REMEDIES AGAINST MOSQUITOES 169 



pose, the land was boug-lit, tlie mosquito-breeding places 

 were practically abolished, summer residences were built, 

 and the company realized many thousands of dollars in 

 the course of two years. There are, within a hundred 

 miles of New York City, for example, hundreds of beau- 

 tifull}^ situated localities which are not utilized to their 

 full possibilities largely on account of the prevalence of 

 mosquitoes. There are many small towns which are un- 

 desirable for summer residence on account of the abun- 

 dance of mosquitoes, though in all other respects their 

 qualifications for this purpose are perfect. 



Aside from the main questions of health and of the 

 value of land, come the other subsidiary questions of com- 

 fort, and of the unnecessary expense of screening- houses 

 with the thoroughness necessary in many localities, which, 

 when considered in bulk, become important. It seems 

 then evident that it would be a positive economj^ for a 

 community to spend, if necessary, even a large sum of 

 money in attempting mosquito-extermination. In ver}^ 

 many cases, however, a small sum will suffice, provided 

 it is administered with intelligence. 



Dr. C. Fermi, after giving an account before the Medico- 

 physical Society of the University of Sassari, March 23, 

 1900, of his efforts to free the town from mosquitoes, esti- 

 mated the expense of freeing a town of 50,000 inhabitants 

 at from $200 to $300. This sum seems extremely small, 

 even with the low price of labor over there, but in the 

 case of Sassari the mosquito-sui5j)ly was local, and the 

 insects bred almost entirely in household tanks and water 

 receptacles. It is with large marsh-areas or numerous 



