XII
The Royal Benefratelli Hospital of Palermo was a hellish pit. They came in droves; some were worried for many different reasons, but they were actually fine; others were suffering and struggling. Malaria was back. The resurgence of the epidemic infection occurred just when, as some optimistically put it, it had become a rare disease. The most affected were those living in the center and south of the country. From the Roman countryside to the major islands, the medical and statistical bulletins were catastrophic.
The healthy inspectorate of railways for the south was giving quinine, larga manu26, to the staff of the railways and their families, but the percentage of malarial had remained at thirty percent and had inflamed a heated debate between several members of the scientific resea
