208.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
MACAO.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
Macao, 13th September.
THE STORM.
the Kowloon boundary question with the Go-; vernor; and Lao Hok Shan, late Director of the Commercial Bureau of Canton, who has shown himself so prominent in the rendition case of King Lien Shan at Macao, and gained a wide notoriety in the matter of the Fantan ans Canton Lottery affairs, and who accompanied Li Hung-chang to Shanghai to be his secretary;
The great storm which passed over as the have been charged with treason, inasmuch day before yesterday was one of the most severe. as they are suspected of having had secret The wind was something furious, but luckily communications with the Foreign Powers to enough no damage was done except to trees and betray the Chinese Government. Prince Tuan street lamps. The tide was very high in the sent orders to have them beheaded; but on morning in the inner harbour. Some places learning of their impending fate they bolted to were covered with water about a foot deep. Singapore. Lao's family have gone to Macao, The Praya Grande suffered most, all the pave- and his house, the largest and best building inment stones being scattered about; repairs will Canton, has been seized by the Mandarins.
take about a week, I should say.
THE SUPPRESSED PAPERS.
There has been a talk about the revival of the Chinese newspapers lately suppressed here; but I think this is not so easy, unless the parties interested can pay large squeezes. The reasons are simply these. In the first place the Viceroy does not like the people to know too much of the news of the North, for fear that they might incite the bad characters to riot; secondly, it is said that the professors of the four principal colleges in Canton, together with the gentry, strongly object to any publication that says anything to the discredit of China; thirdly, if anything is said of the defeat of China the lower class of the populace will certainly go and storm
THE NEW GOVERNOR.
Senhor Horta e Costa is again showing his old energy. A few months ago, as everyone knows, the quarter of San Lazaro was a place infected by plague. It was certain that the small houses there were breeding the sickness, but nothing was done. Now Senhor Horta e Costa has given orders that the valuation of the houses shall be taken at once and that expro- priation shall begin as soon as possible. It is to be hoped that His Excellency will continue to do away with the filthy quarters of this colony, especially such quarters as must ger. minate the bacillus of plague. His Excellency's vigorous action is well known in Macao, and when the cable brought us the pleasant news of the newspaper offices, which his coming out again as Governor, the inhabi- may also lead to a riot; and fourthly, if they tants were full of joy at the news, for during say anything against foreigners, the Consuls three long years no improvements at all were will take action. These are the difficulties, and made by Senhor Galhardo. up to now no definite arrangement has been made to re-open the offices, although some enterprising persons are attempting to do so. Many have subscribed to the Chinese newspapers of Hong- kong, which I have no doubt are doing a very good business.
THE STATE OF CANTON.
Canton is quiet, and business is going on the same as usual, except that the capitalists and bankers hesitate rather about investing their money in transactions just as yet until they see the ultimate result of the Peking trouble. Things sold here are much dearer than in Hong- kong or Macao. The Chinese soldiers, all in red waistcoats with characters on them denoting to what regiment they belong, are still seen patrolling leisurely about the streets, in one hand carrying an umbrella, and in the other holding a pipe, with revolvers stuck in their waist-bands. The other day two or three foreigners, taken by a guide into the city to see the sights, while passing the Bannermen Street where the Manchus live, were insulted by a few Manchu rascals, who threatened to kill, and at- tempted to pelt them, but it was soon put a stop to by others. One can safely go about in the suburbs of the new city without any fear; but to venture into the old city where the Manchus or bannermen live is not advisable.
REVIEWS.
|
[September 15, 1900,
Some thirteen pages, pp. 19–33, of new matter are introduced, giving more minute directions for preparing and staining slides of malarial blood. Strangely Thin's hematin and alum stain, used by the West African commission is not mentioned. A very full description of the ther with the mode of transfer by the mos- plasmodium in its various forms is given, toge qnitoe to the human body, and the development of one of the phases of the parasite in the stomach of the anophele.
of mosquitoe which, as far as can be ascertain- An anophele, we must explain, is that species ed, acts as "host" to the plasmodium, and may be recognised, as might be considered natural in such a vicious animal, by standing on its head when at rest, in contra-distinction to its quieter brethren who, in like circumstances. other point of interest is that the female mos- use their legs like ordinary individuals. An- quitoe is alone the "blood-sucker," not unlike its human prototype!
puddles which Chinese like to leave around Its favourite habitations are those nice little the back premises of houses, or those neat quiet pools which the enthusiastic amateur gardener keeps in front of his drawing-room windows for ornament or use. The Japanese are more sensible, They also have their land- latter they cultivate gold fish, deadly enemies scape gardens and miniature lakes, but in the of the mosquitoe larvae. This may quite well ao- count for the immunity of many malarious-look- ing places in the flowery land from paludism.
Dr. Manson states (p. 28) that the mosquitoe is not a mere carrier of malaria but is necessary for its development, so that if there are no mosquitoes there should be no malaria, but we know that malaria is just as active when man is not present. There are many districts in the well-known case of the Roman Campagna, India and Africa uninhabited, not to mention
where the population is about nil, in which the malarial germ, to use the old term, is a most dangerous factor, and the only explanation given is that black sphores exist in the soil, and that those, though long defunct, are liberated by digging. Why then does malaria disappear after cultivation ? Stephens and Christopher (on malaria in Freetown) state that there is a marked concentration of anopheles wherever a clearing with human, and especially native, dwellings is made," which leads to the spread of malaria.
