The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-02
THE MOSQUITO THEORY
HOW IT WAS TESTED AND PROVED
 AT HAVANA.
The Clear DemOnstration That the stegomyia and 1t Alone Transmits the Yellow Fever-Convincing
 Proof of this Made.
New Orleans Times-Democrat.

We give below the oetails of the Ia 1900 and 1901 by the American Military Commission. composed of Major w. Reed. M. D., and Drs. J. Carroll. A. Ar lished the mosquito theory of the ori- gin of yellow fever beyond all Ques- ton and paved the way to the emanci- Pation of Hayana ,narf fr9m S1a disease which half. an account of which has already been given in the States. In these ex- perements Major Reed, with other of army, risked their lives in the demon- stration. Assistant Surgeon Lazare lost his life in the attempt Major attack of appendicitis in the city of
 Major Waiter Reed was born in Giou- of eSe Rev a s suov He wf sss sss He received a fair education and then went to the University of Virginia to study medicine. graduating in 1868. a second degree at Bellevue Medical College in New York and then served in the Brooklyn and Blackwell's Island sefGre n he Nsm 9a, 2 he ,va w%s 22 was one of the five inspectors of the into the United States army as assist tenant in 1875. and durinN the next eighteen years served in Arizona, Me- brasks, Dakota and in the Southern an indefatigable student and a pioneer. In 1890 he went to Baltimore, working in the laboratories of Johns Hopkins University In 1893 he was made sur geon with the rank of major and was detailed in Washington as curator of the Army Medical Museum and profess sor of bacteriology at the Army Medi- writings. and became an expert in in- vestigating the causes of epidemic dis eases at military posts and in making ish- American war he was selected as the head of a board to study the causa- tion and spread0pf typhoid in the camps of the volunteer troops. and the report of the commission. a monumental work. is now in course of publication by the Government and Is expected to serve as a basis for future study by the epidemi-
 His great work in Cuba, in demon strating that yellow fever Is transmit tor by the mosquito. Is thus briefly de- scribed in memoir published last year tion at Washington.
 The Study of Yellow Fever.
 In June. 1900. Major Reed was sent to Cuba as President of board to study but more especially yellow fever. As- sociated with him were Acting Assist ant Surgeons James Carroll, Jesse W. Lazear and A. Agramonte. At this time the American authorities in Cuba had for year and a half endeavored to diminish the disease and mortality of work "a Snn bat wSie iH the health s of the popu lation showed distinct improvement and the mortality had greatly diminished, yellow fever apparently had been en- fact. owing to the large number of non immune foreigners, the disease
 was more frequent than usual in Ha- vana and in Quemados, near the camp of American troops. and many valuable lives of American officers and soldiers had been lost. Reed was convinced
 measures alone would not check the disease, but that its transmission was partly due to an insect
 Cause of Malarial Fever. The fact that malarial fever, caused by an animal parasite in the blood, Is
 transmitted from man to man through the agency of certain mosquitoes had
 been recently, accepted by the scien- tifc world; also. several years before. | Dr. Carlos Finlay of Havana had ad- vanced the theory that a mosquito strating the truth of his theory. pr. H. R. Carter of the Marine Hos
 pital Service had written paper show ing that although the period of incuba- tion was only five days, yet house to
 which a patient was carried did not
 become infected for from fifteen to | twenty days.
 Cause of Yellow Fever. To Reeds mind this indicated that the unknown infective agent has to
 ten to fifteen days and probably in the body of the biting insect.
 | Up to this time the most generally
 accepted theory as to the causation ,Sf | yellow fever was that of Sanarelli,
 who claimed that the bacillus icete- l roids discovered by him was the spe-
 cific agent of the disease. Major Reed.
 however. already demonstrated that | this bacillus was one widely dissemi-
 hated in the United States. and bore no
 such relation rn ,, to yell yellow % feyer' ,ooo .,.
 commission gave their entire attention
 to the bacteriological study of the
 blood of yellow fever patients and the
 gans of those dying of the disease. In twenty-four cases where the blood was
 repeatedly examined. as well as in
 bacillus iceteroids were not discovered
 nor was there any indication Hf the l presence in the blood of a specific
 cause of the disease.
 Application was made to General | Leonard Wood. the military Govern or
 of Cuba, for permission to conduct ex--
 periments on pon-immune persons, and | the purpose of rewarding volunteers
 who would submit themselves to ex- periments. e.-..
 It was indeed fortunate that the mill
 itary Governor of Cuba was a man who, by his breadth of mind and spe- | cial scientific training. could readily | appreciate the arguments of Major | Reed as to tho value of the proposed | work.
 Money and full authority to proceed
 were promptly granted. and to the | everlasting glory of the American sol- | dier volunteers from the army offered themselves for experiment in plenty | and with the utmost fearle<sness. l Death of pr. Laxear.
 | Before the arrangements were en- 1 tirely completed Dr. Carroll. a mem l Der of the commission, allowed himself I to be bitten by q mosquito that twelve l days previously had filled itself with l the blood of q yellow fever patient. | He suffered from n very severe attack. and his was the first experimental case. | pr. Lazear also experimented on him self at the same time. but was not in- | fected Some days later, while in the yellow fever ward. he was bitten by | mosquito and noted tfse fact care
 fully. He acquired the disease in Its most terrible form and died a martyr | to science and q true hero.
 No other fatality occurred among the brave men who in the course of the ex periments willingly exposed themselves | to the Infection of the dreaded disease. The Camp.
 A camp was especially constructed
 for the experiments, about four miles from Havana, christened Camp Lazear in honor of the dead comrade. The inmates of the camp were put into most rigid quarantine and ample time was allowed to eliminate any possibility of the disease being brought in from Ha- Vana.
 The personnel consisted of three nurses and nine non-immunes. all in the military service, and Included two phy- siclans.