The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1901-08-22
Mosquitoes And Malaria.
PART PLAYED BY THESE PESTS IN SPREAD
ING MALARIAL FEVER GERMS.
Result of Recent Scientific Investiga-
tions as to the Cause of Malaria
Poison-Traced to the Sting of q
Certain Variety of Mosquito-How
They Breed and the Precaution
Necessary to Their Prevention.

The most prevalent disease in North
Carolina, certainly from now until
frost, is malarial fever in one form or
another. 1t is by no means confined
to the low lying Eastern section of
the State, but is quite abundant in
many localities in the hill country,
having been reported even from
Cherokee.
BY recent scientific Investigations
the cause of the fever has been shown
to be a microscopic animal known as
the ptasnodiuna nlntnris or hen1-a -amogbc
utUaf, which feeds upon the red cor
pnscles of the blood-henee the pallor
of persons suffering from chronic
malaria. The development of this
little parasite in the blood is as fol-
lows: One Of the spores, or baby
germs, SO to speak. enters red cor
puscle and, feeding on it's contents,
grows until at the end OF twenty-four
hours it has become nearly as large
as the corpuscle. 1t then, by pro-
| NS0S 'hAo w 60 cN hthliph. SplltS
up into dozen or more little spores
, again, which for short time. are free
| in the blood and unattached to the
corpuscles. 1t is ust as the segmen-
tatiOn occurs that the chill comes on.
which explains the periodic recur-
renee of the chill every twenty-four
hours, and as it has been found that
quinine is most effective in killing
the germs while they are free in the
i blood and not buried in the substance
| of the cOrpuscles, the best time to
give quinine is just before the chill is
expected.
The method of the Introduction of
/ the malarial poison, the plasmodium,
certainly the chief method, has been
demonstrated beyond all question
to be the sting of certain variety of
mosquito known as anopheles, the
common mosquito, which while more
abundant is innocent as Il carrier OF
disease, being known as culex. The
latter species will breed in still water
of any kind, no matter how pure,
but the former, our enemy, will only
breed in stagnant pools in which
there is certain amount ofvegetable
matter. especially if there are no
fish, such as top minnows or sun
perch, which feed upon the Larvae or
wigglstails. This explains the fact
that malaria is much more abundant
after freshets, in the course of which
the stream, getting out of it's banks,
washes holes in the ground, and
speedily falling leaves these stagnant
pools with few or no fish in them.
Mosquitoes are very much more
abundant this exceptional year Of
freshets than usual. 1t also explains
the danger of brick holes.
The larvae, or wiggletails, as we
generally call them, are the young
mosquitoes. Although they live in
the water from the time they are
hatched from the time they are
laid on the surface until they reach
maturity they cannot live without
air-they must breathe. Contrary
to the general rule, they breathe
wrong end remost"-through q
long breathing tube which springs
from the body near the tail and which
they stick out of the top of the water
when they want air. The bearing ol
this arrangement on their destruction
will appear later.
There is popular misrepresentation
in regard to the movement Of mos
quitoes. The general impression is
that they are carried by the wind,
and people at the seaside say that a
land breeze brings mosquitoes. 1t is
fact that they are more abundant
when the breeze is from the land OF
in a calm, but according to those who
know best that fact probably is not
that they are blown from the swamps
to landward, but that they simply
come out again from the trees and
shrubberv and the lea side of houses
where they had taken refuge from the
strong sea breeze which was too rough
for their fragile bodies. With rare
exceptions they travel, it is said,
seldom more than a mile, and gensr-
ally not SO far. When one is troubled
with mosquitoes careful search will
almost always reveal stagnant water
in the near vicinity.
The destruction of mosquitoes and
the consequent prevention of malaria
is accomplished in two ways: Firs,
and best, by the thorough drainage OF
all stagnant pools of water, and
second. by keeping the surface ol
such pools covered with petroleum
what is known as light fuel oil, OF
even the crude petroleum being better
and cheaper than ordinary kerosene
The film of oil prevents the larva
from breathing and smothers them
The quantity necessary is one ounce
or two tablespoonfuls to every fifteen
square feet of surface, repeated every
two weeks. This oil method was
employed with great success last
year by the city Of Winchester, Va
and our own town Of Tarboro has re
Gently shown a most commendabl'
, spirit OF enterprise in adopting it.
Some care and little expense in Sc
curing protection against mosquitoes
and in providing a supply OF pure
drinking water will practically insure
against malaria.
TO those interested in this subject
, I cordially commend very interest
ing and valuable book written on
MOSQUITOES written in popular and
entertrining style by DR.: L. U
Howard, the Chief Entomologist o
the United States, and published by
, Mcclure, Phillips & Co., New York