THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



was "Insects and Disease." The Governor-General of Canada 

 presided and introduced me. When I came to the subject of the 

 so-called Tsetse fly disease, I said that it had just been discovered 

 that the disease was not caused by a poison peculiar to the flies, 

 but that they were carriers of the disease organism from one 

 animal to another. I said that this discovery had just been made 

 by Surgeon-Major Bruce, who at that moment was shut up in 

 Ladysmith by the beleaguering Boer Army. I went on to say 

 something about the sympathy that I and my friends had with 

 the British in that war when suddenly a cannon was fired 

 outside the hall. Cheers were heard, a military band struck up, 

 and an aide-de-camp came into the hall, mounted the platform 

 and gave a despatch to the Governor-General, who interrupted 

 me to announce that Ladysmith had been relieved. 



Before we leave the subject of yellow fever I must tell one 

 more anecdote. In the summer of 1931, while I was on my way 

 from Washington to France by the western route, we passed 

 through the Panama Canal, and some of the men in the Canal 

 Zone gave me a very delightful dinner at the Miramar Club 

 in old Panama City. One of the speakers (I think it was Dr. 

 Clark, the Director of the Gorgas Institute Laboratories at 

 Balboa, who was with the Sanitarians during the digging of 

 the canal) told this story. He said that one day he remarked 

 to General (then Colonel) Gorgas, "Aren't you weighed down 

 by the enormous responsibility of your task?" 



"Not in the least," said Gorgas, "I am carefree, comparatively. 

 On questions of bacteriology I rely on Dr. Welch of Johns 

 Hopkins. On questions relating to yellow fever I rely on Dr. 

 Carter of the Public Health Service. On questions of mosquitoes 

 I rely on Dr. Howard of the Department of Agriculture. Theirs 



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