PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 



I HAVE purposely selected the title " Mosquito or 

 Man ? " or, " Conquest of the Tropical World " for this 

 small volume. I have endeavoured in it to epitomise 

 the Tropical INledical movement, which, initiated in 

 this country by the sympathetic encouragement of 

 the tlien Secretary of State for the Colonies — 

 Mr. Joseph Chamberlain — and energetically supported 

 by the liberality of the late Sir Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G., 

 and merchants interested in the health progress of 

 tropical countries, has now spread all over the civilised 

 world. From whatever standpoint the movement is 

 regarded, the reader cannot fail to be impressed with 

 the immense success which has been obtained. 



Large numbers of better-equipped medical men 

 have been sent to the tropics, vast quantities of up- 

 to-date literature, dealing with tropical diseases, have 

 been distributed ; the public are being steadily educated 

 to understand that it is by no means an impossible task 

 to make the tropics healthy. In the field of scientific 

 research some of the most important discoveries of the 

 century have been made — discoveries not only brilliant 

 in themselves scientifically, but, on account of their 

 eminently practical bearing, of immense importance to 

 the prevention of suffering. The movement moreover 



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