Mosquitoes and Yellow Fever 
211 
The densely populated city was unprepared, the public had to be 
educated, and an efficient organization built up. The local authori¬ 
ties actively began a general fight against the mosquito but in spite 
of their best efforts the disease continued to spread. It was recog¬ 
nized that more rigid organization was needed and on August 12 th 
the United States Public Health and Marine Hospital Sendee was 
put in absolute charge of the fight. Up to this time there had been 
one hundred and forty-two deaths from a total of nine hundred and 
thirteen cases and all of the conditions seemed to threaten an out¬ 
break to exceed the memorable one of 1878 when, as we have seen 
there were four thousand and forty-six deaths. 
With the hearty cooperation of the citizens, — physicians and 
laymen alike,—the fight was waged and long before frost or any near 
approach thereto the disease was stamped out, — a thing unheard of 
in previous epidemics. The total loss of life was four hundred and 
sixty — about 11 per cent as great as that from the comparable epi¬ 
demic of 1878. If the disease had been promptly recognized and 
combated with the energy which marked the fight later in the sum¬ 
mer, the outbreak would have made little headway and the great 
proportion of these lives would have been saved. 
