The number of people stricken with malaria fever in the world is about 800 million, of whom more than 100 million are in India alone.
British scientists have long exerted, and are exerting today, extraordinary efforts to wipe out that virulent epidemic. Their continuous efforts, pursued without respite, testify to the nobility of their purpose, which aims at rescuing the world from the clutches of the deadliest of diseases. We may say that the battle now raging between the scientists and the Anopheles mosquito, the carrier of this disease from one person to another, will inevitably end in the victory of science, provided the materials are at hand and effective plans are applied in this field.
Perhaps the plan of the Briton Sir Ronald Ross is the most effective known so far in fighting this malady. The mosquito lays its eggs in stagnant waters and swamps, where it multiplies with uncanny speed. And this is very easy: if we can obtain a kind of fuel such as mazout and spray it over the surface of the stagnant water, the larvae that would grow and become mosquitoes are smothered. This is the method resorted to by the British units, made up of specialists, in the countries of the Empire lying in the hot and semi-hot regions. But the Japanese seizure of the Dutch oil fields in 1940 prevented the continuation of this kind of struggle.
The second method aims at warding off this malady by means of drugs such as quinine. This medicine had become rare after the Japanese occupied the East Indies; the Germans, however, had prepared for this before the war and manufactured a drug they called 'Atebrin,' and the British, after obtaining it, succeeded in making a more effective drug named Mepacrine, which rendered
the finest services to the armies fighting in the Far East. Today the activity of government is increasing in the countries where this fever abounds, to destroy those of the Anopheles which carry the malaria plague with them — so much so that the traveler to the hot regions may find Mepacrine tablets set beside his dinner plate, to be taken as a safeguard against the danger lying in wait for him. This is a sketch of malaria fever, the number of its victims in the world, and the methods of fighting it; and people are certain that science will finally wipe out this epidemic if they back it and carry out the precautions it imposes upon them — precautions that are for their own good and the good of their children after them. As was said of old: a dirham of prevention is better than a qintar of cure.
We have learned that Her Ladyship the First Lady of Lebanon honored the Islamic Orphanage on Thursday afternoon, the 25th of this month, and graciously opened the charity bazaar organized by the women's committee, donating one thousand Lebanese lira — a gesture that left its mark on every heart. Our women flocked in great numbers to buy its handiwork, out of love of helping the orphan and in appreciation of the efforts of the women's committee. Among the distinguished ladies, the widow of the late Salim Bey Ali Salam donated three hundred Lebanese lira, the wife of Michel Chiha one hundred lira, and the wife of Dr. Muhammad Khalid one hundred lira, while many others donated various sums. The women's committee addressed warm thanks to the President's wife.
The 'sunflower,' which for four hundred years has remained an object of admiration and care for the wealth of color in its bloom and the slimness and height of its stalk, has now become the basis of an important new industry in Britain.
For centuries Russia set aside vast areas of land for its cultivation and for the use of its seeds as food. These seeds were cooked in many forms, perhaps the best-tasting of them being something after the manner of peanuts.
Modern scientific research, however, has discovered several new merits in this flower. These investigations went on for three years at the Imperial College of industries in England, employing some 70 hectares all sown with sunflowers.
It was discovered that sunflower seeds contain 33.50 percent of a rich oil with a sweet taste and a color verging on yellow. From what remains of the seeds after pressing it has been possible to extract cellulose, which is a nutritive element, as well as potassium, which enters into the manufacture of soap. The residue can also be used as feed for domestic fowl and cattle.
The price of a ton of the oil extracted from sunflowers is 65½ pounds sterling.
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Experiments are still continuing to discover new benefits in this flower that is so proud of itself.