The National tribune., 1902-09-25
TO INCREASE MANS LONGEVITY.
War Of determination Against Mosquitoes
and Files.
Nyool.l.-A

SA0 AOss
Harpers Weekly.)
Mans worst living foe is now acknowl-
edged in some expert scientific quarters
to be the little mosquito which heretofore
was considered merely as q tantalizing
nuisance to make life unpleasant for bald
headed paterfamilias at the Summer re-
sorts; but the blasting of the insects
innocent reputation by science has practi-
cally doomed it to determination. A sec
ond season Of unremitting warfare against
it has drawn to close, and the fields and
marshes are scattered with the slaughter
ed hosts; but whether there will be any
apparent diminution in the numbers Of the
insects another year by reason Of this
widespread destruction future observa-
tions alone can determine. Meanwhile,
we are informed by eminent authority
that malaria can be checked and stamped
out only through the determination of the
little pests, and that already in Italy.
where it seems the mortality from this
mosQuit0-carried disease is alarmngly
high the death-rate has been materially
decreased since the authorities undertook
to reduce the billions of mosquitoes to
something like respectable numbers.
But Il world free from mosquitoes, 1t
seems, would still be made miserable by
diseases which would spread from one cor
ner of the globe to another by means of
Natures agencies that have not yet been
brought under human control. There is
the common house-fy, for instance. Little
Musca dOmeStica is more than an annoy
ing insect. 1t has a newly-t'iscovered rep
utation for carrying pestiIential diseases
little less alarming than that of the buZ-
zing mosquito. and to prolong mans life
it is necessary to exterminate the house
fly. Typhoid, which seems far more
dangerous to most of us, is the hOuse-hys
special favOrite, and its peculiar affinity
to this disease makes it the transmitting
agent for thousands OF the virulent little
bacilli Warfare. therefore. upon the
housefiy has become Il necessary part OF
the modern movement to increase mans
longevity by removing from him. so far
as possible, all the infections and confa-
giOus diseases. Typhoid has peculiar
way of becoming epidemic in the cities In
the Autumn of the year, and eminent
medical authorities declare, with local
patriotic fervor, that it is all due to the
drinking water taken into the system at
the various seaside and mountain resorts.
II is now n question whether the drinking
water will not be relieved of some of the
heavy responsibilities that have heretofore
been shouldered upon it, and few of them
at least be transferred to the house-ty,
whose well-known nbiquity might easily
account for the widespread presence OF
this disease.
Another disease-carrying creature has
more recently been brought under the ban
of modern medical science, and by another
season systematic warfare Will be de-
clared against it. They have been eXperl-
mcnting in the East with the ship and
wharf rats to see if they were not RESPONSE
BILE for the spread of the bubonic plague,
and after duly testing the matter, the
physicians and biological experts unhesi-
tatingly inform us that the rodents have
been the chief agencies for inundatlng the
world with millions of the germs of tins
most dreaded of human diseases. Inc
shin rat is one of the most persistent traV
elers of the high seas imaglnable, ana
there is no quarter of the globe where
these rodents have not appeared or If there
is such a place it is because man has never
smiled there in ships of wood or steel.
The little sea-traveling rodents are
found on every ship that leaves or ap-
proaches any port in the world, ana they
have n highly developed system OF ex-
change which indicates almost human fore-
sight As if tired of sailing the nien seas
after long voyage IN leaky oiu Woouen
vessel, the rats all desert tne crale " WIZ h;r
If touches q new port, and as the snip
loads up with new cargo. preparatory
to rcsuming its journey. other rats S WIN
swarm aboard as passengers. 1hosE
which have disembarked for season Will
remoin ashore until another vessel is ready
TO depart. and then they will seize their
opportunity to renew their travels; There
is no fighting or disputing of rights; by
some mutual arrangement among them-
selves certain members are paired OH TO
occupy the hold of given ship. whlie
the others on shore wait patiently their
turn.