30 FROM AN EASY CHAIR 



out what gnat it is which carries the malaria-germ from 

 man to man, and by most persevering experiment and 

 microscopic examination showed that it is not the 

 commoner gnat or mosquito (Culex), but the spot- winged 

 kind (Anopheles), which alone can spread the malarial 

 infection. But Major Ross is, before everything else, a 

 medical man, and his great purpose has been to apply 

 his discovery to the prevention of disease. 



Whole regions of the earth's surface are rendered 

 dangerous, or even uninhabitable, for civilised men by 

 malaria ; in other words, by the Anopheles mosquito. 

 Accordingly, Ross set to work to find the best means of 

 destroying these agents of disease. He found that the 

 Anopheles gnat breeds in natural collections of water 

 lying upon the surface of the ground in open country, 

 and not as many common varieties of gnats do, in 

 vessels and cisterns in houses. The pools frequented 

 by the malaria-carrying gnat are small and easily 

 drained. The obvious direction of science, therefore, 

 was to remove or to cover up these pools wherever they 

 were found in the neighbourhood of human habitations. 

 Although Major Ross made his discoveries in India, 

 and although he opened a campaign against malaria by 

 removal of surface pools in the Colonies of West 

 Africa "the white man's grave 11 twice visiting the 

 chief British settlements only half-hearted, incomplete 

 measures have been taken, insufficient funds have been 

 expended, and a supine executive and half-incredulous 

 officials have failed to do more than partially reduce the 

 prevalence of malaria in those regions. On the other 

 hand, where intelligent officials have understood and 

 accepted the clear results of science in regard to malaria, 

 the most striking and satisfactory consequences have 

 followed. 



At Ismailia, on the Suez Canal, malaria was almost 

 universal ; in 1866 there were in a population of eight 

 thousand, 2,300 cases. In 1897 there were over 2,000, 



