A family suffering from hookworm.
The cure of the disease is very easy; thymol is given, which weakens the hold of the worm, this being followed by Epsom salts. For years a large area in the South undoubtedly has been retarded in its development by this parasite; hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of lives have been needlessly sacrificed.
"The hookworm is not a bit spectacular: it doesn't get itself discussed in legislative halls or furiously debated in political campaigns. Modest and unassuming, it does not aspire to such dignity. It is satisfied simply with (1) lowering the working efficiency and the pleasure of living in something like two hundred thousand persons in Georgia and all other Southern states in proportion; with (2) amassing a death rate higher than tuberculosis, pneumonia, or typhoid fever; with (3) stubbornly and quite effectually retarding the agricultural and industrial development of the section; with (4) nullifying the benefit of thousands of dollars spent upon education; with (5) costing the South, in the course of a few decades, several hundred millions of dollars. More serious and closer at hand than the tariff; more costly, threatening, and tangible than the Negro problem; making the menace of the boll weevil laughable in comparison—it is preëminently the problem of the South."—Atlanta Constitution.
Animals that prey upon Man.—The toll of death from animals which prey upon or harm man directly is relatively small. Snakes in tropical countries kill many cattle and not a few people.
The bite of the rattlesnake of our own country, although dangerous, seldom kills. The dreaded cobra of India has a record of over two hundred and fifty thousand persons killed in the last thirty-five years. The Indian government yearly pays out large sums for the extermination of venomous snakes, over two hundred thousand of which have been killed during a single year.
A flesh-eating reptile, the alligator.
Alligators and Crocodiles.—These feed on fishes, but often attack large animals, as horses, cows, and even man. They seek their prey chiefly at night, and spend the day basking in the sun. The crocodiles of the Ganges River in India levy a yearly tribute of many hundred lives from the natives.
Carnivorous animals such as lions and tigers still inflict damage in certain parts of the world, but as the tide of civilization advances, their numbers are slowly but surely decreasing so that as important factors in man's welfare they may be considered almost negligible.
[29] Their daily life may be easily watched in the schoolroom, by means of one of the many good and cheap observation hives now made to be placed in a window frame. Directions for making a small observation hive for school work can be found in Hodge, Nature Study and Life, Chap. XIV. Bulletin No. 1, U. S. Department of Agriculture, entitled The Honey Bee, by Frank Benton, is valuable for the amateur beekeeper. It may be obtained for twenty-five cents from the Superintendent of Documents, Union Building, Washington, D.C.