The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-08-28

JERSEY INDICATED
Pharmacist Lohmann Says
the Mosquito Comes
From Staten Is
land.
RESULT OF CAREFUL EXPERIMENTS
The Little Pests Cannot Be Raised
in Salt Marshes, he Says, But
Only in Fresh Water.
RESULT OF CAREFUL EXPERIMENTS

New Jersey is indicated. h Jersey
mosonito,, win no longer be a by-word for
all the world. There is no Jersey mus
quito. That there are mosquitoes apien'y
in New Jersey no sane person WIN u
Yuts hnt there has arisen a Jerseyman,
and a learned one, too, VINO IS poiu
enough to declare that the insect Is an
alien-an Importation. He goes IurShei
and proposes a scheme for effectuahs
checking mosquito immigration.
The man who has boldly come forward
in dafance of his native State and who has
the courage to openly declare that oespits
tradition what the comic papers say ana
the sworn evidence of thousands OF VIC
Tins. that there is nc Jersey mosquito, is
Herman Lohmann, Pho, PROFESSOR a.
the New Jersey College of Pharmacy'
and an analytical chemist OF state re-
nown. He is also connected Win Int
faculty. of the University of New YORK.
For some months past he mas aeVoteu
himself to the study of the mosquito. ne
has tried numerous experiments IN preeu-
ing them and has examined nearly every
variety known to the entomoioglst- ihe
result of his research Is the oeciaratioh
that New Jersey is not the breeding place
of the mosquitoes which modest ner IN
habitants. His findings, accompanied Dy
set of valuable drawings, will be embodied
in a paper which he is preparing for a
scientific journal.
DR.. Lohmann was seen in his laboratory
in Jersey City this morning by a reporter
for 1.-THE News and explained his theory
regarding the pest, which differs radically
from any heretofore advanced.
II differ materially" he said, for those
who claim hat draining the meadows
would free New Jersey of mosquitoes. IN
working up a scheme to free New Jersey
from this pest we must not lose sight OF
chemistry. We all know that the SOIL OF
our meadows contains considerable SAT-,
and experiments instituted to generate
mosquitoes have proved conclusively that
salt water will not produce them. Wnere
-stagnant sweet water is there you VIII
inc the mosquito"
How do you arrive at the conclusion
that mosquitoes are not generated in the
meadow lands?' asked the reporter.
.Inasmuch as salt when exposed TO
moisture and heat will hberate chlorine
a gaseous element destructive to vege-
table and animal tissue. 1t does not seem
at all feasible that new life will generate
where existing life will be destroyed.
TO illustrate his theory DR.. Lohmann
placed a pinch of sea salt ana some
water in a small retort and held It over
an alcohol lamp. Presently there exnaleo
an odor similar to that which ofTends the
nostrils in the vicinity of the Hackensack
aThat," said the chemist, sis chlorine,
(which deals death to animal and vegela-
BILE life.'
Il tried the experiment. he continued
.of raising mosquitoes, Iaking tup =
of water which / got from the Communl-
paw shore, I placed them under the same
conditions. In four days the sweet water
was covered with the larvae OF the
MOSQUITO, while at the end of four weeks
there was not the sign of a mosquito IN
the other tub. I him I have demon
strated pretty clearly that the conoltions
in this section of New Jersey are not
toes. If they spring from the salt
marshes why is 1t that there are none IN
Southern New Jersey where the mea-
dows stretch for miles? The New Jer-
sey mosquito is born and bred in the
fresh water wamps of Staten Island, ana
is brought to our shores by the prevailing
wind which is from the south. 1t would
be a useless waste of money to I'LL IN New
Jerseys swamp, and would merely open
the way for a huge political job. The
best and only method of freeing New Jer-
sey of mosquitoes is to fill in the swamps
OF Staten Island. If you want to see
where the Jersey mosquito comes from
take q trip to Freshkill and Silver Lake.
where thousands of them are born eYery
hour to be carried by the wind into our
State. Mark my words, if we get rid of
operation of the New York authorities"