Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-10-02
BY LELAND s. CONFESS.

III OBlLE warfare, the deadn.
Nu ness Of which dims even that
WI of the tanks of the World
4 War or the great 14-inch
railway rifles of the Army,
Is the latest weapon of the Public
Health Service and the Navy in the
| fighting Of disease. Spreading death
to the enemies of the human race
in a million.fold ratio as compared
| to either OF these two weapons, the
airplane and arsenic, in the form
Familiarity known as paris green"
has routed the malaria bearing hosts
of mosquitoes that formerly made the
Marine encampment at Quantico, Va,
their battle-ground.
For years back, long before the
Marines were stationed at Quantico,
| the little village on the Virginia shore
| Of the Potomac a few miles below
Washington had the reputation, &C.
cording to old inhabitants. of being the
| worst hole for malaria on the Poto-
| mac" while at the present time, due
| to the new method of mosquito con-
| troll, the cases are so few as to be of
| little Importance.
Records show that the last Summer,
| after a single campaign Of air attack,
| but three cases of malaria were
| recorded in the Quantico Barracks. as
| compared to % in the previous year.
| 80 in 1924, 48 in 1923 and 124 in 1922.
| In the two nearby countries OF Prince
| William and Stafford a like reduction
| was noted.
Eight Hundred Acres Involved.
Before 1926 many attempts had
| been made to kill off the insect pests.
| which had been so troublesome that
| even in the screened houses at the
| barracks the use of mosquito nets and
| repellents such as citronella oil were
| necessary. bitches had been dug to
| drain pools in the vicinity Of the
| barracks and crude oil used in large
! quantities, but the two main sources
Of mosquito propagation, Quantico
| and Chopawamsic Bays, covering an
| area of some 800 acres, could not
| be handled in this manner.
The two bays, which in some cases
were interspersed by heavily wooded
| swamps, are covered with thick
water vegetation, lily pads and wild
| celery, sometimes called eel grass,
| forming an ideal breeding place for
| the larvae of the malaria bearing
mosquito, scientifically known as the
anopheles. Huge areas of this vege-
| tation, bare at low and flooded at
high tide, are broken only by the
meandering tidal channel in the case
| of Quantico Bay, while the Chopa'
| wamsic marsh is dotted with lakes,
| the largest of which Is close to the
Marine flying field. AS the grass and
| lily pads die and rise to the surface
toward the end of July, they form
| mats Of foliage, affording ideal breed
| ing places for the anopheles larvae.
| Public Health View.
The conditions as reported by DR..
| H. r. Carter Of the Public Health
Service were:
| I'm these creeks there was the
heaviest breeding Of anopheles 1 have
ever seen over a large area, and we
estimated the average number OF
larvae per dip at eight. but one dipper
took So. The same conditions had been
noted on Broad River, South Caro-
lima, and in other places in our work
but none so spectacular as this. This
problem Of breeding Is a very difficult
one"
At first dragging of the matted
grass and lily pads from the surface
Of the bays was tried out, then sub
aqueas saws were used to cut dowr
and destroy, this vegetation. To quote
from the report in relation to the
aforementioned attempt:
They Nhe saws were dragged
through the eel grass and lilies until
path approximately 100 feet wide
had been covered. This required four
hours time of Is men, with six
sickles, motorboat and a rowboat
At the end of this time, thoroughly
wearied, the attempt was abandoned.
The path was very poorly cleared"
Complete Failure Seen.
The complete failure of these meth.
DDS was shown by the fact that after
they had been in effect the malaria
rate among the troops stood at 51.23
per 1000.
1t had been demonstrated that paris
green, the old enemy of the potato
bug, was deadly to the malaria bear
ing mosquito through experiments