The Mosquito Hypothetically Considered as the Agent 

 of Trasmission of Yellow Fever 



Read before the Royal Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences W 



Session of August 14th 1881 



Mr. President, Gentlemen: 



Some years ago I had the honor to submit to your consideration the 

 results of my alkalimetric experiments, by which I think I have definitely 

 demonstrated the excessive alkalinity which prevails in the atmosphere of 

 Havana. Some of the Members now present, may perhaps remember the 

 relations which I then attemped to establish between that peculiarity 

 and the development of yellow fever in Cuba. Much however has been 

 done since that time, more accurate data have been obtained, and the 

 etiology of yellow fever has been more methodically studied. In con- 

 sequence thereof I feel convinced that any theory which attributes the 

 origin and the propagation of yellow fever to atmospheric influences, to 

 miasmatic or meteorological conditions, to filth or to the neglect of general 

 hygienic precautions, must be considered as utterly indefensible. I have, 

 therefore, been obliged to abandon my former ideas, and shall now 

 endeavor to justify this change in my opinions, submitting to your appre- 

 ciation a new series of experiments which I have undertaken for the pur- 

 pose of discovering the manner in which yellow fever is propagated. 



In this paper I shall not concern myself with the nature or form of 

 the morbific cause of yellow fever, beyond postulating the existence of a 

 material, transportable substance, which may be an amorphous virus, a 

 vegetable or animal germ, a bacterium, etc., but, at any rate, constitutes 

 something tangible which requires to be conveyed from the sick to the 



1) Translated by Dr. Finlay from the Anales de la Academia de Ciencias Médicas, 

 Físicas y Naturales de la Habana, Vol. XVIII, p. 147. Vide also Revista de la Asocia- 

 ción Médico-Farmacéutica de la Isla de Cuba, January 1902, p. 273. 



