The second point was to determine the relation of the straw to the rash.
One of the investigators exposed a bare arm and shoulder for an hour
between two mattresses. Three people voluntarily slept on the mattresses
for one night. Siftings from the straw were applied to the arm,
under all of which circumstances the rash quickly developed, showing
conclusively the relation of the straw to the disease.
Thirdly, siftings from the straw and mattresses which had been
thoroughly disinfected failed to produce the rash.
And fourthly, careful inspection of the siftings of the straw disclosed
living parasites, small mites, which when applied to the skin quickly
produced the characteristic eruption.
SANITATION
WHEN the thoughtful historian gets far enough away from the nineteenth
century to see it as a whole, no single feature will stand out with
greater distinctness than the fulfilment of the prophecy of Descartes
that we could be freed from an infinity of maladies both of body and
mind if we had sufficient knowledge of their causes and of all the
remedies with which nature has provided us. Sanitation takes its place
among the great modern revolutions--political, social and intellectual.
Great Britain deserves the credit for the first practical recognition of
the maxim salus populi suprema lex.
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