INSECTS AND DISEASE 229 



By such methods both malaria and yellow fever have been 

 stamped out in many regions formerly very dangerous. The chief 

 obstacle to the completion of the Panama Canal by the French 

 was the awful death rate due to these diseases. Now, with proper 

 sanitary measures, the canal zone has a lower death rate than 

 New York City. Because of the modern knowledge of disease 

 transmission and control as applied by Colonel W. C. Gorgas, 

 the completed canal stands as a monument to American health 

 science as well as to American engineering. The consequences of 

 heroic experiment have been far reaching in other notable plague 

 spots. Central America, West Indies, and the Philippines are 

 now healthful regions. New Orleans, formerly scourged by epi- 

 demics of yellow fever, is now almost free from this dreadful malady. 



A Biologic Victory. One of the most brilliant chapters in the 

 history of the war against disease recounts the work of four Ameri- 

 can Army Surgeons in the conquest of yellow fever. 



In 1900, Doctors Reed, Carrol, Lazear, and Agramonte were 

 sent to Cuba to study this disease which had always been a scourge 

 in the West Indian region and was now spreading among our 

 soldiers. They suspected a certain kind of mosquito as the carrier, 

 but could not test their theory on animals, as only human beings 

 have yellow fever. So they decided to try it on themselves, and 

 allowed mosquitoes, which had bitten yellow fever patients, to 

 bite them and infect them with the deadly germs. Carrol was the 

 first to be ill, but after a long and painful sickness, finally recovered. 

 Lazear was the next to come down with the disease and he died 

 Still the experiments went on, despite the terrible risk, and there 

 were many new volunteers. Two others were selected, a soldier, 

 Kissenger, and a civilian, Moran. Both insisted that they receive 

 no pay, as they willingly offered their lives for the benefit of 

 humanity. Both men recovered after severe illness, but Kissinger 

 was permanently disabled as the result of his heroism. 



Based on the work of this gallant band of soldiers of science, 

 they were able to prove that the mosquito was the only carrier of 

 yellow fever, and to propose means for its control. An active 

 campaign was begun at once and in 1901 only eighteen deaths 



