Mosquito Prophylaxis. 173 
After feeding on a man or animal the female usually sleeps gorged all day 
on the wall of a room or other quiet place. Every few days she has to fly back 
to the water where she lived as a larva, or other suitable spot, to lay her 
eggs and then returns to feed again on blood. Hence mosquitoes that feed 
on human beings generally breed close to houses, especially if people are too 
lazy or too ignorant to do away with these breeding-places. 
A SENSE oF RESPONSIBILITY. 
Having briefly sketched the life history of our friend the enemy we next 
come to the question often put to my colleague, Dr. Duncan, and myself— 
* Why should I worry about the mosquitoes, they do no harm, and don’t bite 
me.’’ I will not discuss the selfishness of the person whose only reason for not 
waking up and doing smething to mitigate an evil is because he personally is 
not apparently inconvenienced.. But he 7s affected, ask him if he ever get 
“ fever ’’ or “ big leg,” and he says “‘ yes ’’at once. Well! I always say that’s 
all I want you to admit, because if I now prove to you that these diseases are 
caused by mosquitoes, you will, perhaps, wake up to a sense of your responsi- 
bilities, and help the authorities in their efforts to eradicate the pest in George- 
town, because it can be done, and has already been done in other towns less 
favourably situated than Georgetown. It’s no use all of us sitting down quietly 
and doing nothing, simply saying, ‘‘ Oh, the Government or the Town Council 
should see to it ’—each individual must do his best to help the authorities to 
his utmost, and later I hope to point out the means by which this can be done. 
The mosquito has been suspected from the very earliest times of carrying 
disease, and Herodotus, speaking of winged serpents carrying disease, doubtless 
referred to these insects—and preventive measures were used by the ancient 
Greeks and Romans, such as mosquito nets and the anointing of the body with 
pungent fats and oils. In fact the common word canopy is derived from the 
Greek word for a gnat. 
T do not propose to go ints detail as to the proofs that mosquitoes carry 
disease, owing to limitea time, but it has been definitely proved up to the very 
hilt, heyond all possibility of dispute, that certain diseases are carried by mos- 
quitoes, 
Tur TRANSMISSION OF MALARIA. 
The mosquito has been definitely proved to be necessary for transmission 
of malaria from one subject to another. The proofs are incontrovertible, Ross 
setting the final seal upon them by his work in India, although it was suspected 
so far back as 1600 that in mosquitoes lay the solution of our difficulties with 
regardto many tropical diseases. A pupil of Pasteur’s, by name Laveran, was 
the first to demonstrate the presence of the malaria parasite in the blood. We 
have in British Guiana here evidence that this question was also being thought 
out. Dr. Beavperthuy, who came to this colony to investigate yellow fever, 
sacrificed his life to the cause, ard lies buried at the Penal Settlement, says in his 
writings on yellow fever, “the disease develops itself under conditions which 
favour the development of mosquitoes, the mosquito plunges its proboscis 
