110 PREVENTIVE AND REMEDIAL WORK AGAINST MOSQUITOES. 



sent out for the purpose, and this was followed by a systematic 

 introduction of screens in windows and doors; (2) filling in of the 

 smaller breeding places and the drainage of the pond; (3) the seclu- 

 sion of every malarious patient by netting and otherwise from the 

 bite of mosquitoes, so long as he had germs in his capillary blood. 

 The results were as prompt as they were gratifying. Not a single 

 new case of malaria developed ; Anopheles disappeared entirely from 

 houses where it had been previously a night terror, and Culex was 

 greatly diminished in numbers. 



Another interesting case has been described by Rev. William 

 Brayshaw, of Chaptico, Md. Chaptico is situated at the head of a 

 widespreading bay or elbow of the Wicomico River, about 8 miles 

 from the point where this river enters into the Potomac at Rock 

 Point. The tide is ordinarily about 2 feet at the full. The village 

 rests between two hills of 80 or 90 feet elevation. The valley is 

 almost flat, and consists of marshy pools, in which the mud or ooze 

 can easily be pierced with a strong pole to a depth of several feet. 

 Three of these pools or ponds are directly in the rear of the house 

 known as the rectory, in which he resided with- his wife on June 24, 

 1890. Neither of them had ever had malaria or fever before, but 

 the mosquitoes were so numerous that it was impossible to take rest 

 at night for a while. On July 11 his wife was taken with malaria, 

 and on September 4 had to be removed to the mountains. Mr. Bray- 

 shaw himself was sick most of the time, and every house in the vil- 

 lage had from one to ^ve persons suffering from malaria. He pro- 

 posed ditching and drainage, but there was no money, and every- 

 body laughed at the idea, as many of the citizens had lived there 

 from childhood to an advanced age. There did not seem to be suf- 

 ficient fall to carry off the "effete matter." On May 19, 1900, he 

 gained the consent of the property owners to ditch through their 

 land a distance of 560 feet to Chaptico Creek. -He paid for this 

 himself. The expense was about $40. The result he sums up as 

 follows : 



During the summer of 1899, from May to October, the mosquitoes were so numerous 

 that life was a burden during the night, and they were so small that nets seemed to 

 have no effect upon them. From May to October, 1900, quite a number visited us, 

 until June 12, when they disappeared, and we were free from them until the last six 

 days in September, when I found a local cause for their breeding. In the summer 

 of 1899 every house in the village had from one to five persons sick with chills and 

 fever and other malarial troubles; doctors in constant attendance. In the summer of 

 1900 there were only two sporadic cases of chills, both caused by negligence or inat- 

 tention to ordinary caution. Everyone in the village seems quite free from malaria 

 since July 10. 



Later some excellent work was instituted through the combined 

 action of the boards of health of Cambridge and Belmont, Mass., to 

 improve the sanitary condition of the cities of Cambridge, Somer- 



I 



