Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-04-08
.THE CLIMATIC CONDITIONS.
CUBA HAS TWO SEAS0NS-THE
WET AND DRY.
Lies Within The Tropics But Temperature
Modified By Trade Winds Eradica.
tion of Yellow Feyer-The Triumph
Of Science Over Mosquito.
WHAT AN ARMY SURGEON DID
FOR HUMANITY,

The nights are always eooi and de-
| lightful in Cuba. both winter and sum
mer, and one sleeps comfortably under
an Army blanket even if the ther-
mometer has registered 50 or 9S de-
grees during the day. The heat is al
ways tempered by the trade winds
which blow from the northeast, with
but little variations throughout the
entire year.
The most uncomfortable parts of the
day are between = and 4 O'Clock and
in the early hours of morning before
the breeze springs up. We were told
the annual mean temperature in Ila-
vana is 77 degrees while the range be-
tween the mean SO degrees for the
hottest month August, and the mean
4 degrees for the coldest month Jan
uary, is only Il degrees. 1t is said
the highest temperature recorded is
100. & maximum. and certainly it is
even higher than this in summer in
many of our northern cities.
There are practically two seasons in
Cuba--a wet and dry season. Most
people think that the wet season is
something horrible. We were told by
Cubans and by Americans who had
endured" the wet season that il is
not half SO unpleasant as we think IL
is, and certainly not near SO bad as
the wet season in the Philippines.
The wet season comprises the months
from May to October, inclusive, and
ii is not at all what northern9rs pic
ture il, for even in the rainy months
the weather is clear until 10 o'clock
in the morning, between which hour
and midnight there are frequent
showers, while the nights are usually
clear.
The winter climate i'm Cuba is
mild and delicious. Indeed, the Is
land is an ideal winter resort and
when Americans build hotels in lla-
vana there will be no city i'm the
world more inviting as winter re-
sort. At this season the sky is clear,
the atmosphere wonderfully transpar-
ent and all nature is arrayed in an i'm
tense and brilliant coloring
which cannot fail TO arouse the admi-
ration and delight the eye of the tour
ist accustomed only to the quieter
hues of northern landscapes. The stars
seem to shine with more brilliancy
on these clear, halmy nights in Cuba
than anywhere in America and the
moonlight is soft and beautiful, she'd
ding a peculiar radiance characteristic
of the heavens in the tropics.
When the tourist starts out for
trip TO Cuba, his friends of the north
usually send up the cry Are you not
afraid of yellow fever?" The idea.
The Cuba of today is not what IL was
a few years ago. Science and the
Americans have rendered possible the
eradication of yellow fever from
Cuba by the discovery that the dis
ease was transmitted by the agency
of certain mosquito. This was
demonstrated by board of investi-
CATION sent here by Surgeon General
Sternburg in the summer of 1900.
Today there is not one eases in lla-
vana, and we were told scarcely
case ON the entire length, and
breadth of the Island. However, every
precaution is taken by the American
army at Camp Columbia. No cess
pools are allowed anywhere, no stag
nant water in exposed places. and
barrels of petroleum are used and mos
quito canopies cover every officers
and every enlisted mans bed. An en-
listed man caught sleeping without
his mosquito canopy is put in the
guard house, SO great is the care taken
to avoid the bite of the infected
Stegomyia.
The eradication of yellow fever in
Cuba was due TO the board of investi-
CATION, which was headed by Major
Walter Reed. surgeon in the United
states Army. The story of the inves-
tigation and its momentous results are
told in memoir of Dr. Reed prepared
by Major w. ID. McCaw, Surgeon L.
s. Army, from which the following
paragraphs are taken:
"At this time the American authori-
ties in cuba had for year and half
endeavored TO diminish the disease
and mortality of the Cuban towns, by
general sanitary work, but while the
health of the population showed dis
tinct improvement and the mortality
had greatly diminished, yellow fever
apparently had been entirely unatfect-
ed 10y these measures.
"Reed was convinced from the first
that general sanitary measures alone
would not check the disease but that
its transmission was probably due to
an insect.
Application was made To General
Leonard Wood, the Military Governor
of Cuba, for permission to conduct eX-
periments on non immune persons, and
a liberal sum OF money requested for
the purpose of rewarding volunteers
who would submit themselves TO eN-
pertinent. Money and full authority
to proceed were promptly granted, and
to the everlasting glory of the Ameri-
can soldier, volunteers from the army
offered themselves for experiment in
plenty, and with the utmost fearless
ness.