Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-10-21


become larvae. The larvae stage lasts
eight or nine days, after which the adult |
mosquito energies. The malaria parasite |
is taken into the stomach of this mosquito |
along with the blood which It takes when
1t bites a man suffering from malaria
and undergoes development within the
body of the mosquito for 10 or - days.
After this stage is passed any human be-
ing who is bitten by the mosquito carry
ing the malaria parasite becomes stricken
with the disease
The history of the female mosquito,
which carries yellow fever from man to
man, is much the same as that of the
malaria carrying insect. The yellow fever
parasite, however, circulates In the blood
of the one suffering from the disease for
the first three days only, so that the
mosquito must bite the stricken person
during this time in order to acquire the
parasite. The parasite lives In the
mosquito for from IL to 20 days and If
within this period the mosquito bites
'non-une," that Is person who mas
never before been stricken with yellow
fever, he will develop 1t. On account OK
these reasons yellow fever has spread
more slowly and also because of the fact
that the yellow fever mosquito cannot
survive the winters in temperate
climate, 1t has been easier to eradicate
1t than to stamp out malaria.
General Gorgas told of the days when
HAVANA, Cuba was an endemic focus
because of the yellow fever which had
existed there for hundreds of years and
had infected the United States for over
a century and q half. The death rate OF
Havana from yellow fever when General
Gprgas began his work there in February
of 1901 was from 1000 to 5000 deaths year
". BY November of 1901 there was not
single case of yellow fever in the city
and 1t has been free from it ever since.
General GorEas went from Havana to
Panama in May. 1904, and the last case
of yellow fever occurred in Panama city
In November of 1905 and the whole re-
public of Panama has been practically
free from this dread disease since that
date.
Referring to the cost of the sanitation
work which was carried out in Havana
and Panama, General Gorgas said that
the cost in Havana was about four-tenths
of q cent per day per capita. while IN
| Panama, due to administrative reasons
| 1t was about one cent per day per
capita General Gorgas explained at
some length the many things not relating
strictly to the work of the sanitation
department at Panama which were under
| their control and paid for from their APP
preparation. so that the cost of the
sanitation department during the ten
years of building the canal amounted to
20 millions Of dollars, although only three
| and one-half millions We're spent for the
| real work Of sanitation, the prevention
of disease.
In speaking of the world good
which he hoped would result from the
| sanitation work at Panama. General
| Gorgas likened the revolutionary dis
| coveries in TROPICAL sanitation to the
| discovery of new worlds by Columbus.
The making Of the tropics safe for
the white man, would. the speaker
| hoped, tend to draw off the surplus
| population of Europe and America to
the virgin fields of the tropics. This
would relieve the present congestion
and raise the wages of those that re-
| NAMED, so that the curse of poverty
| would be lifted and the highest stages
| of civilization could be reached.
| A number of slides We're then
| thrown on the screen showing many
varied scenes in Panama, and the
| Canal Zone. A number of the old
| French buildings were shown, and
General Gorgas traced the history OF
i the canal from the first French at
tempts up to it's completion.
| Several slides of the canal were
also shown, as we'll as scenes In the
city and the country. but, unfortu'
pota1v many Of the slides were MOI
recent ones. and in many cases the
operator could not secure satisfac'
tory focus, so that this part or the
entertainment proved somewhat dis
II Amounting. Nevertheless, the privi'
lege of listening to such man as
General Gorgas is one that Will be
long remembered by all who were for
tunate enough to attend the lecture