MOSQUITOES AND PROSECUTIONS 353 



it possible that the trouble was caused by the pollution of the dam water by the 

 sewage of a State institution nearby, and complained to the health officer. It 

 seemed that the health officer was the attending physician at the State institu- 

 tion, and, resenting the implication concerning the sewage of the institution and 

 being familiar with the fact that mosquitoes carried malaria, he claimed that 

 the trouble was due to the breeding of Anopheles mosquitoes in the mill dams 

 or in the back waters caused by the dams. He therefore secured an order from 

 the State Board of Health, demanding the abolition of the dams in the interest 

 of health. This order was resisted by the proprietors of the mills and the case 

 was brought before the courts. The proprietors speedily informed themselves 

 on the subject of the etiology of malaria, reading all the latest publications on 

 the subject. They then cleaned up the margins of the dam, presented a copy of a 

 recently published book on mosquitoes to each of twelve physicians of the town, 

 and offered a reward of $50 each for every Anopheles larva that could be found 

 in the dams. The physicians all made search and no larvse were found. Where- 

 upon, each physician was summoned as an expert witness in the trial. In the 

 meantime an expert entomologist was engaged to come to the town to examine 

 the conditions at the dams and to find the breeding-places of Anopheles in the 

 surrounding country. This expert found no Anopheles in the dams, but he 

 found the mosquitoes breeding practically every^vhere throughout the com- 

 munity, with the exception of the dams. He found unused springs, chance pools 

 and puddles swarming with Anopheles larvge. He often found them (since it 

 was at wet season) breeding in water standing in the furrows in the com fields, 

 the soil being a strong clay. 



At the first trial, expert testimony was brought forward to the effect that 

 the mosquitoes probably bred in the marshes at some distance back of the dams, 

 and that these marshes could not be drained so long as the dams remained. The 

 case was adjourned and before the time of the next court the proprietors of the 

 dams had bought certain portions of this back land and had successfully drained 

 it, showing that the existence of the marshes was not necessarily due to the ex- 

 istence of the dams. Ultimately, the case was nolle prosequi, and the dams re- 

 main today. 



Another interesting case occurred in a town near Boston. A member of the 

 Board of Health, greatly interested in the subject of malaria and malaria mos- 

 quitoes, found Anopheles breeding extensively in certain stone quarries, particu- 

 larly in the abandoned portions of the quarries which had been worked. The 

 proprietors of the quarries were sued, with the idea of forcing them to fill up the 

 abandoned portions of the quarries, and the case came to trial in Boston before 

 a referee. Expert testimony was heard and the judge finally announced, before 

 hearing all of the testimony which was prepared, that he had no doubt from 

 what he had already heard that the quarries were breeding malaria mosquitoes 

 and that their existence constituted a menace to the health of the people living 

 nearby ; but, that he would not decide in favor of the prosecution for the reason 

 that such a decision would constitute a dangerous precedent, and that it would 

 render all owners of excavations or mill dams or similar necessities to industry 



