REVIEWS 179 



Under these conditions malaria-bearing mosquitoes are likely to abound, while 

 they are able to convey the disease with the greatest facility from man to man 

 amongst the crowded occupants of the " coolie lines " in the plantations. Though 

 these are also the conditions in many other parts of the world, yet few countries 

 have had the good fortune to possess local officials who have the enthusiasm and 

 the energy to undertake new work of this nature ; and it was certainly due chiefly 

 to the spirit and the example of Dr. Watson that the authorities in the State of 

 Selangor took up the matter. At that time the new town of Port Swettenham was 

 being built close to Klang, and there was a great wave of malaria running through 

 both places. The areas were, however, rapidly drained, and the result was almost 

 immediate. Not only did the malaria fall to a very low rate, as easily proved by 

 Watson's figures, but, owing to the general diminution of this one disease, the total 

 death rate diminished within the sanitated areas— the contrast between them and 

 the unsanitated areas outside being quite remarkable. Shortly afterwards Dr. 

 Watson commenced to extend his work to plantations outside the principal towns. 

 The country consists of a large area of flat land and also a large area of hilly land. 

 In the former his success was rapid, because the mosquito which carries malaria 

 there can easily be dealt with by drainage and removal of jungle close to habita- 

 tions. But in the hilly land there dwells a much more difficult insect, the larvae 

 of which can live in the little side pools of the most precipitous hill torrents, and 

 this requires an expensive form of malaria prophylaxis by means of piped drains. 



Dr. Malcolm Watson's book is both a record and a text-book. It teaches in 

 the best manner possible by the description of the author's own attempts, failures, 

 and successes. It is well printed and beautifully illustrated, and every Health 

 Officer in the tropics should have a copy. It contains not only an account of his 

 own work in the Federated Malay States, but also an extremely interesting record 

 of his visit to Panama, which he made for comparing notes regarding the pre- 

 vention of malaria there and in his own country ; and the comparison leads to 

 most authoritative pronouncements on a number of moot points and practical 

 details. The book, however, deals not only with the prevention of malaria, but 

 also with that of yellow fever, and, as its title indicates, with most matters con- 

 nected with rural sanitation in general. The reviewer knows no better book upon 

 the subject, and in fact no book so good. 



The difficulties which Dr. Watson has had to face and which he has continued 

 to face for so many years have been extraordinarily great owing to the nature of 

 the climate in the area dealt with by him ; and it is just this point which reflects 

 such credit upon him. We are too much given to bestowing all the praise in such 

 cases merely to the men who have done the fundamental researches, and to ignore 

 those who have applied these researches directly for the welfare of humanity. In 

 the reviewer's opinion men like Dr. Watson and Colonel Gorgas are as much 

 entitled to the world's gratitude. 



As a nation we have not done a tithe of what we ought to have done as regards 

 tropical sanitation in general and the prevention of malaria in particular. This 

 has been due to the false ideals engendered by a preposterous education, party 

 politics, and game-playing ; by unscientific habits of thought and want of discipline 

 in administration ; and by the ease with which third-rate persons climb into the 

 most responsible posts, often to the exclusion of genuine workers— qualities 

 abundantly shown also in the war. In the reviewer's opinion the British have 

 largely neglected the great duty in this respect imposed upon them by their 

 possession of the fairest parts of the tropics. 



R. R. 



