The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-08-02

penditures are In excess of the abilities
OF the local communities to stand. Con-
gress should enact special legislation
upon the subject, comforting power upon
| the Public Health. Agricultural or War
Departments under certain restrictions
to aid such communities In intelligent
! ~ and effectively carrying out compre-
hensive plans for the determination Of
the mosquito.
DIR. DAYS VIEWS.
The views of DR.. F. r. Day, on the
history Of mosquitoes with relation to
medical science, were expressed as fol-
lows:
| 1t is we'll for us to pause occasionally
\ in our busy lives and by looking back
ward get a more comprehensive idea
OF the progress that Is being made in
| human, affairs. 1t gives us better APP
probation what Is actually being done
"a perspective view as 1t were. If we
do this in relation to the subject I'M
| der discussion this evening We will not
| have to go back very far before COM
ing to a time when the mosquito was
considered merely a nuisance-a pest
to be suppressed for comforts sake.
| disturbed by it's nerve irritating song
or our skins pierced by its bill, now,
thanks to the careful Investigations of
painstaking scientists we know that
| she is more than nuisance and a
| disturber of the peace. She Is men
| ace to health and a danger to life.
use the pronoun "she" advisedly be-
cause the female is the voracious MEM
Der of the mosquito family. In those
days. we looked upon malaria as a
miasmatic disease. Experience taught
that it was prevalent in swampy re-
gions where humid vapors arose after
shutdown and he who went out at night
was in danger Of inhaling the miasm
of malaria. But in 1884 Mr.. Laveran,
French Physician, stationed in Algeria,
discovered an organism in the blood of
malarial patients which he called the
plasmodium malarar. 1t Is unneces-
sary to relate the laborous researches
that followed the announcement of this
discovery hut which have established
/ beyond cavil that this protocol Is the
actual cause of malaria until mo
plasmodium, no malaria" Is now a
medical axiom. Then came the ques-
tion how the plasmodium gained an
entrance into the human body and this
was solved in time just as positively
by the brainy men who were devoting
their energies to the problem. 1t was
found that the anopleles mosquito was
the partceps criminis. The protocol
was traced with the most minute pre-
cision through the body of this mos
quito from one human host to another
The proof was so convincing that
no one could doubt it. Fortunately for
us Mr.. Van Dine has not discovered
| this species in these islands which ac-
counts for the fact that We do not see
the usual types of malaria here.
But there is another disease more
formidable than malaria which has
been proven to be spread by another
mosquito. l refer to yellow fever. The
stegomyia faciata is the propagation of
this disease and our ordinary day
mosquito, the one who wears the
striped trousers is the culprt.
The brilliant Investigations of the
Medical Commission of the U. S. Army
in Havana in l9OO-19O1 based upon a
theory advanced by DR.. Carlos Finley
in 1881 proved conc!usively that yellow
fever was spread by the stegogmyia
faciata and a campaign of eXtermina-
tion based upon these Investigations
rid the city of its scourge for the first
time in its history
Prof. Harris Graham of Beyreut
Syria, conducted similar experiments
with the dengue in 1901 and determin-
ed that it was spread by means of the
culex the common night mosquito. BY
]
mosquitoes he was able to prevent the
! spread of the disease amongst other
associates Of the patients.
This was negative evidence. The
positive evidence consisted in taking
culeX mosquitoes that had fed upon
dengue patients to upland villages that
had never known the disease allowing
them to bite healthy subjects who had
not been otherwise exposed and devel-
oping the disease in these persons at
the end of five or six days.
Elephantiasis, disease that does not
vitality concern us here, is caused by
small parasite in lymph channels
the filaria hominis, and this organism
has been traced in mosquitoes by DIR.
Patrick Manson, an English physician,
who has done much toward solving
many of the problems connected with
malaria and other tropical and sub
tropical diseases
The lesson we have to learn from all
this is that the mosquito Is a danger
Gus insect to have about and that it
is possible by persistent and concerted
| effort to eXterminate 1t as has been
done in many localities besides Ha-
vana.
LARNACH'S GREAT WORK.
One of the most interesting features
OF the meeting was the report of A. D.
Larrach, who had charge of the sys-
tematic campaign against mosquitoes,
in which the effective results showing
diminished number of the pests was
shown. He spoke as follows:
I beg to report on the organization
ana work of the Citizens Mosquito
Committee, from the Inauguration of
the movement to date. AS an introduce
ton, "A few general remarks will not be
on. of order.
For years past many districts In
h. lei oil H.,