100 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



continued, the commonest creatures in our midst are proving to be our 

 greatest enemies. 



Laveran's discovery of the parasitic organism of malaria in 1880, and 

 the subsequent demonstration seventeen yeirs later by Ross of the part 

 played by the mosquito in its transmission, have, as Prof. Osier has said, 

 " a greater significance for a greater number of persons than any single 

 observation made in connection with disease." The treatment for a 

 subject whose literature stretches back over a period of more than two 

 thousand years, would be an enormous undertaking, and the first of the 

 two books under review does not attempt it. It treats of the prevention 

 of the disease, based on the investigations which have been carried on in 

 malarial regions since the author's discovery of the part which the 

 mosquito plays. A brief history is given of the disease, and of the facts 

 concerning its etiology as a necessary preliminary to a proper considera- 

 tion of the prophylactic measures with which the volume is chiefly 

 concerned. The various antipaludic measures are discussed and compared 

 as employed in different regions of the world, and the results are given. 

 The author has included contributions by twenty-one other experts on 

 antipaludic measures in difl"erent countries, among which those of Dr. 

 Howard on the work in the United States, and of Col. Gorgas on malaria 

 prevention on the Isthmus of Panama, are of si)ecial interest. Coming 

 from the pen of one who has rightly received the highest honours as an 

 investigator, and as an authority on antipaludic measures, one would 

 expect such a volume to be of singular merit, and we find that not only 

 are our anticipations fully realized, but that the lucidity of the scientific 

 details is made all the more attractive by the author's power of literary 

 expression, thereby increasing to no small degree the circle of readers to 

 whom the work will appeal. 



The second volume is " a popular account of the way in which 

 insects may spread or cause some of our common diseases," and as such 

 will be of real service in explaining to the general reader the more 

 important facts concerning the relations of such insects as mosquitoes, 

 house-flies, fleas and others to human disease. It is extremely readable, 

 and has the advantage over many of the popular accounts which find their 

 way into print of having been written by one who is qualified by 

 acquaintance with the facts to write such an account. While the value of 

 the work is certainly enhanced by the inclusion of so many original 

 photographs, a little more care m'ght have been taken concerning them. 



