MOSQITITO VERSUS MIASM 21 



was infectious or not. These observations showed that 

 yellow fever could not be communicated in that way. 



We are wiser now that we have the true facts 

 before us ; but we must freely confess that the medical 

 men of those days must have been both puzzled and 

 awestruck to find strong men struck down by the 

 fever at the rate of 69 per cent. It was not from 

 want of good food or water, or accommodation. 

 No, they were struck down by some unseen hand, 

 and medicine said that that hand was the miasm. To- 

 day we know it to be the mosquito ; and whereas 

 formerly, acting on the miasm theory, not one life was 

 ever saved, to-day, armed with the new knowledge, 

 we visit the miasmatic countries with the same feeling 

 of security that we do when we pay a visit to the 

 Continent. But did no one in the days gone by stand 

 forth and try to stem the tide of prejudice and tradi- 

 tion ? Were there philosophers who saw something 

 dangerous in the common mosquito ? Yes, there were 

 such, as I will endeavour to show in the next 

 chapter. 



