The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-04

tn ANS he mosquito and you
will Danish malaria
n That Is, you will Danish ma
Ilaria as far as it's infection Of
human beings is concerned, for
the mosquito is Low declared by some
authorities to be the villain who Is re-
sponsible for all our trouble.
Physicians all over the country are
discussing this important subject at
present on account of the amount Of
feyers contracted by our troops. Some
physicians go so far as to say that ma
Iaria cannot be contracted except
THROUGH the bite of the mosquito.
No mosquitoes, no malaria.
Whether this can be borne out by
facts or not is still question. Inc
point has not yet been thoroughly IN
yestigated, but indications seem to
point to there being considerable truth
in it.
The attention of the medical world
was called to this important subject by
a paper read by DR.. Patrick Manson
before the sixty-sixth annual meeting
of the British Medical Society held In
Edinburgh, Scotland, during the latter
part of last July The printed reports
of this meeting have just reached this
country.
DR. Mans N has been working on the
subject for years IN 1894 he had per-
fected his theory in regard to the trans
mission of malarial poisonS by mos
quitoes. He had a general idea of Its
workings, but other business prevented
his continuance of the experiments, so
he turned all his matter over to DR..
Ronald Ross Of the British army in In
dia.
DR.. Ross gave all his attention to 1t
for three years, and a few weeks ago
turned over his reports, which were
read before the British Medical So
ciety.
Many eminent physicians have de-
clared that Ross discovery places
science on the threshold of one of the
most important discoveries In the etiol-
ogy Of this or any other age.
Malaria in one form or another is the
most common of all the ailments Of
man. The diseases caused by the mi
crcbe range from the mild fevers OF
low countries to the deadly fevers of
except those In the far north, is sub
ject to some form of it. And nlalarial
countries are all mosquito countries
DR.. Ross work does not tear down
all the old theories in regard to ma
laria nor suggest any better cure than
Qulnlne, Out IL does point 10 way OIL
preventing malaria BY experiments
with birds he has completed the cycle
of the transmission Of the disease and
shown conclusiveiy that Inhalation Of
the deadly marsh gases" is not the
only way the disease is spread. In fact
he doubts that it is spread at all in this
way but he is sure that 1t is spread
by mosquito bites.
careful study Of the paper read be-
fore the British Medical Society makes
several facts most apparent. The prin-
cipal of these Is that man and the mos
quito are subject to malaria; the haze
matozoon, or malarial germs, will live
in the blood of either.
They exist in the blood Of the insect
and are communicated to man by the
bite.
The mosquitoes bill is provided with
six fine blades, which make an incision
in the skin; delicate apparatus sucks
the insect full Of blood; she then in
ject about an equal amoutnt of poison
Gus matter into the blood of her VIC
tim. In this matter are contained the
malarial germs when the insect is In
fected with the disease.