FIGHTING THE INSECTS 



soil — mainly volcanic tufa. As a matter of fact, however, exten- 

 sive drainage operations had been carried out in this very region 

 by the early Etruscans, as Celli himself had pointed out in his 

 book. 



The visit v^^as a delightful one. Celli had to give a lecture, and 

 he introduced me to Dr. Tiraboschi, an authority on fleas, w^ho 

 took us to his laboratory and talked Medical Entomology to us 

 for an hour or two. 



Before leaving us, Celli made an appointment to take us out 

 into the historic regions of the Campagna on the following 

 morning, which happened to be Sunday. 



That was a great day. We took the train at an early hour 

 and got off at one of the stations where the buildings had been 

 protected during the early screening days and before the adop- 

 tion of the universal quininization. Celli, who spoke French very 

 well, and I were so interested in our talk that we barely suc- 

 ceeded in leaving the train before it started on again, and I 

 left my camera in the railroad carriage. Dr. Vail, however, was 

 with us and kept his presence of mind and also his camera, 

 which was lucky, as he took some excellent snapshots in the 

 course of the day. There was also with us Dr. Ivantcheff of 

 Bulgaria, who had been the Health Officer of the Bulgarian 

 troops in a recent outbreak in the Balkans and who had come 

 on to Rome to study malaria. 



The four of us walked about through the fields for the rest 

 of the morning. What a contrast the Campagna offered to the 

 scenes of eight years before! Then the aspect was comparatively 

 desolate. The few inhabitants showed plainly the effects of 

 chronic malaria, their faces emaciated, their eyes yellow, and 

 the children with the characteristic pot-bellies, denoting enlarged 

 spleens. But now in 1910, agriculture was flourishing. Although 

 it was only June, they were already cutting the third crop of 



[132] 



