REMEDIES AGAINST 31 OS QUI TOES 173 



Mr. M. J. Wiglitmaii oiled brackish nuirslies at an Atlantic 

 coast resort for a radius of about half a ijiile, reducing 

 the mosquitoes to innoxious numbers for an entire sea- 

 son. Dr. St. George Gray, of 8t. Lucia, British West 

 Indies, used kerosene in his well and in water- jars in his 

 yard with excellent result. 



All of this work w^as done before the malaria discover- 

 ies directed the attention of European observers especi- 

 ally to the question of mosquito control. In the early 

 work of the Italian investigators the use of kerosene was 

 rather discredited, one of the reasons adduced being that 

 although kerosene is abundant and cheap in America, it 

 was not know^n to the Italians that it was extensively used 

 in this country — a pretty poor reason, but still, more or 

 less effective over there. Even Major Ross, the English 

 expert, seemed at first rather skeptical as to the value of 

 kerosene, but returned from his West African expedition 

 fully convinced of its value (Giles, 1900, pp. 76, 77), and 

 since that time the use of petroleum oils has gradually 

 become the standard treatment for mosquito-breeding 

 pools. For example, Fermi and Lumbao, the Italian in- 

 vestigators, think that one man, with one day's teaching, 

 could rid a good-sized city very largely of mosquitoes by 

 repeating ten to twelve times, through a summer of seven 

 months, the application of petroleum to the breeding- 

 places. Mr. W. J. Matheson, in the summer of 1900, 

 attained very successful results by treating an area of 

 several square miles on the north shore of Long Island 

 with kerosene, combined with certain drainage work. 

 The army regulations in Cuba provide for the treatment 



