TENTH ANNUAL EEPORT OF STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 59 



Following are quotations from some of these articles : 



In the magazine number of the "Outlook" for September, 1912, 

 under the title "A Hero of Peace," Alfied C. Reed of the United 

 States Health Service gives an account of the death of Dr. McClintic 

 and comments on the disease, 



"For many years past in the States of the Rocky Mountains 

 there has been known a strange disease, which every spring has 

 claimed a fresh and increasing toll of victims. Rocky Mountain 

 spotted fever was first noted in the Bitter Root Valley in Montana 

 in 1873. Up to 1902, about two hundred cases were observed, and 

 in recent years it has spread to adjoining states, until the entire 

 Rocky Mountain division is affected. The mortality of the disease 

 varies inexplicably from 90 per cent in Montana to 2 per cent in 

 Idaho. Its greatest virulence has been in the Bitter Root valley, 

 along the eastern slopes of the magnificent snow-clad Bitter Root 

 Mountains. A wide, pleasant valley is here, fertile and inviting, 

 with a river running through it. The eastern side, from the river 

 to the rolling foothills, is populous and prosperous. The western 

 slope, from the mountains to the river, has been a dangerous pest 

 spot. The explanation lies in the wood-ticks. They infest the 

 entire valley, but only the ticks on the slope of the western moun- 

 tains are infected with the virus that causes spotted fever. These 

 wood-ticks attach themselves to live stock, as well as to rodents, 

 such as gophers, squirrels, and rabbits. If infected, they transmit 

 the disease to human beings through their bite. 



"Tick fever is an overwhelmingly severe disease. It has many 

 points in common with typhoid and typhus fevers, and at one time 

 was supposed to be akin to Japanese 'river sickness,' the Tsutsuga- 

 mushi disease. It has been studied for over a decade by skilled 

 observers, especially in the United States Public Health Service. 

 In 1911 the Montana State Legislature made an appropriation for 

 continuing the work which had been begun by Dr. Ricketts, and 

 Past Assistant Surgeon T. B. McClintic of the Public Health Ser- 

 vice, was sent to the Bitter Root Valley. After familiarizing himself 

 with the conditions. Dr. McClintic decided on two lines of procedure 

 — the eradication of the wood-tick, and the laboratory study of the 

 disease. The tick season is chiefly in April and May, when the 

 snow is melting, and at this time each year spotted fever appears. 



