Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1900-01-04
HARM DONE BY THE MOSQUITO,
Scientists Relieve They Inject Disease
Into the Human System.

The mosquito, according ~ English
scientists, Is one OF the most pestit-
erous and harmful of Insects At
least that Is the inference to be drawn
from the bug census" OF the kingdom
just completed,
The idea Of taking bug census" or
iginated With officials of the British
museum, The results obtained have
been ST remarkable that Investigations
along these lines are TO be verified, and
Information obtained into such form
as to make 1t of great value In Inn
proving the health OF humanity.
This novel census Of the insect king
dom has boon taken on purely scien-
tlHc lines its original object being to
determine IL possible which insects
were boon and blessing to humanity,
and which were the reverse, Altogeth-
or the statistics that have been oh.
;ancd have quite upset the old ideas.
and text books will have to be changed
AS the result OF this investigation.
According to the opinion that has
&cncrally prevailed, all insects as well
rs all lower animals were created for
the benefit of man, IL Is true that SCI
enec has not held this opinion for
years, hut II has certainly been tho
popular opinion, Instead OF that these
English scientists have proved to
their own satisfaction that. while there
are many insects that render us con-
siderable service, there arc almost as
many that are properly termed "pests,-
and some OF these little enemies OF men
succeed In accomplishing an amount OF
evil entirely out OF proportion to their
size
According to this census there are
SOL families ot insect life, and these
have hccn divided into three classes,
good, bad and Indifferent. The good
insects number lie families, the bad
insects ia families, while the Insects
OF whom not enough is known to per-
NIT the investigators to classify them
at present numbers seventy-two FAM
ilies. Tho future work of the census
commissioners will be to study these
doubtful characters In insect HE in or
der that their purpose In living may
he ascortained. after which they too
will be set down as either good or bad.
or the il3 families of the bad insects
some Of them are Of most graceful
character, for those who do not spend
their lives In doyouring thousands OF
dollars worth Of Vegetables every year,
eohbllng up spring cabhnges. early po-
tatoes and succulont young peas In the
most ruthless fashion have ns their OBJ
jcet In life the sole desire to bring
suffering and disease to the animal
kingdom, Of which man IL a part
While the good or beneficial Insects
are of less interest to us Mt the present
time, 1t Is instructive to know just
ZIG families, seventy-nine devote
themselves to tho destruction OF thelr
wicked, ablo-destroying brethren,
thirty-two families net as scavongers
and elenr away with great rapldity all
sorts Of decaying vegetable and animal
mattcr, which otherwise might cause
wholesale death by plague; two act rs
p''ifhleNIs Vhi lHitt ItTln lnOu iOF
eatablo fishes
One of the mos, important achieve
mcnts of this census commission, how
ever, has been tho determining OF the
proper classification for tho mosquito.
II has been the popular impression for
years that the mosquito, though often
a nuisance, was a public benofactor,
and that his determination would re-
act upon the races OF mankind, Con-
trary to this opinion, II IL now known
that they are most harmful insects. one
Of the most harmful families OF tho In
sect kingdom. In fact, and that, instead
of absorbing elements that might be
Injurious TO man, they themselves In
icrt disease into the bodies Of their
victims.
Ernest Austin of the natural history
department Of the British museum
knows all about mosquitoes He says:
II have found that such diseases ms
malaria are undoubtedly con-
tracted from mosquito bites at
times, and ! expect 10 prove
that Il Ia always so. We have already
found that bird diseases In India arc
spread by parasites peculiar to them,
and there Is little reason to doubt THAI
n similar state of affairs exists between
mosquitoes and man, and that malaria
and Its kindred diseases are due TO the
bite OF this insect"