334 



NA TURE 



[March i6, 1922 



TrrjkiKOTrj^ by quantupUcUy ; or even to be referred 

 to that very curious imaginary discussion of this very 

 point, by Euchd, Eutocius, Theon and the rest, in the 

 pages of Meibom's " De Proportionibus." The simple 

 fact is that Sir Thomas Heath has given us so much, 

 and it is all so good, that he makes us ask for more. 

 D'Arcy W. Thompson. 



Entomology and Malaria. 



The Prevention of Malaria in the Federated Malay 

 States : A Record of Twenty Years' Progress. By 

 Dr. Malcolm Watson, with contributions by P. S. 

 Hunter and A. R. Wellington. Second edition, 

 revised and enlarged. Pp. xxviii + 381. (London: 

 John Murray, 192 1.) ^6s. net. 



DR. WATSON'S book shows clearly the wide 

 range of scientific knowledge which is required 

 by those who work in the tropics either as physicians 



the student to recognise the appendages of the cock- 

 roach, or a section of the rhizome of a fern, but scarcely 

 qualifies him to name correctly the commonest insect 

 or plant when he sees it in the field. The need for a 

 more practical knowledge of the forms and bionomics 

 of animals, and especially of insects, is brought home 

 to one again and again during the perusal of Dr. 

 Watson's very interesting and readable book. 



It was indeed no light task which confronted the 

 author when in 1901 he began his service in the Malay 

 States. The new knowledge of the mode of trans- 

 mission of malaria by certain mosquitoes had to find 

 a practical application in a country where physical 

 conditions are very diversified and little or nothing 

 was known about the insect carriers. Large com- 

 mercial interests, too, were involved, and no doubt 

 there were many interested persons ready to criticise 

 adversely any failure, and reluctant to spend money 



Fig. I. — Kapar Drainage Scheme. One of the main drains, with rubber-trees on both sides. From 

 "The Prevention of Malaria in the Federated Malay States." 



or as sanitarians. It is unnecessary nowadays to 

 insist upon the importance of the control of malaria 

 in the development of those vast areas from which is 

 derived so much of the food supplies and raw materials 

 of manufacture of all civilised countries, but only 

 those who have had practical experience of the methods 

 used to deal with the disease can appreciate how many 

 and how varied these must be. 



Until about the middle of the nineteenth century 

 medical men were almost always naturalists as well, 

 and it is regrettable that the old traditional associa- 

 tion of medicine and natural science has been so largely 

 broken off. In modern times the older teaching of 

 natural history has been replaced by an inadequate 

 course of so-called biology which may, indeed, enable 

 NO. 2733, VOL. 109] 



on what they regarded as the doctor's theories. Here 

 were the most favourable conditions imaginable for 

 mosquitoes — an equable, warm, and moist climate ; 

 a large rainfall almost equally distributed throughout 

 the year ; abundance of pools^ swamps, and hill- 

 streams. As to the prevalence of mosquitoes, Dr. 

 Watson relates that, in a small patch of jungle in the 

 town of Klang, Anopheles umbrosus, a natural carrier 

 of malaria, was present in such large numbers that 

 three persons caught about two hundred in a quarter 

 of an hour " and simply could not stand the biting 

 any longer." At the same time, three other species 

 of mosquitoes were present " in considerably greater 

 numbers than the anopheline, so it can be imagined 

 a quarter of an hour in that jungle was unpleasant." 



