623 



Unlike many diseases, it is essentially endemic, a local malady, 

 and one which unfortunately haunts more especially the fertile, 

 well-watered, and luxuriant tracts precisely those which are of the 

 greatest value to man. There it strikes down not only the indi- 

 genous barbaric population, but, with still greater certainty, the 

 pioneers of civilisation the planter, the trader, the missionary, and 

 the soldier. It is therefore the principal and gigantic ally of Barba- 

 rism. No wild deserts, no savage races, no geographical difficulties 

 have proved so inimical to civilisation as this disease. We may also 

 say that it has withheld an entire continent from humanity -the 

 immense and fertile tracts of Africa. What we call the Dark Con- 

 tinent should be called the Malarious Continent; and for centuries 

 the successive waves of civilisation which have flooded and ferti- 

 lised Europe and America have broken themselves in vain upon 

 its deadly shores," 



" We cannot obtain accurate figures to give us some indication 

 of the mortality and sickness-rate amongst the populations of 

 Africa. We can, however, agree with Ross that Africa is to-day 

 what it is, as compared to Europe, because of its malaria-bearing 

 mosquito. But we can well imagine that such figures would be 

 gigantic if for a moment we consider what malaria does in India. 

 Here we have available data, and they show that there were 4 919 591 

 deaths recorded under the word Fever in 1900, the vast bulk of 

 which was no doubt of malarial origin. Taking next the military 

 population, out of a total force of 305 927 in 1900, there were 102 640 

 cases admitted into hospital, suffering from malaria (i). 



Figures like these give the world some idea of the magnitude 

 and importance of antimalarial mosquito warfare ; they are figures 

 only exceeded by the mortality which was common in the fifties 

 in the West Indies from yellow fever, when the mortality sometimes 

 reached 69 per cent amongst the soldiers! No wonder, then, that 

 antimosquito work is attracting increased attention all over the 

 world. The method of attack is simple and the victory to be gained 

 is overwhelming, as the narrative of the campaigns against malaria 

 abundantly proves. 



" Historically, the first antimalarial work was undertaken by Ross 

 when in India, and subsequently in Sierra Leone. He organised 

 mosquito brigades to do away with the breeding places of the 

 anophelines, to drain the land, or oil the pools, not every patch 

 of water, however." 



( i) Ross, '* Researches on Malaria, " 1905. 



