The Washington times., 1904-06-05
Destroying Mosquitoes
Would Stop Malaria
How This Tiny Pest Develops and Transmits
Germs Laden With Disease and Death.
Fairy Tale of Science.

near her out OF doors after dark. no
harm is 6one-except to her. But If she
once gets her bill into human beiE,s
in the very act Of biting she eJccts
poison along groove in her highly COM
plicated bill, this, for the purpose. j, "a
supposed. OF preventing the Goa gulat Z n
OF the blood. and the littie spores 90
along with the polson--and each seeking
blood corpuscle-and the thing begins
all over again.
There are other familiar examples OF
this double cycle. Of parasitical life.
wherein there is both an intra-corporea.
and extra-corporeal existence. The tape
worm can only be reproduced by pass
ing one phase OF its existence in hog.
The same way with trichina- Texas cat
tie fever Is another example wherein
the extra-cOrpOreal life is passed In the
cattle tick. which IN turn transmits the
disease to healthy cattle. A similar
disease in Africa is called the tsetse
fever. propagated by the tsetse fly
From these facts it is learned that the
mosquito IS the only means Of trans
hitting malaria. You may drink the
foulest water and breathe gallons OF
miasma. and while you may contract ty-
phoid fever or any Of dozen other gen
tie little bacterial. diseases, you won't
get malaria.
Same With yellow Jack"
The same is true OF yellow fever, only
IL this case IL is Stegomyia which does
the extra-corporeal act for the germ.
Stegomyia does not live Ia this latitude.
but IN view OF her thriving in our South
EN- States, and our new possessions IN
the tropics. especially the canal strip.
where the presence Of many Americans
Will be required. her existence and ex-
termination become Of paramount inn
portance.
In order to prove positively that yell
low fever could be transmitted in no
other way, DR.. ROsenCu. IN conducting
hts experiments. essayed some very dar-
Ing tests. Men would sleep with a yell
low fever patient who was thoroughly
screened-eat from the same dish, wash
in the same water, use the same towel.
There was no infection. Then. in the
interests OF science. they would allow
themselves to be bitten by n specimen
Of Anopheles who had bitten a patient
twelve days before. and In three to five
days they had the fever
1t is not at all difficult TO differentiate
between the various varieties. Of mos
quitOes. Culex is a brown or gray fel-
low. whose head and bill are at an angle
with his body. giving him the appear
ance OF being humpbacked. andKwhen he
roosts on the wall his body is parallel
TO the wall, while he holds his hind legs
over his back Stegomyia looks like him,
except that he IS smaller. and has brown
stripes on his wings and silver bands
on his legs-giving him the sobriquet
Of Tiger Mosquito" Anopheles, the
-.
brown spots on his wings, and when ne
roosts he sticks his tail up in the air al
an angle, keeping all six feet on the
wall, while head. bill and body are all
In line.
determination of Mosquitoes.
Ii view Of this newly acquired knowl-
edge, the determination OF the mosquito
becomes Of supreme Importance. ana.
strange 70 say. 1t is not at all a dream
Of the enthusiast 10 accomplish H. The
] only thing necessary Is sufficiently to
arouse the people to the necessity. As
DR.. Rosenau says. everybody IS afraid
! Of yellow fever. and once you convince
them that the mosquito is the only
means whereby he can contract the
| disease. he will soon put an end TO the
pest.
Malaria. on the other hand, has &C
quired the contempt OF familiarity, and
Notwithstanding that physicians know il
causes an enormous mortality. II Is DIFF
| fcult TO make the average person at
tach serious Importance to a chill. In
| the tropics the same inertia IS encouu-
tered. in spite OF the fact that troplcai
malaria IS often fatal Of itself. and not
merely by so weakening the system that
It succumbs to the first disease that
comes along. The statistics gathered by
| DTs. Perry and Pierce show that in
Panama 70 per cent Of the sickness Is
/ due to malaria, and that among those
who are acclimated. With the influx OF
new human material, were the work Of
4. sanitation not complete. the proportion
would be still higher The same IS true
OF yellow fever. which is always present
there 10 greater or less degree.
Habits of Mosquito.
This is why the mosquito must go. an
object accomplished by studying his
habits. Mrs. Mosquito-who is at the
bottom Of the whole trouble-Iavs q few
hundred eggs. She deposits them on the
water and goes on about her business OF
transmitting disease. For this purpose
any amount OF wat~r from a table
: spoonful up to a lake. so long as it IS
not disturbed by wind or current, will
do. Culcx and Stegomyia don't care
how dirty the water IS. either. and they
are regular barnyard fowls. preferring
I those puddles in the back yard, and
water left in tin cans and bottIes-nevcr
| breeding far from habitations. Anophe-
les, on the other hand. likes clean water
with weeds growing in IL. and 80 usually
picks ponds and swamps.
Now II is plain that II there were no
stagnant water. there would be no mos
Quitoes. that If the water was covered
with oil. the wrigglers, unable to get to
the air 20 breathe, would suffice: that
II there were enough Ash in the water.
all the larvae would be eaten. These are
precisely the three methods Of getting ria
OF the pests. The pool is emptied or
filled. II that IS impossible. it is coated
with oil. which does not spoil the water
Il drawn from beneath the film Of OIL.
II the water must be used for grazing
stock. or is too extensive for either OF
the other two methods. IL is stocked with
fish
This is what has been done in a
dozen places In India, under the di-
rection or DR. Ross; Is now being done.
under the direction OF Surgeon General
Wyman OF the Marine Hospital Ser