354. MOSQUITOES OF NORTH AMERICA 
liable to prosecution on what might be in some cases grounds that would be 
trivial compared with the magnitude of the interests involved. 
The third case occurred about 1903, in Texas. The plaintiff alleged that the 
defendant, a certain railway, had constructed a large water tank or pool near 
his premises, that the water in the tank became stagnant (caused by decaying 
vegetation, etc.), producing poisonous vapors, gases, and disease-bearing germs, 
which, escaping from said pool, reached and permeated the premises of the 
plaintiff, causing foul odors and sickness. The evidence showed that since the 
construction of the pool, mosquitoes were more numerous in plaintiff's home 
than before. The railway surgeon testified that malaria was caused solely by mos- 
quitoes, and that large bodies of water, such as the defendant’s pool, would not 
produce as many mosquitoes as smaller and shallower bodies of water, and, 
therefore, that the malaria of which the plaintiff complained was probably 
derived from other sources than the railway water tank. Thus, the mosquito 
aspect was only the collateral issue in the case, introduced curiously enough by 
the defendant and not by the plaintiff. The trial was by jury and a verdict was 
rendered for the plaintiff, largely owing to the submittal to the jury by the 
judge of the issue of malarial poison caused by noxious and poisonous vapors. 
PROTECTIVE AND REMEDIAL WORK AGAINST MOSQUITOES. 
For many centuries humanity has endured the annoyance of mosquitoes with- 
out making an intelligent effort to prevent the annoyance, except for smudges, 
preparations applied to the skin, and removal from localities of abundance. And 
it is only within comparatively recent years that wide-spread community work 
against mosquitoes has been undertaken, this having resulted almost directly 
from the discoveries concerning the carriage of disease by these insects. 
As obvious a procedure as it might seem to be, the abolition of mosquito 
breeding-places is a comparatively new idea. The treatment of breeding-places 
with oil to destroy the larval forms is, however, by no means recent. As early 
as 1812, the writer of a work published in London entitled “ Omniana or Horae 
Otiosiores ” suggested that by pouring oil upon water the number of mosquitoes 
may be diminished. It is stated that in the middle of the 19th century kerosene 
was used in France in this way, while in the French quarter in New Orleans oil 
was placed in water tanks before the Civil War, the idea having possibly come 
from France to New Orleans or vice versa. 
Another early recommendation of the use of oil was given by an anonymous 
writer in the Magazin Pittoresque, vol. 15, pp. 178-182 (1846) in an article 
on the “ Mosquito and Its Metamorphoses.” The phraseology translated into 
English is as follows: “When one has recognized that the ponds or ditches 
existing close to houses are swarming with the larve of mosquitoes, one can 
immediately destroy this dangerous race by spreading on the surface a little oil, 
which extends in a very thin film and prevents the little insects from coming 
up to breathe. This proceeding is especially easy to put into practice upon the 
irrigating tanks in gardens, since it is in such places that the greatest number 
of mosquitoes develop.” 
