CHAPTER VIII.

GENERAL DISEASED CONDITION OF THE BODY, THE PRODUCT OF MALARIA.

The inhabitants of countries infested with malaria, or vitiated air, when they have been spared the more acute forms of disease, or have recovered from them, are generally the victims of a miserable state of health, compared with which many conceive that death itself would be preferable.

The body loses its vigour and aptitude for exertion, becomes weak, disabled, sluggish, and impotent; the appetite fails: the limbs refuse to carry their burden aptly so called, and they become swollen and dropsical. The mind becomes lethargic and unfit for exertion, and the unhappy sufferer, who is insensible to whatever gratifies his more highly favoured fellow-men, becomes often weary of existence, a burden to himself, and an object of pity to others, who are accustomed to regard the activity, the cheerfulness, and graceful lineaments of health.

Thousands are so afflicted; and the number of those who thus have their existence embittered,—who are deprived of the manifold enjoyments which our condition can afford, and whose lives are prematurely terminated,—is even greater than that of those who die of the more violent and more speedily mortal distempers which are induced by vitiated air.

“A glance at the inhabitants of malarious countries or districts, must convince even the most superficial observer, that the range of disorders produced by the poison of malaria is very extensive. The jaundiced complexion, the tumid belly, the stunted growth, the stupid countenance, the shortened life, attest that habitual exposure to malaria, saps the energy of every bodily and mental function, and drags its victim to an early grave. A moment’s reflection must shew us, that ague and fever, two of the most prominent features of the malarious influence, are as a drop of water in the ocean, when compared with the other less obtrusive, but more dangerous, maladies that silently but effectually disorganize the vital structures of the human fabric, under the operation of this deleterious and invisible poison.”[7]

Footnote 7:

Johnson’s Diary of a Philosopher.

Such is the general state of health of the inhabitants of many parts of the world; but it is chiefly in some parts of “fair Italy,” whose celebrated blue skies invite, whose luxuriant vegetation delights, whose gay and extensive prospects ravish, and whose classic associations charm the ecstatic spectator,—where humanity acquires that degenerate character, and that hideous aspect, which it assumes as if on purpose to mark the contrast between the gay revelry of vegetation, and the revolting degeneracy of mortality.

The resident in Italy can scarcely escape entirely the action of malaria; if he survive or escape the more immediate and more violent effects, those just described are, in the course of time, almost sure to manifest themselves.

Many of our countrymen make their residence in Italy, invited by its sky, its sun, its fertility, its ancient monuments, and stirring associations, and they not unfrequently prolong their stay so much as to imbibe the seeds of general bad health, which, though it may not develope itself at the time, will manifest itself at some future day. The malaria of Italy, like that of some other countries, sometimes acts slowly, and does not produce its effects, until the sufferer is again resident in his native country. Assailed with general decay, he is at a loss to know its cause, happening, too, at a time, when he had expected that his general health would have been more than ever established by his residence in a warmer climate, and under a clearer sky. It is a remarkable feature in the general bad health thus produced, that it is marked with periodical alternations of activity and repose, or with aggravations and remissions.

CRETINISM.

Cretinism, by which is meant a degenerate state of body, and an imbecile state of mind, which occurs for the most part in the valleys of Switzerland, and among the hollows of the Alps and the Pyrenees, and that is in a great measure the product of vitiated air, emanating from the swampy valleys and basins, which contain animal and vegetable materials, powerfully acted upon by the direct and reflected rays of a burning sun.

From the mountains there pour many streams into the valleys or troughs beneath, and, as the water is seldom completely carried off, it there forms an excellent or very favourable nidus for the putrefaction of animal and vegetable remains.

It is said, by those who have attentively observed the miserable population in these regions, that they form the most humiliating picture of humanity. The body presents the most loathsome condition, and the mind is removed only a step from idiocy itself.

The unwholesome tendency of these terrestrial vapours is materially increased by the almost incredible filth in which the inhabitants keep their persons, clothes, houses, and streets, the effluvia of which alone are almost intolerable and most offensive.

The general degeneracy of the body is frequently accompanied with a large swelling at the front of the neck, which gets the name of “Goitre,” and which is known in England under the appellation of “Derbyshire Neck.”

Cretinism has prevailed in Switzerland for many centuries, and has been likewise noticed among the mountains of China.

