The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-13
DEATH BY KEROSENE
MOSQUITO DIFFERENTIATION IN AID
OF COMFORT AND HEALTH.
DR.. Drummer FAV0RS IT.
HEALTH OFFICER SAYS SAVANNAH
WOULD BENEFIT BY THE PLAN.

Cases-Use of Kerosene in Catch
All Mosquitoes and Larvae They
COntafn-Other Physicians Are of
Same Opinion-Mr. Otis Ashmore's
Views on the SubJect-Experimen
Have Demonstrated Plans Utility
and Worth.
The approach of the summer season
and the consequent frequent periods of
misery caused by the presence and at
tentions of the mosquito have drawn
the minds of some public-spirited citi-
zens to the advisability of Kidding Sa-
vannah, in part at least. of the unde-
sired visitations of these unmitigated
pests.
Not alone are they breeders of dis
comfort and profanity: an all but in
supportable evil in itself, this vanishes
into insignificance when it is compared
with the malaria they disseminate, the
long periods of illness they cause, and
the deaths without number that can be
laid at their door, their guilt of which
can be established with the certainty
of mathematical demonstration.
Health Officer w. F. Drummer is one
of those who yields Endorsement to the
plan of waging war on the mosquito
by means of the liberal use of kero-
sene oil. While DIR. Brunner's long ex-
perience in the treatment of malarial
diseases and his residence in tropical
and semi tropical countries have left
him something of a skeptic as to the
correctness of the theory that mosqui-
toes cause all the malaria that exists,
he is convinced beyond all question
they cause a very large percentage of
1t and he thinks the prevalence of ma
laria can be descreased by systematic
efforts to kill the mosquitoes in the
city and suburbs.
Kerosene on Catch Basins.
IF the catch basins at the intersec-
ton of the streets were each treated
with small quantity of kerosene" he
said, each time the street cleaning
gang flushed them, which is supposed
to be at intervals of a week or ten
days, every mosquito larva in the basin
would be killed and no others would
breed there, and similar treatment, in
other places where it is feasible, would
produce like results.
The trouble is we have too many
places about the city where mosquitoes
breed. The broken-glass that decks the
tons of the walls of some of the old
houses offer ideal places for mosquito
incubation, for every bit of broken bot
tie makes a cup in which water falls,
stands and becomes stagnant. There
are other places. which appeal just as
powerfully to the female mosquito,
when she prepares to build her nest and
rear her happy family.
Mosquitoes Wander From Home.
And then, too, do not agree with
the correctness of the theory that as
sumes the mosquito be such a lover
of the place of his nativity that he
never wanders far from it's vicinity.
I've been too often some miles out at
sea, and spent too many weary nights,
during which l alternately slapped and
swore and attempted to catch a glimpse
of the stars through the cloud of mos
quitoes that surrounded me, to permit
me to be a very faithful believer in
this pleasant superstition. Therefore,
l am afraid that however completely
the breeding places of the mosquito in
the city were destroyed, he would still
wander in, in distressing strength and
with an unimDaired thirst for gore,
from the surrounding country.
nevertheless, something can be
done. The number of mosquitoes in
the city can be lessened, and this will
conduce to our comfort: malaria can, to
some extent, be decreased, and this
will conduce to our health. The kero-
sene remedy is practical, entirely feast
Bile and relatively inexpensive. l am
of the opinion that it should be adopt
ed and that the city will benefit by it's
use"
Other Physicians of Like Mind.
Several other Savannah physicians,
among them DIR. r. j. Num-, DR.. T. P.
Charlton and DIR. E. r. Corson, have
protested themselves in favor of the
plan. all of them saying they believe
it would rebound to the interest of the
health and comfort of the city during
the summer months. Mr.. George NJ
Gadsden, director of public works, is
another convert to the plan and has
expressed his entire willingness to give
1t every possible opportunity to dem
onstrate its worth that the forces I'M
der his control can offer, in the event
that Council will authorize the neces-
sary expenditure.
Mr. Otis Ashmore, superintendent of
public education for the city and
county, has given to the study of the
question much time and attention, and
the result of his inquiries is earnest
advocacy of the plan of mosquito de-
struction by the use of kerosene or pc
troleum. He was asked yesterday to
give his views on the subject.
Menace to Life and Health.
when we consider the ANNOYANCE
end discomfort which mosquitoes cause
us and the constant menace to health
and life itself occasioned by their pres
ence." said Mr.. Ashmore, "1t does
seem reasonable for the people to take
some steps to destroy them While
much still remains to be learned about
the habits of mosquitoes and their
relation TO diseases Of man, recent in
designations, conducted in various
parts of the world, have clearly estab-
hShed some facts about them which
everyone should know
First, II has been proved beyond
all question that mosquitoes are re-
sponsible for malarial fever and yellow
fever. Indeed some investigators claim
that they alone are responsible for these
two dread scourges of the human race
BE that as is may there is no doubt
about the fact that a large number of
cases of malarial fever and yellow
fever are produced by the transfer of
the germs of these diseases into the
human system through the bite of
mosquitoes. These conclusions have
been reached from the re-
suits of abundant experiments
in Cuba. Africa, Italy and in the
United States.
Very recently the japanese govern
ment, in the Island of Formosa, con-
Quoted series of experiments to show
the effects of mosquitoes bites upon
the human system. and the resuItS a -