The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-08-14
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special study by English experts of the
maladies peculiar to those parts of the
globe., But only of late have schools
devoted exclusively to tropical diseases
been opened on the other side of the At
lantic. 1t is under the auspices of one
of these institutions that the inquiry
just referred to is to be made. To be
sure, there are other maladieS common
in hot climates which are more fatal
and which would seem to deserve more
attention. But it would be hard to
name any that is more prevalent or
causes more actual distress, short of
death, than malaria. It manffests it
self, tOo,- in such a variety Of ways
that it is, often a difficult thing to re-
cognize and control.
When the doctrine that mosquitoes
were largely responsible for malaria
was first advanced it found it's chief
confederation in the fact that para
site that seems to be peculiar to the
disorder in question had been discov-
cred residing in mosquitoes. This cir
cumstance alone would not prove any
thing, for one might imagine that the
mosquitoes were merely victims and
sufferers and not active means in the
further propagation of the pest. Law
eran. who found the germ of malaria
in the stomach of the mosquito nearly
twenty years ago, got SO far but no
further.
Long afterward DR.. Patrick Manson
suggested that the germs might be
conveyed to a human subject in two
ways. The infected insect, soon after
having laid it's eggs in a pond, died,
and it's body then disintegrated The
surviving parasites would eventually
be liberated and scattered in the water.
If any of the fluid was drunk by man
the germs would be transported to his
system. Again, the pond might dry up
and the sediment at the bottom might
be blown about as dust and inhaled by
people living in the vicinity. Major
Donald Ross, an army surgeon in India,
declared three. years ago that he had
experimental with the parasites and
had administered to natives water
which he had artifcially contaminated
with 'malarialized mosquitoes. The
natives developed malaria. OF course,
If such experiments We're conducted
with proper care and insufficient num-
bers they would show that the mos
quito might perform the mischievous
function with which it was credited, al
| though it would still remain question
how far it's activity extended and whe-
! Their other agencies were not much
more influential in disseminating the
microbes. AS yet this point has not been
cleared up satisfactorily.
One weak feature of the case was
the discovery by scepties that malaria
was often lacking in certain localities
where the mosquito was much in evil
dence. Major Ross met this fact only
a few weeks ago in an address before
the Liverpool School of Tropical Medi-
cine. On this occasion he expressed the
belief that it was necessary to distin-
guish carefully between two genera of
mosquitoes, Culex and Anopheles. The
former breeds in wells, cisterns, tubs
and other artificial reservoirs of water,
and hence might be called the domestic
mosquito. The latter does not breed in
vessels or artificial collections of water
1t is a wilder and more rural member
of the family.
Major Ross holds the genus Culex in
nocent of any share in distributing ma
laria, and indicts only the genus An
opheles. If he is correct in this view
of the matter the distinction serves as
an important guide in measures for
the determination of mosquitoes. The
domestic variety would still be a source
of annoyance, but not of danger. And
it would only be to the breeding places
of the other kind that intelligent effort
would be directed
The pond or puddle in which the dis
ease bearing mosquito lays it's eggs, ac-
cording to the English surgeon, must be
large enough to allow the larvae to
mature, and yet not be big enough to
foster minnows, which would destroy
the larvae before they develop into
mosquitoes Major Ross regards the
breeding places of the genus Anopheles
as comparatively few in number and
easily dealt with. He thinks that it
would be quite practicable to extermi-
nate malaria by getting rid of these
centres of infection. Commenting on
these utterances, Nature says: eff it
can be shown (by the West African ex-
petition or otherwise) that all the ma
laria in large town arises from a few
puddleS which can be obliterated at
small expense, the value of the dis
covery could not be overestimated."-
New York Tribune.