiled coarse thread.” One victim may entertain several thousand of thdlf4C tiny "vampires, and these cause loss of blood not only by sucking It, but-*by leakage through the minute holes that they make in the InteßtinaJ walls. Retardation of development due to hookworms has caused a great deal of unmerited criticism to be heaped on the Southern cotton mills. Lads of 17 or 18 appear no older than normal boys of 10 or 11; boys es 10 or 11 sometimes look like little children. Strangers not knowing their real ages and seeing them at work go away with lurid stories of the horrors of child labor. Their impression is still further heightened if they -try to talk with the supposed children. The disease makes them dull and backward—they are generally the stupidest pupils ln the schools —and they seem Unable to answer the simplest questions Intelligently. Perhaps they feel too miserable even to try. In school they are unable to concentrate their minds on anything, and the teachers in the hookworm districts say that if their pupils remain seated for any length of time they “swell up.” ■ % Hookworm disease is caused by the presence of small worms' belongferent kinds of hookworm occur in man. One of these is popularly known as the “Old World hookworm,” the other as the “New World hookworm.” Both of these parasites are known to occur in Airies, the home qf the negro, and both have been found in the negro. The Old World hookworm is relatitoly rare in the United States, where the great majority of cases mußt be attributed to the New World parasite. The New World hookworm Is known as “the American murderer,” this name having been given 4t on account of the great number of deaths It causes, directly or indirectly. The American hookworm is about one-fourth to one-half an inch lons-' apd about as thick as a small hairpin.. It has hard cutting platea or ’jaws guarding the entrance to its mouth, with the aid of wh’ch it fastens Itself to the intestinal wall. In its adult stage the hookworm is found fastened to the lining membrane of the slnall intestine. Formerly it was thought that the parasite secured its hold by means of hooks, but now it is established that it fastens itself by biting the membrane. It makes a wound, sucks the blood and produces a poisonous substance which injures the person affected. A person may harbor slew hookworms, ot several, thousands, according to the amount of infection to which he has been subjected. The disease is more common in children than in adults. The ttarasiteS do not multiply in the Intestine, as their eggs require fresh air ln order to develop, and so for every hookworm found in the intestine a separate genii must enter- the body: The young worm may enter the body in two different ways. It may be swallowed in contaminated water or it may bore its way through the skin. Boring throtighthe skin Is the more common method of infection. k f* m r entering the skin, the young worms make their way to the blood and pass with the blood through the heart to the lungß. Gradually they find their way to- the small intestine. Where they shed their skin, beeome mature then begin their work of injuring the walls of the intestines of suckling the blood, and of poisoning their victims. Investigations by Dr. Stiles have convinced him that the hookworm disease has a serious effect upon the mind and prevents children from fully and properly Assimilating the education which is offered them. He says that, as nearly as can be estimated, the physical condition of the Southern school children in the rural districts is such that they cannot assimilate more than 70 per cent of the education they receive. Dr. Stiles is quoted as saying that it will take twenty years, at a cost of SIOO,OOO a year—that is, $2,000,000—t0 stamp out the malady ln the Southern Stat&es. Much, however, can be done in a short time. The Rockefeller commission has not yet adopted a program for its campaign against the disease, but’ it will probably take up the measures sug-gested-seme time ago by Dr. Stiles, which Include an annual “public health week” in the schools, when children wijl be taught the dangers Of infection; house-to-house canvasses in the back country districts by medical students on vacation to enlighten the natives, lectures by physlelans and trained nurses in town halls, churches and schoolhonses; the distribution of pamphlets and other printed matter telling about the disease;, an institution for free diagnosis and treatment, and the passing of laws in the several Southern States to permit the above measures and to promote the antihookworm pampaign. A late dispatch from San Francisco says that hundreds of cases of hookworm have been Imported into California In the last few years ttom Hawaii, the Philippines and the Orient. Almost half of a colony of West Indian laborers who had been working in the Hawaiian sugar plantations aid cam* to the Pacific coast were infected.