1 8 The Control of Mosquitoes 



buildings were occupied by laborers who had re- 

 mained after the financial failure of the French 

 company. 



Malarial fever was prevalent among these people, 

 and they had neither the knowledge nor the means 

 to combat it. At Paraiso, in September, 1904, 

 there was a population of 350 of which 42 were 

 sick in bed. At Bohio, a village fifteen miles 

 south of Colon, blood samples were taken from 

 natives, and eighty per cent, showed malaria 

 infection. But even this poor and ignorant class 

 of people took steps to do the best they knew 

 how; they prayed for deliverance from fever and 

 shunned certain localities in which the sick-rate 

 was abnormally high as compared with the pre- 

 vailing high fever rate. 



" At Corozal, the nearest village to Panama, only 

 one house was occupied, and many colored peo- 

 ple told us that "to live there is to be sick and 

 die." 



The situation at Ancon Hospital was extremely 

 interesting. The grounds were magnificent ; there 

 were palms, beautiful crotons, and other deco- 

 rative plants near the wards and on the terrace, 

 but the insects, and especially the ants, destroyed 

 them repeatedly. The gardeners partially over- 

 came this difficulty by placing hollow earthenware 



