CHAPTER VI 



MALARIA 



IT is sad to relate that, in spite of all that has been 

 said and published on the subject of the trans- 

 mission of malaria by mosquitoes, there still remains 

 a deep-rooted prejudice in the minds of the populace 

 against "night air." The tenacity of that idea amounts 

 to superstition. There are some people who appar- 

 ently cannot possibly apprehend the fact that, as long 

 as they screen off the mosquitoes, they may sit on 

 a porch or leave the window open all night with 

 impunity. 



History of the Malaria Theory. — The connection 

 of mosquitoes and malaria, however, is not a modern 

 theory. Nuttall says that those learned old Romans, 

 Vitruvius, Columella, and Varro, mentioned this con- 

 nection nearly two thousand years ago. Dr. H. A. 

 Veazie goes farther back than that. He states that 

 he once read somewhere that some ancient Egyptian 

 physician named Mah said that " malaria was a disease 

 produced by a parasite in the blood, but the organism 

 was so small that the human eye was unable to see it." 

 How Mah, without a microscope, could evolve that 

 notion is a mystery, and the tale smacks somewhat of 

 the Sunday papers. However, Dr. Goeldi tells us that 

 the Egyptians used bed nets, at any rate, and these 



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