Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-25

slaps of an angry victim, cut In the eco
nomfc problems Of states.
But the day Of reckoning is at hand
for anopheles. The pest has become the
subject of the latest campaign launched
by the men whose business 1t is to look
out for the health and we'll being OF the
public, and commission has been ap-
pointed to investigate the insect and Its
means Of combating it in its native
haunts as well as to undo in the broad
light OF day the havoc 1t wreaks in the
darkest hours of night. And this COM
mission, bearing the imposing title OF
commission for the study and proven
ton of malaria" is headed by a Wash
ington man.
DR.. Charles F. Craig, captain. Medical
Corps. United States Army. Is the man
who has been placed at the head Of the
common good" who will wage a war of
determination against anopheles and all
her brood.
Not so many years ago 1t was the gen
ersl belief that malaria. "chills and
fever ague and all the so-called ma
larial fevers and ailments were caused
by breathing the miasmas of swamps
Might air. was a bugbear with the
grandfathers and grandmothers Of the
present generation. who seemed to forget
that at night there was no other kind
Of air. Persons who lived near swamps
or marshy places believed the fevers and
the chills and the constant lassitude that
possessed them was due solely to the air
of the marshes.
But science has learned that this is
not true One may live forever beside
a swamp and keep we'll and hearty II
he can avoid the bite Of the malaria mo-
soiito. It Is the mosqufto-anopheles is
the generic name Of the malaria-dis-
seminating mosQuitoes-who infects the
victims. Give the insect no chance to
bite a human being. no chance to pass
on to a man or woman the malaria germs
with which its system swarms, and no
malaria will exist.
There are many varieties Of mosquitoes.
but only the anopheles carries the germs
Of malaria. This species may be recog-
there are four tiny black spots on each
wing. II. tonight. you should chance
to capture q mosquito the wings Of which
bear these telltale spots kill it. If 1t
quinine. Because all mosquitoes which
have the spots on the wings are Of the
malaria carrying species-the spots are
the distinguishing marks of the breed
=
Conservative estimates. by men who
have devoted the greater part Of their
lives to the study Of malaria and its
effects in the south, show that in the
state of Alabama alone, ,220 deaths oc-
Cured in 1910 due directly to malarial
infection. According to the estimate, this
meant that 122. 200 cases of malaria
listed in the state during that year. AS
Stunning that each case entailed an ex-
pense during the year-for medicine.
loss of time. care. etc-of $40. which is
surely conservative estimate, the total
loss inflicted in Alabama in 1910 by the
malaria mosquito was 81 90 900. But
this was not. after all, the total cost.
Calculating the economic value Of each
life lost by reason OF the disease at
s2,OOO-and who would not. value his life
or that of loved one at least as high
as that?-the loss by death amounted
to $2.444, 600 for the year, bringing the
total up to $3.666OOO for the year 1910
in one state alone. Pretty heavy toll TO
be levied by an insignificant insect pest;
though the word insignificant scarcely ap-
plies when we consider the damage the
insect causes.
The same estimator places the total loss
by reason Of malaria in Florida during
the same year at 1921, 600 Georgia's