Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-02

A memorial building Is to be dedi-
Gated today, at Panama, in honor Of
the man who attacked mosquito and
in due time wired. like Marshal Foch:
MY right is crushed, my left is In re-
treat; I am attacking with my center.
Up to that time the forces OF the
mosquito had routed the French, under
Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, and
driven his army into full retreat. II
the morale Of civilization, so that II
was generally assumed that white men
could never live in the tropics, and
that If the Panama Canal was ever to
be completed 1T must be dug by Negroes
and Indians, with terrible sacrifices OF
life.
The mosquito army did not resort
to chemical warfare, but the defense
had tried that method for ages, with
very discouraging results. The enemy
spread yellow fever, malaria, dengue
fever and various other diseases ap-
parently indigenous to the tropics
Science had searched for the causes
of such epidemics, but few suspected
the true means OF the spread of the
fevers.
1t was not Gen. william Crawford
Gorgas who finally solved the mystery
Uut ~ was AlC WHO 1lISC SuCCccuCu Ill
making wholesale demonstration that
the solution had actually been found.
Other researchers were ahead Of Cor
gas In their conclusions, but 1t was he
who first applied the discovery.
\ X
DR.. Walter Reed, who headed the
sanitary board In charge of Havana,
Cuba, bore testimony as to the original
research and theory Of native Cuban,
saying: ITO DR.. Carlos Finlay of Ha-
var1a must be given full credit for the
theory Of the propagation of yellow
fever by means of the mosquito, which
he proposed In paper before the Royal
Academy in that city at its session
on the 18th day of August, 1884," Yet 1t
was not until 1898 years later
that Surg. Gen. Sternberg of the United
States Army induced the Secretary Of
War to appoint board of Army med
ical officers to investigate the subject.
This board was composed of Drs. Reed,
Lazcar, Carroll and Agramonte. The
sanitary department of Cuba was in
the hands of board consisting of
Drs. Gorgas, Finlay. Albertina and
Guiteras.
The Walter Reed board investigated
as pure scientists first hoping to
disprove the entire insect carrier
theory-and reported that yellow fever
was caused or conveyed from man to
man only by the bite of the female
stegomyia mosquito. The mosquito. to
become infected, must suck the blood
Of the yellow fever patient after the
as proved by DR.. Carter of the sanitary
board, IL to 20 days must elapSe be-
fore she Is able to transmit the infec-
tion--a longer time in cool than in
warm weather. Also, it found that the
disease comes from a parasite con-
veyed by the mosquito, and the para
site is submicrosc opic-too small to be
seen even through microscope.
That finding was DR.. GOrgas' raw ma
terial. with which krlowledge-as head
Of sanitation Of all Cuba--te must Grad
icate conditions leading to the disease.
It is noteworthy that to this day mo-
body has found the parasite, none has
discovered any cure for yellow fever;
all that DR.. Gorgas undertook and ac-
complished was to stop the transporta-
ton of the parasite by the stegomyia
MOSQUITO, Of which, as Kipling has re-
marked, "tie female Of the species Is
more deadly than the male"
" - 3.
While the Walter Reed board has
reached scientific conclusions, that fact
was then to be impressed upon hun
dreds OF thousands Of more or less ig-
norant natives, and intensive measures
were necessary to screen all yellow fe-
yer patients SO that the stegomyia mos
quito could not bite them, and then
also screen all non-immune people so
that the t,ansniIitn IL IL did succeed in
biting an infected patient, could not
bite the prospective non-immune VIC
tins. That was the practical problem
against which DR.. Gorgas and his
board including DR.. Finlay, the origi-
nator OF the whole mosquito suspicion
had to pit their organizing ability. They
had to overcome the traditions Of the
ages and the skepticism Of even mod
ern scientists, many Of whom chung to
the generally accepted traditions that
yellow fever came from Nth, miasma,
night air and contagion from personal
contact-not 81 ~ accepting the mos