84 PREVENTIVE AND REMEDIAL WORK AGAINST MOSQUITOES. 



rushes out of holes in the ground, and rises as a blue mist over the country; they do 

 not carry yellow fever, which is due to the effect of the tropical sun on rotting vegeta- 

 tion; that they do carry malaria and yellow fever, but in such small quantities that 

 they act beneficially as unpaid vaccinators of these diseases; and so on. a It is possi- 

 ble to ignore all such epistles, because where they do not contradict each other, some 

 one else is sure to contradict them; but an occasional letter in reply does good, and, 

 to speak practically but rather cynically, serves to stimulate the necessary public 

 interest in the work by keeping the letter-writers at such a pitch of exasperation that 

 they give the campaign a constant stream of gratuitous advertisement in the news- 

 papers. We are permitted to be cynical in a good cause. 



Fortunately, operations against mosquitoes can be conducted on a large scale without 

 much reference to private opinion — fortunately, because the inertia of the masses 

 regarding new pathological discoveries is so great that were we to depend upon con- 

 verting them, nothing would be done for half a century. For some inscrutable reason 

 the man in the street, though he would scarcely think of contradicting a lawyer or an 

 engineer on matters of law or engineering, finds himself quite equal to exposing the 

 absurdities of the whole medical faculty on a medical matter. 



These operations require no sacrifices or cooperation on the part of the general public. 

 Most householders are glad enough to have their mosquito larvae destroyed, and their 

 backyards cleaned up for nothing. The reader, therefore, if he sees fit to start the 

 work we are considering, may quietly proceed in it undisturbed by criticism, and may 

 calculate upon receiving not only as much public support as his work will require 

 during its progress, but the thanks of his fellows at its termination. Indeed, the 

 majority of the public will not be slow to recognize the value of his efforts, even if 

 they do not understand the scientific reasons which have induced him to make them. 



In community Avork, after making an effort to insure the absence 

 of household breeding, the attention of the superintendent should be 

 devoted to chance pools along the public roadway and to breeding 

 places in unused land. Drainage or filling are the best measures to 

 adopt. The superintendent will find it advisable to attempt first to 

 extirpate those breeding places from which the greatest numbers of 

 mosquitoes are issuing. In this way he will the sooner bring about 

 an appreciable diminution of the number of the insects, and of course 

 the sooner this diminution is noticed by the citizens the sooner will 

 popular sentiment unanimously support the work. The less populous 

 breeding places may await treatment until a later date. 



Large-scale operations requiring a considerable expenditure of 

 money must be organized very perfectly as to detail. The first 

 example of this large-scale work done in the United States was carried 

 on in the most intelligent way by the North Shore Improvement Asso- 

 ciation of Long Island, mentioned above. Here, as an initial step, 

 work was done by the superintendent and engineer, Mr. H. C. Weeks, 

 during the summer of 1901. Mr. Weeks completed the survey of the 

 large territory and estimated the cost of all operations. Another 

 survey was made by two biologists, Prof. C. B. Davenport and 

 Mr. F. E. Lutz, of the Cold Spring Harbor laboratory, then of the 

 Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. These gentlemen positively 



oNote.- — Dr. Ross states that he has seen every one of these statements, and many 

 others equally absurd, made at least half a dozen times in the British press. 



