Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1906-04-27
MOSQUITO BRIEF.
The Attention of Scientists is Be-
ing Turned to the Pest.

Many fellow who has batted
at an elusive mosquito has been
guilty of expressions not proper
in polite society. For all the
vengeance declared in the cen
turies passed the pest still endures
and is as great nuisance as ever.
In spite of ali efforts he, or it,
has hourished.
| Of late years we have heard
much of the mosquito as a breed
er d1sseminator OF disease. Var
ious medical authorities agree,
SO we are told, in holding the in
sect responsible for the spread OF
disease. In order to show that
serious thought is centered on the
mosquito we reprint the following
from one of the greatest period
icals in the world, the Scientific
| American:
This is another name for the
prevention of mosquito breeding
by obliterating the primary con-
ditions requisite for their whole
some production. On the nth
inst, the Third Annual Conven-
ton of the American Mosquito
determination Society was held
in this city, at the New York
Aquarium, and supplemented in
the evening by dinner given at
the Union League Club by the
President, Mr.. William J. Math-
eson, in honor of several guests
and Health Board officials.
At the convention cit was
shown that much progress had
been made toward the abatement
of the mosquito nuisance by a
greater enlightenment of public
sentiment in its favor, as evidenc-
ed through recent legislative
enactments.
In the state of New Jersey, for
example, where only few years
ago the suggestion of eliminating
the mosquito met with ridicule,
now, as a result of a more uni
versal education and extension of
information on the subject, it is
reported that the state legislature
has passed almost unanimously
an appropriation of $3.50, 900 to
be expended at the rate of $780,
900 per year for the diking and
ditching of the great salt marshes
living adjacent to the city OF
Newark and about the Hacken-
sack River. Legislation is also
in progress in the New York leg
islature to the same end for the
benefit of New York City.
The convention adopted what
is termed, mosquito Brief"
stating in simple language the
number of species of mosquitoes
that inhabit marsh lands and
cesspools of the United States
that they can only be breed in
water; that one mosquito can lay
on the average three hundred
eggs day; that the life of one
mosquito is about mouth. The
most dangerous of Southern mos
quitoes is the Stegomyia fasciata,
the natural carrier of yellow feve,
germs.
At the evening dinner, Gen.
Fred D. Grant, of Governors Is
land, U. S. army post, gave some
interesting "reminiscences on mos
quitoes and their effect on the
health of the army. He related
how he had protected a division
of the army located on one side
of the Rio Grande River, in a
southern section OF the county,
from the spread of yellow fever,
which had broken out in a town
situated on the opposite bank.
He secured funds from Washing
ton to carry out an effective
system OF screening, and said as
a result that not one of his men
was taken with the fever. On
Governors Island, numerous
relics in the shape of 15-irch-
gun shells were inverted, so as
to shed water instead of holding
it, which had the effect of 1eliev-
ing locally the generation of the
insects. Even upright rifle
barrels were filed with sand to
avoid the collection of water.
Mr.. Paul D. Cravath related
an interesting record concerning
1.-THE relation of the mosquito to
malaria. On the north side OF
: Long Island, about thirty miles