50 Proceedings of the First Convention 



transmission of disease is concerned. While this mosquito 

 is a great biter and very annoying, she does not transmit the 

 disease, as far as we know. 



Chairman : If Air. Cravath is here, I hope we will have 

 the pleasure of hearing from him. He has done a great deal 

 of good work in the matter of mosquito extermination and 

 we were in hopes of hearing from him, 



(Air. Cravath did not respond to the invitation to speak, 

 but later forwarded his paper.) 



"HOW THE LAW SHOULD AID." 



Mr. Paul D. Cravath, Counsellor. 



I very much regret that other engagements have pre- 

 vented me from being present at the first anti-mosquito 

 convention, and from saying a few words on the topic assigned 

 to me. I think that it is now demonstrated to the satisfaction 

 of every one who has studied the subject that any community 

 can substantially rid itself of the mosquito nuisance by con- 

 certed action. The chief obstacle to the success of the move- 

 ment in most communities is the difficulty of securing this 

 concerted action. It often happens that the most troublesome 

 breeding places are controlled by persons who are either un- 

 willing or unable to incur the expense involved in treating 

 such breeding places, and very often they are unwilling to 

 permit others to do the work for them. This difficulty can 

 to a great extent be met, under the present state of the law 

 in this State, and in most other States, by the boards of health 

 taking up the subject and exercising their authority. It is 

 just as much in the province of the boards of health to require 

 persons in their jurisdiction to exercise reasonable precautions 

 to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes as it is in their power 

 to abate any other nuisance which is likely to affect the public 

 health. Indeed, in many communities, no single measure would 

 do so much to prevent sickness and misery as the prevention 

 of the breeding of the Anopheles mosquito, and in nine cases 

 out of ten the expense involved in the remedy would be in- 

 significant compared with the benefit to the public. 



