The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-10-27
MOSQUITOES AND BATS
FROM Ny scRApsooK

tSitOIS tO Dali 61IitOillOs 4CAdS,
may see what at first they may
mistake for Chinese pagodas, but
ION closer examination will prove
to be the municipal bat roosts.
These huge homes of hundreds of
thousands of bats were built by
the municipality with public
money, but the income derived
from the fertilizer produced by
the bats is said to pay the cost of
maintenance. These bat roosts
were not erected for the purpose
of obtaining cheap fertilizer.
These thousands of bats are
the first line of offense in the
fight on malaria fever. DR.. Charles
A. r. Campbell is San Antonio
physician, who has been special
izing to the extent of limiting
his private practice to malaria
and typhoid fever and therefore
his studies, of malaria proven
ton by warning against disease
carrying insects have increased
value. He is convinced that the
malaria germ is sometimes car
ried by other than the anopheles
mosquito, but, whatever the mos
quito, he is equally convinced
that its most effective enemy is
the common bat. He does not
question in the least the value of
other methods of fighting the
mosquito, such as drainage and
roll treatment, but he thinks that
if man hopes to free himself from
the curse of malaria he will have
to use every effective means he
can devise.
DR.. Campbell has been carry
ing on his experiments for a
good many years in districts in
Texas badly afflicted with the
disease and he is well assured
that he has proved beyond
doubt the very great value of
the bat.
At the beginning of his book,
"Bats, Mosquitoes and Dollars"
he lays down four allegations"
as follows: That the malarial
mosquito is one of mankind's
worst enemies; that the bat is
' one of mans best friends be-
cause of the destruction it works
upon the mosquito; that bats can
be so protected and scientifically
housed that they will increase
amazingly and eradicate malaria
in their vicinity; that each such
/ bat roost can be made source of
income by reason of the CONNER
cial value as a fertilizer of the
guano it will yield. Almost the
whole of the volume is devoted
to the proving of these "allega-
tions," one after the other, not
by argument but by detailed ac-
count of what the author has
actually done himself and of the
results he has brought about by
his efforts. So important have
been these results, that they have
attracted attention in other
countries and Italy, Austria and
Belgium have sent scientists to
study and report on his expert
nients. Bat roosts have been
built in the malaria cursed en-
vironment of Rome. Several
State, municipal and private bat
! roosts have been constructed in
Texas because of DR.. Campbell's
success in freeing certain dis
tricts of misunderstanding mos
quitos and making them habit
able. His work and its results
have been endorsed by medical
societies and by the late DIR. w.
c. Gorgas.
Here is something that might
be given serious consideration
locally in connection with the
fight against mosquitoes in dis
tricts where it is not possible to
carry out thoroughly sanitary
measures enforced and applied in
the city proper.
Anything that helps in the
fight against mosquitoes and
malaria, especially when the cost
is so low as it apparently is, in
enlisting the aid of bats, IS
worthy of consideration.
How would a sign reading
welcome to Key West, Fla, the
city without mosquitoes" look to
visitors coming here on the Over
seas Highway? Let's try to do
just that.