They point out as a still more potent factor that anopheles 14 for swarm in the dirty native quarters and aggre- gate in dirty native villages" when the Europe- an houses will be almost free, and combat the popular theory
that natives are less prone to malarial disease because they are not so fre- quently bitten," showing they are as liable to attack by mosquitoes, but do not show it, their skin being less irritable. From these various statements it may safely be concluded we have much still to learn about the genesis of
Tropical Diseases. By PATRICK MANSON, C.M.G., M.D., LL.D. London, Cassell and Co. It is now two years since the first edition of Dr. Manson's popular treatise on Tropical Diseases appeared. The fact that "a new and enlarged edition" is already called for shows how well appreciated by practitioners and the public this work has been. As the author, in his introduc- tion, states, his book is not intended to compete with large or full treatises dealing with Eastern diseases, such as Davidson's and Hirsch's are, but if we may be allowed to, criticise so very able and useful a book, we would say that it is too much of a compendium, a book to be recom- mended by the crammer
to be "got up examination,
Undoubtedly it is this very quality which has made the treatise so popular, but we cannot fail to remember that the practitioner, for whose use and benefit it is intended, is not a raw student, straight from the Lecture-room and Hospital, whose sole ambition is not to be plucked, but a fully qualified medical man who, let us hope, has made the most of his time in special hos. pitals, or as assistant to private practitioners, or
in ** Canton, 10th September.
A SUNDAY MORNING
ALARM.
++
14
11
taking out" extra courses, and whose am- bition soars beyond a third-rate practice in a Between two and three a.m. on Sunday morn-mined to seek for name and fame in the gorgeous country-town or mining district, and who is deter- ing some residents in the French Concession, East. Shameen, were startled from their slumbers by and more ambitious volume would have been For such, I cannot help thinking, a larger two rifle shots, followed by an alarm-gun from more appropriate and given greater scope to the one of the gunboats, and then by another. I author's well-known talent and evident industry. thought it was an attack upon Shameen. I quickly dressed myself and walked in the cirec- the subject, and widely dispersed nature of the As might lo expected, owing to the interest of tion of the East Bridge, where I saw the marine malady, Malaria occupies nearly a third part of patrols, who are always on the alert, running the book, and it is in the chapters devoted to about to and fro. On going closer to the its consideration that most of the new matter und, Bwhere a Chinese guard-boat remains introduced in this edition is found. The whole at anchor, I beheld a few Chinese soldiers question of the genesis and mode of infection pushing and pulling along by the queue a in Malaria has been accurately and persistently Chinese until they got him into the boat. Of studied during the past two years, largely due course there was a good deal of noise and talk to the impotus given by the newly started among the boat people; and upon inquiry I schools of Tropical medicine," which have learned it was an attack upon one of the sam-sent forth commissions to Africa, South Amer- pan' boats after the moon feast. The thief wasioa, Italy, etc., and have thus gathered valuable put in irons in the guard-boat to be sent to the information, the gist of which our author has Nam Hoi to-day.
embodied in his work. In the writer's student days "Tropical medicine was as unknown a The second class cruiser Furious, Captain region to the average student as the North Pole Francis J. Foley, was, on the 7th August, or Saturn; now every up-to-date medical school ordered to be detached from the Channel has its lecturer on "Tropical medicine." London Squadron, and left the following day for and Liverpool have their post-graduate courses Chatham to refit and complete with stores for on the same subject. Much of the credit for this foreign service. It is more than probable she advance is due to our author, who, through his will be despatched to China, writes our Ports- official connection with the olonial Office, has mouth naval com ondent.
been able to influence the ruling powers.
15
14
malaria.
A point in this connection of much interest to dwellers in Hongkong is that malaria is the undoubtedly rampant in just such places as African Commission describes. The
between Magazine Gap and Aberdeen, at nullal.s at West Point, down the Peak Road, Quarry Bay, at East Point behind the old Police Station, now the Bay View Hotel, are just the typical breeding places of anopheles, streams and pools left by the subsidence of the "which are invariably found in mountain water." and it is further stated that the danger of subsoil water is that it leaves pools which become breeding-places for mosquitoes. It has long been recognised that these conditions exist all through the West Point which, since the soldiers encamped there in the forties were decimated by malaria down to the present day, when every louse has some or all of its occupants infect d. Surface and deep drainage and the down with fover, has been notoriously malaria- "training" of such water-courses are given as prophylactics, recommendations made by the Hongkong Commission in 1886. Perhaps the P.W.D. will now take note and exert themselves.
to
On p. 115, in favour of the mosquitoe theory, it is noticed that Mauritius, previously absolutely free from malarial disease, suffered from a severe epidemic of malaria due most likely the introduction of a new species of mosquitos, which was favoured by the numerous puddles found everywhere. In the Walcheren expedition