The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-09-07
THINKS THE WAR ON THE
MOSQUITO IS HOPELESS
Its LaughabIe, Its Pathetic and Its Frankly De-
spairng Aspects as Seen by an
Eastern Writer.

. There was the poison cup, for exam
pie, a metallic vessel with sponge Il
the bottom soaked with coal tar. anC
over the sponge filter. and over thu
filter a perforated tray with projec
tions extending above the rim of the
cup SO that if you pressed it against
the ceiling the pressure acted upon tho
sponge and liberated poisonous fumes
In the proper hands this is evidently
a sinister weapon. cit is well
known says the observing inventor,
that these insects usually alight on
the ceiling of room So to rid the
room of them the cup is placed on a
stick and held under the insect, then
! quickly pressed against the ceiling, the
vapor of the coal oil instantly killing
! the mosquito But it is equally evi-
/ dent that the weapon becomes power
less if the mosquito decides to wait
| for night on the wall rather than on
! the ceiling. To meet this emergency
| there is the killer invented by another
| ingenious woman who provided two
metal trays at right angles to each
other, one for the ceiling and the other
for the wall, and mounted on tie NEG
| essary stick.
But to return to the optimistic gen
tleman from New Jersey who believed
he had so completely solved the prob
lem without harming the enemy. Argu-
ing with considerable FEASIBILITY that
if man could protect his face the
bed clothes would cover up the rest
of him, this inventor set himself to
devise protection for the face and
succeeded quite to his own satisfae-
ton. Yet it is not altogether surpris-
ing that his invention did not become
popular Imagine, if yN please,
band of light metal lightly encireling
your head and neatly tied under your
chin; from this band projects sec
ondary framework, somewhat like the
illet worn by Isis in Egyptian sculp-
ture, overshadowing your nose, but
some distance above it. As you lie on
your back~with your head on the pill
low the frame supports a mosquito net
ting which falls gracefully about your
sleeping cOuntenanee. Perhaps you
smile in your sleep to hear the buzzing
of the angry enemy as she stands on
the netting and vainly tries to reach
through it. Perhaps you turn slightly
one way or another-and then you dis
cover the weakness of the inventor S
optimism. A quiet sleeper himself, he
evidently argued that all the world |
slept in the same fashion.
Quiet sleeping, in fact, was evidently |
taken for granted by the inventors of |
''new and useful improvements in /
Mosquito Guards. - We have all |
seen the hemisphere of wire that bak-
ers use to protect their pies and cakes
and if such an arrangement protects
a pie, why shouldn t it protect human
being7 At least, so argued the invent
or who made one for just this pur
pose. completing it with a fringe of /
netting that adapted itself to the bed
clothes, excluded the unwelcome guest, Il
and left no place even for a mosquito
to creep in on his hands and knees.
As with the other invention, the wear
er reposed on his back with his head
IN the pillow, as nearly as possible Il
ike pie on counter. Then with one
hand he carefully arranged the pro-
-ector. one side (resting on the pillow, II
he other on his own bosom and the
fringe extending in all directions. And
if he could only manage to sleep as
luietlv as a pie all would be well tin
morning.
These, however, are simple inven- |
ions for sound sleepers. One prefers
o picture the happy possessor of the
new and improved sleep-preserver
nd mosquito guard which was not
My every simple and cheap but
Guild be ''carried in common travel
NC bag, and used whenever and wher
yer wanted. This gentleman is a
ravelpr. q man of adventure and vi
issitudes, yet once possessed of the
he is unquestionably
afe from the mosquito. We see him
rived at his destinations; his valet,
re viii say, has opened his bag and
aid out his nightgown and his sleep
reserver side by side on the cover
1T. Midnight comes and he retires to
is chamber. First he puts on his
ightgown. then he opens the pre- b
arver. It expands under his hand
nto an affair-of five or six hoops of
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