IN A BAT CAVE 
Showing our method of photographing bats by flashlight. 
As the flashlight powder used is 
exceedingly explosive, the expression on the face of the operator is not to be wondered at 
trusting to the supposedly enduring 
friendship of Panama or the inviola- 
bility of its neutrality by other nations, 
is much like locking the front and back 
doors while leaving those on the side in- 
vitingly open. 
Although reference to military weak- 
ness is not always subject to a frank and 
full discussion, yet the perils suggested 
are apparent to the casual observer and 
beyond concealment. If this great reser- 
voir can be broken and drained outside 
our possessions, the terminal locks left 
in easy range of guns beyond the border, 
or raiding boats concealed on lake waters 
beyond the zone, it will be entirely the 
result of not possessing territory esssen- 
tial to the military protection of the canal. 
Sanitary Reasons.—It will be unneces- 
sary to recall or describe the terrible loss 
of life suffered by the French in the ef- 
fort to construct the canal or the propor- 
tionately greater loss in building the 
Panama Railroad many years preceding. 
All the conditions entering into such epi- 
demics were understood by our sanitary 
authorities when the more active work 
was begun, and the methods and regula- 
tions prepared by Colonel Gorgas re- 
sulted in maintaining throughout the en- 
tire period of construction a lower mor- 
tality rate than in many of the States. 
Having found that the principal 
scourges of the Isthmus—yellow fever 
and malaria—were spread by two indige- 
nous forms of infected mosquitoes, ef- 
forts were directed toward destroying 
the breeding places of such in the neigh- 
borhood of construction towns or wher- 
ever workmen were exposed, by draining 
the swamps or spraying the stagnant 
waters with crude oil, while all dwellings 
