For Dr.Stiles had his own explanation for much of the mental and physical sluggishness that prevailed in the rural sections of the Southern States.

Yet he could not mention this without exciting uproarious laughter--even in the presence of scientific men.

Several years previously Dr.Stiles had discovered that a hitherto unclassified species of a parasite popularly known as the hookworm prevailed to an astonishing extent in all the Southern States.

The pathological effects of this creature had long been known; it localized in the intestines, there secreted a poison that destroyed the red blood corpuscles, and reduced its victims to a deplorable state of anaemia, making them constantly ill, listless, mentally dull--in every sense of the word useless units of society.

The encouraging part of this discovery was that the patients could quickly be cured and the hookworm eradicated by a few simple improvements in sanitation.