The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-03
COL GORGAS. WORLDS CHAMPION SLAYER OF THE
 PESKY "SKEEETERS''

Killing mosquitoes may not be so
 spectacular and glorious as slaying
 men. but it is g. lot more profitable
 to the human race. When the Pana-
 ma Canal is completed, it will be a
 monument not only to the engineer
 Ing skill of George Washington Goe-
 tha1s, but to the medical ability of
 Col. William Crawford Gorgas, M. D.,
 It was not graft alone that turned the
 French canal project into a, disas-
 ter and a disgrace. The disease
 breeding and death-dea1ing 'skeeter''
 had much to do with it. When Uncle fitch connecting Atlantic and Paci- flo. Panama was a pest hole that had no equal outside of the wild interior around the canal zone has become a health resort, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Gorgas
 William Crawford Gorgas was born ffty-eight years ago. today. Oct. 3, 1854. in Mobile, Ala. His father was Gen J1siah Gorgas of the Confeder- University of the South and from Bellevue Medical College in New York. and serving two years as in terne in Bellevue Hospital, the young T,hysician entered the United States FsrEny a surgeon. That was in 1880. His rise was rapid, and in 1903 Con- gress biased a special act appointing pr Gorgas a colonel, and assistant surgeon general of the army, and gave him q special mission to carry Dn the warfare agair'st yellow fever in Havana. F. success in sanita- ton in the CIOan capital made him fhe logical choice as chief sanitary of ficer of the Isthmian Canal Zone.
 At Panama Col Gorgas faced vast army Of insect enemies, busily engag- ed in the distribution of the germs of yellow fever and the fatal tropi- raj malaria. Col Gorgas and his san ltzry squad seemed to be pitted against hopeless odds. but so well did death that within a few months the bubonic plague and yellow fever were stamped out, and malaria had become snfrequert and rarely fatal.
 The duties Of Col Gorgas and his men included the screening of houses l Inhabited by the canal workers, the zone. the distribution of larvicide to kill the infant mosquitoes, and, most important of all. the draining of the l Ewamps from which the insects had long fared forth on their mission of death The rat. which carries the | germs of bubonic plague, also came sn for much attention
 Putting into effect conprehens1ve sanitary scheme required tact and | diplomacy as well as know how.' Other able surgeons had tackled the | job. but failed miserabIy because of | their affectation Of superiority toward i FF1e natives Their -ssfrong arm tac-I gFce made necessary by a lack of com prebension of the workings of the Lat bn-American mind, were futile. The lncensed natives promptly disregarded Instructions as soon the back Of i Ef7e medical officer was turned Col. Horxas circulated among the Pana- manians with an easy genfality, and -JolIied" and persuaded them into to his course of treatment. Realizing that he was dealing with a proud and sensitive people, he used e argument persuasion a1id cajolery to attain his ends He WAS as courteous 10 the women as if all were queens, praised and played with the children, and treated the men as equals, for mE the world as if hc were a candi- date for office. The people of Pana- ma just couldn't resist such a, man. HdolaSses, it is well known, will catch more flies than vinegar-and also snors mosquitoes, which was the par tscular insect Col Gorgas was bent on 5agging.