Some people in the Roman Campagna have
built houses for themselves on top of the ancient tombs, the walls of
which are perpendicular; the American Indians fasten their hammocks as
high up as possible to the trees of the malarious forests; and very
recently, the engineers of the Panama Railroad had little wooden huts
built in the trees in order to procure safety against the terrible
outbreak of malaria which occurred during the construction of that iron
way. We owe, finally, to this popular experience the discovery of the
specific action of quinine, and the consequent preservation of thousands
and thousands of human lives. Why should we reject _a priori_ and without
investigation other useful data which it may yet present to our
consideration? If we wish to make progress in this question of rendering
malarious countries healthy, we must always hold before our eyes a double
object--to find a means of prophylaxis which may be accessible to
everybody; and, at the same time, to find a means equally within
everybody's reach, to overcome chronic malarial poisoning and its evil
consequences. Science is still too far behind to permit us to hope that we
shall soon succeed in discovering this second means by purely scientific
researches.
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