Man's Mortal Enemies 21 



The yield of quinine from the original plantings was 

 very low, but in 1865 seeds of a high-yield variety were 

 brought from South America by Charles Ledger, who turned 

 them over to the Dutch when the British Government re- 

 fused to accept them. With these seeds, the cinchona indus- 

 try was established in Java on a large scale, and that country 

 was supplying 95 percent of the world's quinine require- 

 ments when the Japs moved in, in 1942. The reason for 

 the quinine shortage during World War II is, therefore, ob- 

 vious. 



Although malaria has been with the world for a few 

 thousand years, it is more of a problem today than ever be- 

 fore. With airplanes covering thousands of miles in a com- 

 paratively few hours, malaria can easily spread to regions 

 where it was formerly unknown. Infected mosquitoes can 

 ride the airways and live to start an epidemic half way around 

 the world from where they were born. Or, a person may 

 pick up the infection in one country and not become sick un- 

 til he is back home. All we can do is try to keep the mos- 

 quitoes under control. We can't hope to kill all the mos- 

 quitoes over millions of square miles of jungles, but we 

 should do our best to keep down their numbers around our 

 cities and towns. 



Yellow Jack 



In June, 1946, our newspapers carried notices of the 

 death of a 68 -year-old man. Ordinarily there is nothing un- 

 usual about this, for every time a prominent businessman, 

 politician, or gangster dies, the newspapers dig into their 

 morgues and do their best to find a few kind words to say 

 about the deceased — and this is often a difficult task. But 



