Sir Ronald Ross 225 



Like many others who have devoted their lives to research, 

 Ross is still a poor man. For his work he was awarded in 

 1902 one of the greatest distinctions of its kind in the 

 world — the Nobel Prize for Medicine. There exists in 

 Putney an Institute of Tropical Diseases named after 

 him, and of which he is Director-in-Chief . The medical 

 societies of the world have paid tribute to his great work 

 in conquering malaria. 



That work still marches on. The new chapter in the 

 battle with tropical diseases which Ross and Manson 

 opened is not yet finished. It may be found that other 

 deadly diseases are spread by the same winged insects. 

 While Ross's discoveries were still recent, American 

 scientists turned to them in the hope of discovering the 

 cause of yellow fever, which had broken out among 

 American troops at Havana in 1900. In mosquito-proof 

 cages men were exposed to the soiled bedding and clothes 

 of yellow-fever victims. They remained free of the 

 disease. Then volunteers were called for, and a number 

 of brave young American soldiers, knowing the risk they 

 ran, volunteered to be bitten by mosquitoes which had 

 fed on the blood of those already sick. All who were 

 bitten developed the disease, and before the end of 

 December 1900 it had been proved conclusively that just 

 as malaria is spread by mosquitoes, so is the even more 

 deadly yellow fever. The discovery was made by Dr 

 Walter Reed and the other Americans who fought the 

 epidemic, but some of the honour must also be awarded to 

 Sir Ronald Ross and Sir Patrick Manson, whose dis- 

 coveries had already pointed the way. 



Sitting in the barracks at Cuba, amongst those afflicted 

 with the disease, Dr Reed wrote to his wife at 11.50 p.m. 

 on December 31st, 1900 : 



Only ten minutes of the old century remain. Here have I 

 been sitting, reading that most wonderful book, La Roche on 

 Yellow Fever, written in 1853. Forty-seven years later it has 



