The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1901-05-09
MALARIA AND MOSQUITOES.
Modern Science Holds the Insect Pest
Largely Responsible for
Prevalent MnIady

Of the United States department of
agriculture, tells in Century the
amazing story of the relation be-
tween Malaria and Certain Mosqui-
toes"
AS plain as this story is, the fill
ing of all the gaps and the rounding
out of all the details have taken.
years of patient work. Before LAYER
ans original discovery of the para
site became generally known, an
American physician, DR.. A. +. A.
King, of Washington, propounded the
idea that malaria is transmitted by
mosquitoes. His paper read before
the Philosophical society of Washing
ton was mastery one, and sum-
married. i'll an admirable way the ar
| guments favOring such theory; and
the long-delayed proof now comes as
g triumphant vindication of the views
OF this eminent American physician,
views which were at first received
with general incredulty. Even of
late the mosquito theory" as it has
been called, has met with strong OPP
! position on the part of conservative
physicians and laymen. The point is
often made by such persons that ma
laria exists in localities where there
are no mosquitoes, that persons get
malaria without having been bitten
! by mosquitoes, and, stupidity enough,
| that mosquitoes exist in numbers
where there is no malaria. All oppo-
sition, however, has been forcibIy
] fnn 4
! opinion is now united in the conclu-
sion not only that the agency of
mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles is
the only demonstrated method of the
! transmission of malaria, but that it
is perhaps, even probably, and some
say certainly, the only method by
which the disease enters the human
body.
"In the United States many physi-
clans in malarious neighborhoods
| have taken up the question with en-
thusiasm, and persons living in mos
! quitO-ridden localities are organizing
and beginning exterminative work. At
| the present time there is probably
more intelligent work being done or
being planned against mosquitoes in
! the United States than elsewhere in
the world. The great brakish
marsh of the Atlantic coast and the
many inland swamps and pools have
made many portions of the United
| States great breeding places for mos
| qultoes. The vast majority of our
mosquitoes, however, are noxious
only from their bite Most of them
belong to the genus Culex. and in the
stomach of the mosquitoes of this
| genus the malarial parasite dies and
| is digested. Most mosquitoes breed
everywhere in standing water. They
are found not only in the brakish
marshes, in the great swamps, and in
all ponds in which fish are net num-
erous, but they breed also in horse
troughs, in rain water barrels, in
water running slowly through open
sewers, and even penetrate through
the perforated sewer traps in large
| cities. and breed in the sewers below
ground. \ transient pool of surface
water left by heavy rains will breed
| generation of mosquitoes in a lit
tie more than a week. They will
breed in the water collected in the
hollOws of old stumps, in old bottles
or tin cans thrown on dumps or in
vacant lots; in fact, wherever still
water stands for a week or ten DAYS
in the summer time the females of
some species of mosquito will lay
their eggs upon it, and a generation
will be produced. This water need
not be perfectly uncovered, since a
female mosquito, in her desire to find
place to lay her eggs, will enter
through a very small orifice. Water
tanks, therefore, not perfectly COW
cred, afford such situations. Old
wells or cesspools, with board covers
in which there are cracks wide
enough for a mosquito to enter, are
often most prolific breeding places.
"The general question of mosquito
control has been carefully studied.
The writer conducted a large series
of experiments a number of years
ago, before the mosquito malarial re-
lation was established, with a view
to giving the inhabitants of mosquito
localities some relief from the at
ldckS Oh JntSe )ernlclOuS creatures.
The three main remedies are: the
drainage of swamps and standing
pools where this is possible; the in
PRODUCTION of fish, and particularly of
certain voracious species, such as
sticklebacks and the top-minnows,
into tishless pools the water of which
is used for watering live stock; and,
third, the treatment of pools or
ponds, or other bodies of water which
cannot be drained, with kerosene.
All these measures are efficacious. A
combination of all is usually found
necessary in any given neighborhood.
Drainage of swamps as a community
measure is highly to be recommended
from every point of view. The use Of
kerosene where drainage is impossi-
BILE is perfectly eflicacious in DESTROY
ing the wigglers, or larvae, of MOSQUE
toes. The amount TO be used is about
one ounce for each Is square feet of
water surface, and the application
should be repeated every fortnight.
The kerosene not only kills the wig
glers when they come to the surface
to breathe, but kills the female mos