Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-02-14
THE MOSQUITO.
Widely Distributed Pest Most Danger
Gus Enemy of Humanity.

f1p. Ger ana more lnNulHeTdDle elelHy,
against which neither cutlass nor pis-
| tol avails, is at work within its crowd
ed gates. Here, among the careless
"Spiggoty" population of the fever
| stricken lttoral of Venezuela and
Colombia the mosquitoes prosecute
their dreadful mission; and 1t needs
/ all the vigilance Of the quarantine Off
GERS, who board every incoming vessel
with serum and clinical thermometers,
to exclude the victims Of their veno-
nous incubation from the ports Of the
southern states of the Union.
That these untiring winged enemies
of mankind, not even those sung by
Milton and painted by Dore have work.
ed more mischief to the race; and three
genera in particular are Of interest to
the student of noxious insects-Culex,
comparatively harmless kind, hateful
only for the females midnight music
and maddening bite; Anopheles, the
recognized vehicle of malaria, and
Stegomyia, to which nature, jealous
of a redundant population, has allotted
the baneful business of spreading that
most dreadful scourge of the Carib-
bean, yellow fever. This brindled car
rier of yellow jack" was the subject
of a curious and groundless apprehen-
sion at home, namely, that the compile
| ton of the Panama canal would be In
strumental in importing that peculiarly
| West Indian epidemic into our East In
dian possessions, hitherto virtually free
| from it's ravages.
The theory, which, on the face Of 1t,
looked sufficiently plausible, was that
ships bound from the Caribbean to the
East Indies by way Of the Horn ran no
risk of carrying Stegomyia to their
port of destination, since that delicate
tropical insect would not survive the
cold and stormy weather OF the soutn-
ern ocean. The shorter equatorial sea
VOYAGE, on the other hand, would, 1t
was argued, extend the geographical
range of both the mosquito and its
work. What the advocates Of this
alarming doctrine overlooked was (as
Mr.. Roosevelt on one occasion pointed
out to the present writer) that the
yellow fever mosquito was always
plentiful on the Pacific side of the 18TH
mus, from which there has for years
been more or less regular communica-
ton with Asia, without any of the dire
results apprehended.
The mosquitoes Of the Spanish Main
are wholly responsible for the SEEM
ingly illogical quarantine regulations
| imposed at the American ports. Pas
sengers by the r. M. S. P. company's
liners, for instance, bound from South
ampton to Colon, are not allowed to go
ashore at either Savanilla or Carta-
gena; and for passengers In the United
Fruit company's boats from Colon to
New Orleans, Limon, the port of Costa
Rica, is, for similar reasons, tabooed
| That the American authorities, while
| insisting on a sworn declaration set
| ting forth acceptance OF these condl-
tions. raise no objection to passengers
joining ships at these ports, and mix
ing with those who remain on board,
strikes the traveller at first sight as RI
diculous and unreasonable. lrascible
sightseers, impatient Of such control,
even describe 1t as outrageous. AS,
however, the quarantine officer at Co.
lon once explained to me, the two reg
ulations are reconcilable Cor, at any
rate, reconciled) on the ground Of the
American conviction that Stegomyia Is
the one and only means Of transmit
ting yellow fever and that 1t taxes
twelve days after it has bitten an in
fected patient for the poison to work.
The disease, they say, cannot be COM
municated without the bad offices OF
the mosquito, and they doubt the pos
sibility of these insects finding their
way to the end of the long piers at
the Colombian ports. 1T Is true that
with the help of light breeze, Anoph-
eles is capable of roaming a quarter
of a mile at least from its birthplace;
but the limit of Stegomyia's normal
Wanderings from her native ditch may
be put at a couple of hundred yards.
| This commendable homesickness on the
part of so undesirable an immigrant
considerably simplifies the problem OF
it's exclusion from the settlements OF
the canal employees during the long
and tedious work Of construction.
Acting on this belief in the mosquito
as the only means Of carrying the mi
crobe Ga doctrine which will, In the
opinion of some, be subject to modifi-
cation as our knowledge becomes more
and more extended), the American au-
thorities are, II will be seen, reasonable
in enforcing their present regulations
and in allowing Royal Mail steamers
to berth alongside the quays OF sus-
pected ports.
The mosquitoes Of the isthmus are
not what they were in the brave days
of the French occupation. Since the
coming Of Col. w. c. Gorgas, with
plenary powers to cleanse territory
once synonymous with yellow fever,
these Woodworking insects have fallen
on evil times. Their numbers have
dwindled woefully and the survivors
find it hard to make a living. On the
Panama side, more especially, the re-
suits of the work carried out by Col.
Gorgas and his mosquito brigade are
everywhere apparent. I recently pass
ed an undisturbed night in an hotel In
that city without the protection of
mosquito curtains, and this in the
rainy season, when, up to few years
ago, mosquitoes were as thick as
thieves. 1t is true that at Colon, which
stands kneedeep on the almost stag
nant margin Of the Caribbean, those
who remain on board ship are not
wholly free from such visitors; but /
was assured by several employees along
the canal that a mosquito Is rarely
seen in any Of their gauZe-fenced quar-
ters. Heroically, and with amazing re-
suits, Col. Gorgas and his staff have
COPIED with all the difficulties of their
tremendous task. If, as Button says,
genius is no more than an aptitude for
taking pains, then assuredly the colo
mel Is a genius, for he has faced and
surmounted obstacles that would, even
with such resources at their disposal,
have disheartened lesser men.
The malarial mosquito Is also
scourge in almost all the West Indian
Islands, Barbados alone, though teem-
ing with the harmless CuleX, Is i'm
mune from the more dangerous kind,
blessing which, as DR.. Bindley, princi-
pal of Codrington college, communicate
ed some months since to the Times, Is
generally attributed to the good offices