New-York tribune., 1908-08-11
OTICE WORK WITH A PEST

Denizens of Manhattan. The Bronx and
Brooklyn who have recently been made mlser-
able by the incursion of myriads OF mosquitoes
from Long Island must be moved to sit up
and take notice" when they hear that the Bor-
ough of Richmond is so free from those pests
that it is necessary for medical investigators
there to import specimens from other places
for the making of scientific observations and
tests. Those who remember with what intol-
erable clouds of mosquitoes a large part Of
Staten Island was infested only a few years
ago making even the New Jersey meadows
less purgatoral in comparison may be par
doned an inclination to incredulity at the re-
ports which made. Yet those who
are conversant with the latest researches into
the ways and manners Of the winged purveyors
of pestilence and who have watched the elabO-
rate and painstaking work of the health Of
ficers will perceive in those reports only q
gratifying confirmation of their belief in the
practicability of getting rid Of mosquitoes and
at the same tine also of the diseases which
they transmit.
The statement Of Dr. Doty, the Health Officer
Of this port which was published in our col
umns Yesterday, that he and his employees
were unable to find even few specimens OF
the fever bearing anopheles or OF the annoy
ing but otherwise innOcuous culex In places
which q few years ago were swarming with
them receives noteworthy confirmation from
the official health records of the borough. In
1901 Staten Island still had its old reputation
of being .'maarious"-n parts, to wit, the
MOSQUITO infested parts-and no fewer than
Jos cases of "maIarial" diseases were reported.
In 1905 the work of exterminating or Danish
ing mosquitoes was Systematically undertaken,
and the number of such cases fell to ninety
one In 1906 the work WAS vigorously prose-
cuted. and the number of cases fell to sixty
eight In 1907 the force of wOrkmen was in
creased the active cooperation of the resi-
dents was secured, and drains and oil cans bore
sway everywhere, with the result that only
five cases of malaria were reported, of which
two were known to have been contracted else
where Finally, in the present year, thus far
only three cases have been reported, two of
which are known to have been of foreign
origin and the source of the third of which is
in doubt
This result corresponds exactly with that
attained at Port Said, on the SueZ Canal, which
q score of years ago considered to be the
most "malarious' spot in the world, and which
now is as free from such ailments as are the
highlands of Scotland and indeed with similar
results in various other places. 1t demon
strates at once the practicability and the in
estimable profit Of getting rid of mosquitoes,
for if the creatures could be exterminated
exileG from Staten Island, from Port Said and
from Panama. there is surely no spot on the
face of the globe which may not by the same
means acquire the same immunity. Nor is there
any in which the immunity from both the an
noyance of the culex and the diseases borne
by anopheles, stegomyia and ochlerotatus may
not be maintained by vigilant persistence in
the measures which first secured It. DR.. Doty
well reminds the people of Staten Island that
neglect now would be a sure means of getting
the mosquitoes back again. The drains must
be kept clear and with perfect circulation, and
all reservoirs of water which cannot be drained
must be guarded with either screens oil. 1t
will mean painstakng work. But scarcely any
work could be too hard for the attainment and
the maintenance of such results as those which
Dr. Doty reports