Cretinism is thus ably described by Dr James Johnson: “The stature is seldom more than from four to five feet, often much less;—the head is deformed in shape, and too large in proportion to the body;—the skin is yellow, cadaverous, or of a mahogany colour, wrinkled, sometimes of an unearthly pallor, with unsightly eruptions;—the flesh is soft and flabby;—the tongue is large, and often hanging out of the mouth;—the eyes red, prominent, watery, and frequently squinting;—the countenance void of all expression, except that of idiotism or lasciviousness;—the nose flat;—the mouth large, gaping, slavering;—the lower jaw elongated;—the belly pendulous;—the limbs crooked, short, and so distorted as to present anything but a waddling progression;—the external senses often imperfect, and the Cretin deaf and dumb;—the _tout en semble_ of this hideous abortion of nature presenting the traits of premature old age. The Cretins are voracious, and addicted to low propensities. To eat and sleep form their chief pleasures. Hence we see them, between meals, basking in nonchalance on the sunny sides of the houses, insensible to every stimulus that agitates their more intelligent fellow-creatures.”

Before closing this sketch of the effects of malaria in Italy, a table of the annual decrement of life is submitted, which will shew the fearful mortality of that country over that of England, the disproportion against the former country being owing, in a very great degree, to the contamination of the atmosphere, caused by the effluvia which arise from the soil.

In Rome, 1 out of every 25 persons dies annually, or a 25th part of the whole population.

In Naples, 1 out of every 28 persons dies annually, or a 28th part of the whole population.

In England, 1 out of every 60 persons dies annually, or a 60th part of the whole population.

Thus, in England, the mean term of life is more than double what it is in Rome or Naples; and thus, while it takes 60 years to extinguish a generation in England, the brief period of 25 years completes the same work at Rome.

INTERMITTENT FEVER, OR AGUE.

Intermittent fever, more familiarly known as ague, is also a common product of air which is vitiated with effluvia arising from the soil.

That disease was much more prevalent some years ago in England than it is at present, where it is almost confined to Lincolnshire, and some of the low grounds and meadows of Kent and Essex, through which the Thames flows.

It is unnecessary to mention the symptoms of ague, as they are familiarly known. Convalescents are very liable to relapses, and many of those who have recovered from the more violent symptoms, are frequently affected, throughout the whole term of life, with very troublesome complaints, which arise from what is vulgarly known as ague cake, which is an enlargement of the spleen, an organ which lies near the stomach.

Ague is very prevalent in the West Indies, America, Holland, and other countries which are much covered with wood, are ill drained, and liable to be periodically inundated. This disease displays none of the virulence of the malignant remittent fever already noticed, yet affects vast numbers in its peculiar localities, and not unfrequently leads to mortal results.

The whole population of those fens and swamps in which ague is endemic, is generally affected at some period of existence, scarcely one person escaping.

The effluvia which produce that disease are sometimes carried to a considerable distance, and there induce their peculiar distemper; and instances are well known, where effluvia have been conveyed to high grounds, where they have attacked the inhabitants, while those in the immediate neighbourhood of the source of these vapours, have escaped for the time.

Ague is a much milder disease than the remittent fever, which springs from the same general source, viz. terrestrial effluvia, and which prevails in the East and West Indies, and on the coast of Africa.

When and where intermittent fever only is produced, it would appear that the effluvia from the soil are less virulent and concentrated, and perhaps their activity is modified or tempered by a proportionately great quantity of watery vapour combined with them in the atmosphere, by the climate of the country, and by the constitution of the people.

In this country, even so lately as half a century ago, ague or intermittent fever prevailed to a considerable extent, but is now almost unknown.

In East Lothian many of the old inhabitants remember ague as being a common disease in that county. At present it is there unknown.

In respect to this disease particularly, the health of the population of England has greatly improved, and it is well ascertained that the gratifying fact is chiefly owing to the country having been cleared of its superabundant wood, which prevented the land being readily dried, and which interfered with the due action of the winds, and to the speedy removal of water from the surface of the earth by draining, which is now so universally adopted. By draining, the water which formerly formed a receptacle for the decomposition of animal and vegetable remains, is now carried off, and with it the opportunity it afforded for the extrication of unwholesome vapours.