380 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 584. 



even a broadei* and more radical relief pos- 

 sible than the use of oil (which idea he dis- 

 covered to be of great practical though 

 limited results) he was the first to encour- 

 age the broader idea of drainage when he 

 observed this plan urged in the scientific 

 press, as it was nearly seven years ago, and 

 it was he who gave the necessary inspiration 

 and encouragement to practical men who 

 were interested. The death knell of the 

 mosquito then began to sound when Dr. 

 Howard inspired the carrying into effect of 

 inown resources of destriiction. To use 

 a bull, some concluded that the best of ex- 

 termination methods was to destroy the 

 mosquito before he was born and he en- 

 dorsed the idea. 



The world has moved toward practical- 

 izing scientific knowledge rapidly in the 

 last few years and this matter thus early 

 fell into line. The mind of the entomol- 

 ogist who forcefully recommended the 

 larger use of oil as a remedy was simply 

 going a step beyond his real field and ap- 

 plying his knowledge to practical uses— 

 which should be the object of all scientific 

 study and not the thing per se. And then 

 this line of thought inspired the idea that 

 if oil was good in a limited way why not 

 go further, and to the root of the matter, 

 and destroy the breeding places. The seed- 

 thought, however, had been dropped some 

 time before when a casual remark had been 

 made that a certain place, before experi- 

 enced by this speaker as unendurable, had 

 been cleared of mosquitoes by a piece of 

 commercial drainage, but it was the work 

 of the entomologist, as before stated, to 

 nurture the idea to fruitage. 



So when plain, practical men, who knew 

 little of entomology, saw that water was 

 needed to develop the pest, they were just 

 so practical, or unpractical, if you please— 

 such visionaries— as to say, let us do away 

 with all water in inhabited sections where 



the pests breed. They simply put two and 

 two together while heretofore these factors 

 had been widely separated. And so widely 

 and so long were they apart, that when the 

 union was proposed the world laughed 

 aloud, and a few of a certain caliber of 

 mind are laughing yet. 



There has been many a great idea re- 

 tarded for ages because of this spirit of 

 ridicule, and many a man has gone down 

 under such opposition who had a thought 

 which, if encouraged, would have blessed 

 mankind ages before its final acceptance. 

 We can all think of instances of this. In- 

 sistency often has been lacking. 



But, fortunately, the mosquito cranks 

 were as persistent as the pests themselves. 

 They kept at the subject until they reversed 

 the universal practise and they themselves 

 began to draw blood. And so, probably, 

 no crusade, which at first seemed so chimer- 

 ical, ever made such strides as has the mos- 

 quito crusade, in the last three years or so, 

 until now, that which less than a score of 

 years ago began as an oiling experiment in 

 a summer resort in the Catskills has spread 

 to a crusade of drainage, filling and the 

 like; and oil, which is indispensable in 

 certain limited conditions, is now largely 

 supplemented by extensive engineering 

 operations. Now, engineers of national 

 reputation are applying to their work the 

 solid foundation laid by scientists and urg- 

 ing broad remedies upon communities and 

 cities which have been sadly injured by the 

 mosquito nuisance. 



In a report (1903) on the improvement 

 of a river in New England, an engineer, 

 whose abilities have brought him into large 

 projects in many sections of the country, 

 makes the mosquito, and hence the malaria 

 question, one of the moving causes for a 

 proposed improvement. He calls to his 

 aid a Harvard pathologist of world-wide 



