Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-05-14
0 rigin and Development of The
Mosquito Theory.
He and His Colleagues First Demons
trated Scientific Accuracy of the Be-
Ief-some Famous Fever Epidemics
of the Past.

DR.. Howard a. Kelly read a paper
before The Johns Hopkins Medical So
ciety last Monday night on Some
"reminiscences of yellow Fever" Or.
Walter Reed. surgeon, u. s. a., who
demonstrated that yellow fever was
conveyed by the mosquito This slim
mlalcd his interest in yellow fever. The
life of DR.. Reed will appear next
autumn.
Dr. Kelley said in part:
The earliest mention have found
oil insects as carriers OF disease
comes from the Island Of Ceylon,
where the governor is said tn have re-
Gently discovered in some native works
dating from the sixth century II de-
scriplion of various kinds of mos
quitocS accused of causing malaria
And ii used To be said that the mp
proach of the plague could be foretold
by changes In the weather fog. rain
ami the appearance OF flies The old
scientist, philosopher and archaeolo-
Sist, kircher. writing In 1868 notes in
the margin of his 'Scr,tinEm Physico-
Modicum, Plies breed the plague and
doubt that flies feed on tluids sccreted
by the bodies of the diseased and by
cnrpscs; then lying away, they deposit
their cNcretionS on different articles of
food. AMI persons who eat thereof are
thus infected
The first suggestion Of yellow fever
in connection with insect transmission
proceeded so far as | have been able
10 ascertain, i'll 1913, from DR.. Josiah C..
Mott, of Mobile, in paper ON Tho
Cause of yellow Fever In the New
Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal
| for March of that year. Mott did not
have the mosquito In mind rs The con-
vcyor Of the poison. hut was rather
of opinion that the Office of carrier was
performed by some insect whose habits
caused ii to remain very close to the
ground. He says: Ut is a curious fact
that from 1929 to 1877 there was no
epidemic of yellow fever in Mobile, and
during this time the streets were beau
tifully shcllcd; since 1897 We have had
ii five times and the Smelling was not
continued. II the insect theory he
correct, could the lime be an impede
ment to their progress across the
strect?'
.''rhc actual formulation OF the
theory that yellow fever is transmitted
by mosquito, and that, too, Of n par
ticular spccics-thc stcgomyia fasciata
we owe to DR.. Carlos j. Finlay,
Scotchman, living in Havana in The
year 1856. The establishment of this
theory on the solid basis of experiment.
al proof is due to our late colleague,
DR. Walter Reed, and his associates on
the United States army commission on
yellow fever of 1900"
the Older records of yellow fever and
the theories of the past in the light
Of prcscnt-day knowledge The thing
that strikes one most fOrcibly, DR. KEEL
ly said, in reading the history of tho
pcstilences of the past, is the earnest
ness with which those who passed
through them often tried to Gull from
their experiences some hints of the
nature and causes Of the disease 1T
is almost piteous," he said, "to con-
template the prodigal expenditure of
misdirccted effort with which these
distressed inquirer gropcd their way
I'm the Zimmerman darkness. One thing
must strike every reader of Reeds OK
perimcntal work-that II is based OH
nothing which was not easily within
the scope OF scientific investigators at
any time within the last 900 years
Their success rested upon inductive
reasoning, accuracy of observation and
perseverance. aud they afford an
added Illustration of the old lesson
that The simple solution is the product
of the master mind"
Dr. Kelly said That the epidemic of
1913 in Philadelphia was the earliest
of which there is any full and reliable
record. He mentioned one pathetic
incident of this epidemic showing I'm a
way its extent and violence Ii was
reported by DR.. Benjamin Rush. Said
DR.. Rush: "a cheerful cOintenance
scarcely to be seen in, the city for six
weeks. rccollect oRAe, In entering
the house of a poor man, to have met
a child OF years that smiled in my
face, and was strangely affected by
the sight ESQ ,liscordant to my feelings
and the state of the city, before re-
collected the youth and ignorance Of
the child
Hc then discussed the epidemic
New Orleans-lS53. which led to the
publication of La Rochc's monuments
al work "On Yellow Fever" the re-
turn epidemic in Philadelphia in 1920;
cpidemics in Boston uSI9). New York
079a), Virginia US55), Wilmington,
N. G., QSd2), and Memphis GS7S). He
discussed the passing away of the
theory Of spontaneous generation of
the bacillus with the growth and at
tendant discussion of bacteriology.-
Baltimore News.
.