440 MOSQUITOES OF NORTH AMERICA 



WORK IN ISMAILIA. 



Another striking example of excellent work of this kind is found in the report, 

 published in 1906, on the suppression of malaria in Ismailia, issued under the 

 auspices of the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez. Ismailia 

 is now a town of 8000 inhabitants. It was founded by DeLesseps in April, 1863, 

 on the borders of Lake Timsah, which the Suez Canal crosses at mid-distance 

 between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Malarial fever made its appear- 

 ance in very severe form in September, 1877, although the city had up to that 

 time been very healthy, and increased, so that since 1886 almost all of the in- 

 habitants have suffered from the fever. In 1901 an attempt to control the dis- 

 ease was made on the mosquito basis, and this attempt rapidly and completely 

 succeeded, and all traces of malaria disappeared from the city after two years 

 of work. The work was directed not only against Anopheles mosquitoes, but 

 also against other culicids, and comprised, besides the usual measures, the drain- 

 age of a large swamp. The initial expense amounted to 50,000 francs, and the 

 annual expenses since have amounted to about 18,300 francs. 



The results may be summarized about as follows : Since the beginning of 

 1903 the ordinary mosquitoes have disappeared from Ismailia. Since the 

 autumn of 1903 not a single larva of Anopheles has been found in the protected 

 zone, which extends to the west for a distance of one thousand meters from the 

 first houses in the Arabian quarter and to the east for a distance of 1800 meters 

 from the first houses in the European quarter. After 1902 malarial fever 

 began to decrease obviously, and since 1903 not a single new case of endemic 

 malaria has been found in Ismailia. 



WORK IN ITALY. 



The senior author has prepared the following consideration of the anti- 

 malarial work in Italy and this has for the large part appeared recently in the 

 Atti della Societa per gli Studi della Malaria, vol. 12, pp. 85-87, 1911 : 



" The marvelous work which has been done in the way of the reduction of 

 malaria in the Italian peninsula, largely under the direction of prof. Angelo 

 Celli, of the University of Rome, must meet the hearty admiration of the entire 

 world. The reports which have been published and the articles which have been 

 written about it, enthusiastic as most of them have been, still fail to produce 

 upon the minds of the readers the effect that a study of the actual conditions on 

 the spot brings about. We have introduced this information in this place for the 

 reason that effective as this work has been it has not been directed against mos- 

 quitoes themselves, but has been carried on almost entirely by two other methods 

 — mechanical protection and quininization. It was the good fortune of one of us 

 (Howard) to visit the Campagna, near Rome, in the summer of 1902 when the 

 work was practically in its infancy. The protection of the railroad stations and 

 of the peasants' houses had begun, but the Campagna in those days was almost 

 deserted, agriculture was at a standstill, the peasants emaciated, their skins the 

 color of saffron, and the children from their emaciation and the characteristic 

 protuberant abdomens were pitiable objects. The whole of Italy was practically 

 malarious, and specially in its southern part and in the islands the mortality 

 ran from 0.400 to 3.000. By the work that has been done, in the same regions 



