292 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



The control work at Belleville was somewhat similar 

 to that at Carbondale. The greatest trouble at Belleville 

 was a sewage-polluted stream flowing through the city. 

 The city is now planning a sewerage improvement which 

 will remove the pollution from that stream and thus 

 greatly reduce Culex mosquito breeding and also make 

 possible the clearing and maintaining of the stream in 

 such condition as to promote the development of top min- 

 nows, and thus the control of all mosquito breeding. 



In addition to the mosquito-control work in southern 

 Illinois carried on under the supervision of the Division 

 of Sanitary Engineering of the State Department of Pub- 

 lic Health, mention should be made of the mosquito-con- 

 trol work carried on during 1922 along DesPlaines River, 

 within the limits of the Chicago Sanitary District. At 

 the request of persons residing in some of the communi- 

 ties in the towns along that river, a preliminary inspec- 

 tion was made of mosquito-breeding conditions and it 

 was decided that the greatest source of the trouble was 

 the sewage-polluted DesPlaines River. Because of the 

 pollution carried by that river the mosquitoes breeding 

 in it were Culex and thus not malaria carriers. 



Mosquitoes were found to be breeding in the river by 

 the millions, and the interested parties were advised that 

 satisfactory control would not be possible unless the va- 

 rious adjoining communities joined together in a syste- 

 matic control program. At this time the Chicago Sani- 

 tary District agreed to undertake mosquito-control work 

 in that area, and although the mosquito-breeding season 

 had already started before the field-control work could be 

 started, Joseph F. Base, engineer engaged by the Sani- 

 tary District to supervise the work, carried on a very suc- 

 cessful season's control and decreased the mosquito 

 nuisance in that area to a very small fraction of what had 

 prevailed during the previous years. The control work 

 was not continued by the Sanitary District during 1923, 

 but some work was done by the communities and it is 

 understood that the Sanitary District will possibly carry 

 on the work during 1924. 



The mosquito-and-malaria-control work in Illinois has 

 been merely an application of the scientific knowledge 



