Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1897-08-12

ginning to arrive in numbers that
threaten the extinction of the human
race before the season is over
1t is only in the last few years that
We have known just how the mos
quito gets in his bill and sucks the
blood. Scientists had a general idea,
but it was not until DR.. Dimmock be-
San his Investigations that the mos
Quito's modus operandi has become,
fully known. Mr. Dimmock was at
Leipsic, Germany. at the time, working
for his Phi. d. degree his subject, be-
ing the mouth pieces of insects. APP
plying his powerful microscope TO the
bill of the mosquito, he discovered
ii to be composed of six distinct
prongs. with sheaf around the whole
When the insect begins TO work, he
pulls this sheaf back under him, which
leaves the prongs free to operate OF
these prongs the first two. are notched
like saw, and are used to pull the rest
of the tools in. Otherwise the mos
quito, being such lightweight and
not being able to hang on with his
feet, if he attempted to thrust his bill
In by main force. would simply pry
himself off into the air. But by insert
lrg these two hooks alternately he
actually pulls his beak inside his vic
tins flesh. The next two prongs are
Joined together to make chisel and
serve to dig the hole out wider. The
next, the fifth prong, is tubular and
carries the poison from the poison
duct back in the mosquitoes head down
into the flesh. This makes the blood
of his victim thinner and thus more
easy for him to suck up The last
prong is the largest of all and is meant
to reap in the harvest, for which all
the other work is merely preliminary.
Tor 1t is tube. through which the
insect sucks in the blood of his sac
rifice. OF course all these prongs are
exceedingly minute. Not only the
naked eye, but most microscopes, fail
to show their separate existence. and
1t was only when DIR. Dimmock had
applied his strongest microscope to
some neatly-cut cross sections that ne
made the discovery
Just why the mosquito bites people
is not yet known 1t is not to furnish
him food, for 1t is an established fact
that mosquito after gorging hiTself
with human blood, dies within q few
hours; whereas mosquitoes that have
never tasted blooi have been known
to live very comfortably even through
the entire winter and into the next
season. The adult mosquito does not
need food During his larya stage ne
has stored up enough nourishment to
last him all his life, and it is his nor
mai state to go without food for the
rest of his existence All that he needs
is moist air, adult mosquitoes being
known TO pass the winter in damp
cellars, living on nothing bur the
moisture The fact that il is ssttmated
that only one out of 10000 ever tastes
human blood also proves that h is not
necessary. Why he persists in tortur-
ing mankind, therefore, has not vet
been found out, and scientists can only
swear softly with the rest of mankind
and make the general statement that
the mosquito is born with a Initiated
appetite for human gore-an appe-
tite that causes the death of the in
dulger, ami is thus precisely parallel to
drunkard'B thirst for drink. Is not
here, too, it has been asked, a field
for some of our little temperance bands
to do humane work?
Theories have been advanced TO show
that the bite of the mosquito is bene-
hclal. One of the most interesting of
these has been advanced within the
last few months, and is to tbs effect
that the insect, in biting a person,
leaves inside of the flesh a germ of
malaria. The fact that the mosquito
is most abundant in malarial regions
is brought up to support this theory,
and also the fact that the itching that
fellows the bite of one of the insects
is very similar to that which accom-
panies the injection of smallpox
germs into the arm in vaccination
j he same misguided theorist goes on
10 state tlat the mosquito in this act
is purely philanthropic and does not
suck blood at all. He swels up, to be
sure, but this is merely the expansion
of the Emphatic fluids in his own
body due to the muscular exercise
which he is undergoing. In support
OF this theory the theorist states that
the pnoboscis of the insect is so shaped
that it cannot suck blood DR.. Dim
mock doubts the truth OF the malarial
part of the theory and says the lynn
phatic juice supposition is absurd for
/ ne has seen through he microscope
that the insects proboscis is hollow
and has also traced the existence Of a
pumping machine back in the insects
head, whereby he sucks the blood up
precisely as syringe draws water.
AS to the malarial theory he will not
make any definite assertion. II may
or may not be true. The fact that
mosquito bite swells up on some peo-
pie while on others II has no effect