INSECTS AND HUMAN DISEASE 107 



from the drying-up canals was very unpleasant at times. 

 The people of the neighbourhood were greatly amazed at 

 what they considered our temerity in exposing ourselves 

 freely to the night air, and many in Ostia who heard of 

 our mode of life would not believe it, until they had seen 

 it with their own eyes. The habit of the Romans of sleep- 

 ing with hermetically closed windows probably originated 

 on account of malaria, and is, of course, a perfectly con- 

 sistent one, especially if viewed in the light of our present 

 knowledge of the aetiology of this disease. 



" Our food came chiefly from Rome, with the exception 

 of bread, eggs, and sometimes milk and fowls, which were 

 obtained in the neighbourhood. The people of the 

 Campagna attach great importance to the food question 

 in regard to malaria, and therefore it was not to be 

 regretted that the difficulties of our commissariat obliged 

 us to partake of a fare very similar to that of our malaria- 

 stricken neighbours. 



" We never took quinine, arsenic, or any other kind of 

 remedy which might be considered prophylactic as regards 

 malaria. 



" The turning up of the soil is another condition which 

 has been looked upon as a source of malarial infection, 

 on the erroneous supposition that the germ is capable of 

 saprophytic life. The soil all round our hut was constantly 

 being turned over for a number of reasons, amongst which 

 was that of a possible archaeological find. We were 

 encouraged in this hope by the fact that while digging 

 for the foundations of the hut we had come upon a tomb 

 of the time of the Roman Empire. It was formed of large 

 terra-cotta slabs, and contained the skeleton of a young 

 woman. Close to the base of the skull was a coin of the 

 Emperor Commodus, evidently toll-money for the passage 

 of the Styx, which the old Romans used to place in the 

 mouths of their dead. 



"Our neighbours were certainly surprised at our im- 



