Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 November 1901 — LIME AND MALARIA. [ARTICLE]

LIME AND MALARIA.

Investigator* Say That Former Partially Averts Latter. A French scientist, Dr. Roche, thinks that he has discovered an interesting fact in regard to malaria. He declares that the addition of lime to the soil for purely agricultural purposes will reduce the amount of malaria in that vicinity. Another medical man, Dr. Grellet, echoes that opinion, and asserts jhat the diminution in malaria is proportional to the quality of lime used. Neither of these writers offers any explanation of the alleged discovery or shows why the lime should antagonize the malaria. The old notion that so-called malarial fevers resulted (as the name implies) from bad air, a miasm arising from the soil, and especially from wet places, is still entertained by a number of people. This is a theory which could be reconciled easily with the belief which Drß. Roche and Grellet now cherish. If both of these suppositions are correctno doubt the lime checks the development of the miasmatic vapor in wet soil. But it has recently been suspected that malaria is caused by a micro-organism which gets into the victim’s blood, and not by a gas which is inhaled. It is also suspected that this microbe gets into the blood through the bite of an infected mosquito. Now, if this understanding of the case should prove to be right, then it would not be easy to see what lime has to do with suppressing malaria. Perhaps it kills mosquitoes and improves the sanitary conditions of a district in that manner. Or it is remotely possible that the disappearance of malaria which has been noticed in France is confined to a limited region, and is due to some other cause than the use of lime as a fertilizer. The two facts may have been simultaneous, but unrelated. At any rate, it will be desirable to know whether anything of the kind has been noticed in other places where malaria once prevailed and where lime has been employed by farmers. If so, there is doubtless something in the idea. Otherwise, the French cases would appear to be accidental and exceptional.