SKPTEMBtK IS, lilO.t.] 



SCIENCE. 



381 



cession of school problems in geography ami 

 roniparison from a wide range of experience. 



It is expected that the school will l>e con- 

 tinued in 1904 with the same faculty. All 

 the courses given this year, and some addi- 

 tional work, will be offered. A. P. B. 



■////; MAJ^AIi'IA EXPEDITlOy TO TUB 

 GAMBIA. 



Ax abstract in Nature states that the Liver- 

 jKiol School of Tropical Medicine has issued 

 a report on the prevention of malaria in the 

 tropics with reference to the Gambia. Dr. 

 Dutton, who conducted the expedition shows 

 how a great deal of disease is due to the want 

 of knowledge of the nature of malaria, and 

 that during the dry season the residents are 

 largely to blame for the appearance of the 

 disease. The object of the expedition- was to 

 investigate the conditions under which 

 mosquitoes were propagated in the town of 

 Bathurst and at the principal stations of the 

 colon.y, and to suggest methods of destroying 

 these insects. Malaria was found to be pre- 

 valent in the colony; SO per cent, of the 

 native children examined harbored malaria 

 parasites in their blood. The liability to in- 

 fection of the Europeans commences soon after 

 the rains are established, lasting up to the end 

 of Xovember. The various breeding jilaces 

 of mosquitoes are described in detail in chap- 

 ter IV. of the report, particular mention being 

 made of the wells, canoes, boats, lighters, cut- 

 ters on the foreshore, and of the grass-clogged 

 trenches in many of the streets, which together 

 supply Bathurst with the majority of its 

 mosquitoes during the wet season and for 

 part of the drv season. The number of 

 mosquito breeding places present in com- 

 pounds was found to vary with the social 

 position of the occupier. They increased in 

 extent and number in proportion to the wealth 

 and position of the occupier. 



In one factor.v yard were found six barrels, 

 ami in the garden there were seventeen tubs 

 and eight small wells, all breeding quantities 

 of Culex, Steoomyia, and Anopheles mos- 

 quitoes. Besides these dry season breeding 

 places, discarded domestic utensils were scat- 

 tered about the yard and garden which, in the 



Wft season, would have acted as breeding 

 places. It is jwinted out that during the dry 

 -reason, from November to May, natural breed- 

 ing places for mosquitoes in Bathurst cease 

 to exist, and from this period the peoi)Ie breed 

 uio-iquitoes solely in their own compounds. 



In chapter V., which deals with the preven- 

 tion of malaria in Bathurst, a campaign 

 against the mosquito is advocated; the town 

 is judged especially suitable for its success. 

 Thus Bathurst is situated on a practically 

 isolated piece of land surrounded on nearly 

 all sides by a broad expanse of sea. water. The 

 amount of land to be dealt with is compara- 

 tivel.v small, viz., about a square mile. The 

 surface is fairly level, sandy, absorbing water 

 readily. In this area the breeding places of 

 mosquitoes are a known (piantity, the arti- 

 ficial, or those made by man, being in excess 

 of the natural. The rainfall is very small, 

 and rain occurs only during four out of the 

 twelve months of the year. 



The probability of the introduction into 

 Bathurst of yellow fever from Senegal is 

 pointed out as another reason for attacking 

 the mosquito. The e.xpedition was informed 

 by His Excellency, the acting Governor, H. 

 if. Brandford Griffith, of the intention on the 

 part of the Colonial Government to enter 

 upon a crusade against the mosquito, and on 

 Xovember 18 the preliminary removal of rub- 

 bish from houses and compounds began ; a 

 sanitary inspector was appointed, and received 

 special instruction in the work. Under him 

 worked a gang of laborers, and at the time 

 of the departure of the expedition (January 

 10) ;i6:? houses and compounds had been in- 

 spected. From these 131 cartloads of old tin 

 pots and other rubbish were removed. On 

 the return of His Excellency the Governor, 

 Sir George C. Denton, the inspector and a 

 sufficient staff of laborers were appointed per- 

 manently, and a grant of £200 per annum 

 was given for the special anti-mosquito work. 

 Anti-mosquito regidations have been drawn up 

 bv the Colonial Government. 



An appendi.\, by Mr. F. V. Theobald, is 

 attached to the report; in it are described the 

 various species of mosquitoes collected by the 

 expedition, many of which were new to science. 



