Biology and Medicine 453 



to kill the larvae in those remaining. In order to ferret out 

 every possible breeding spot more than 4,000 acres were 

 cleared of grass and 2,000 of brush annually. And as a 

 further protection against the remaining mosquitoes, and 

 other insects, about $1,000,000 were spent in screening resi- 

 dences, hotels and hospitals. As a result of this work "not 

 a single case of yellow fever was contracted during the first 

 two years under Doctor Gorgas, although there were con- 

 stantly one or more yellow-fever cases in the hospital, and 

 although the nurses and doctors were all non-immunes. The 

 nurses never seemed to consider that they were running any 

 risk in attending yellow-fever cases night and day in screened 

 wards, and the wives and families of officers connected with 

 the hospital lived about the grounds knowing that yellow 

 fever was constantly being brought into the grounds and 

 treated in nearby buildings. Americans, sick from any cause, 

 had no fear of being treated in the bed immediately adjoin- 

 ing that of a yellow-fever patient. Colonel Gorgas and Doctor 

 Carter lived in the old ward used by the French for their 

 officers, and Colonal Gorgas thinks it safe to say that more 

 men had died from yellow fever in tliat building tban in any 

 other building of the same capacity at ])i'esent standing. He 

 and Doctor Carter had their wives and children with them, 

 which would formerly have been considered the height of 

 recklessness, but they looked upon themselves, under the now 

 recognized precautions, as safe almost as they would have 

 been in Philadelphia."'^ 



Similar results were obtained in Havana during the occu- 

 pation of Cuba by the United States. Two "brigades" of 

 mosquito fighters were oiganized, one to make war on tlie 

 Stegomyia or yellow-fever mosquito in the city itself, and one 

 on the Anopheles or malaria mosquito in the suburban dis- 

 trict. The city was divided up into sections to each of which 

 an inspector and two laborers were assigned, whose duty it 

 was to see that all rain barrels were protected against mos- 

 quitoes, all cesspools oiled, and other receptacles of fresh 

 water emptied. In tiie suburbs ditches and gutters were 

 cleared of debris, new ditches dug where necessary, and the 

 little puddles of water in the footprints of cattle or horses 

 and other depressions in the field were drained, but little 

 oiling being necessary. 



Prior to the United States' occupation Havana was a pest 

 hole and a serious menace to the health of our country. Tliis 

 condition indeed was one of the factors leading up to the 

 Spanish-American War. In 1!)00 it was visited by a severe 

 epidemic of yellow fever, deaths from wliieh nuiiibere<l '.Vlh; 

 " Howard, locus citatus, pp. 431-2. 



