THE FIGHT AGAINST YELLOW FEVER. 849 



The theory was that the mosquito is the sole disseminator of ' the 

 disease. This is precisely what the United States eonnuission, np- 

 i^ointed the year before, had just proven. It had shown that all the 

 other supposed causes of contaiiion were imaginary; that a man 

 coidd sleep in the bed of a sick ])atient or of one deceased, could come 

 in contact with his fa'ces, put on his clothes, use his linen, confine 

 himself in badly ventilated rooms at a humid temi)er;itiire of 100°, 

 and leave unscathed l)v the test if he escaped the mosquito bite. The 

 extermination of the i)laiiue, then, leads to the extermination of the 

 mos(juit(). I)ut this pretension of l)anishing- such a wily enemy seems 

 foolisli at first sight. You can hardly rid a room of one little insect 

 that buzzes around, and yet they say you would rid a swampy coun- 

 try of legions of mosquitoes that abound there. 



The yellow fever Stegomyia does not breed in swamps. It has not 

 the habits of the Anophele of the marsh, the malaria mosciuito. It 

 does not live like that one, in the open country, but dwells in houses. 

 It is a domestic insect. It stays at home, is wary, and is sensitive to 

 tiie weather. Like many other mosquitoes, it never goes more than 

 500 or GOO yards away from its breeding place and journeys only 

 when its home — a vessel or a carriage — journeys. There is no need 

 to fear that the insect may be carried far by the wind, for it dreads 

 the wind. It does not trust itself outdoors when there is the light- 

 est breeze. The problem is thus simplified. It is no longer a ques- 

 tion of protecting immense areas. It is enough to protect the house 

 ;.nd its innuediate environs — the city and a limited surroundino- zone. 

 Still it would be useless to capture the insect on the wing or at rest. 

 It is permitted to complete its short life, but is not allowed to have 

 offspring. The female is prevented from laying its eggs. This is 

 i!Ccom])lished by draining stagnant water left in so many gardens 

 tind household utensils where the mosquito seeks a breeding place. 

 Hence the efficacy of the measures which forbade the people of Ha- 

 bana from keej^ing water in an}^ other way than in covered recep- 

 tacles or with a coat of oil or petroleum on top. 



The success of the measures taken l)y the American physicians, 

 (xorgas, Finlay, and Guiteras, in Ilabana was complete. Yellow 

 fever has disappeared from there. On April 4, 1904, the President 

 of the Eepublic of Cuba, in his message to the Congress, spoke thus : 



There has not been in Cuba since 1901 a single case of yellow fever not ini- 

 IHjrted. The country should know of this excellent sanitary condition, which is 

 due to tlio perfection of prophylactic measures and the vigilance of the health 

 authorities. 



Events ha])pened in the same way in Brazil. Dr. Oswaldo Cruz, in 

 charge of the organization of the cami)aign against yeUow fevei', 

 with equal success repeated at Rio de Janeiro what had been done in 



