Hums, Resins, 



302 



[Oct. 1906. 



Dr. Willis: — Yes, and a little carbolic acid. The resultant mixture has 

 no smell of kerosene. Citronella hasa very penetrating smell, and the mixture smells 

 like weak citronella. but it does not evaporate so quickly as citronella does. It 

 leaves no smart like citronella, and will not evaporate for at least six or seven hours. 

 If a cooly oils himself at five o'clock in the evening he ought not to be bitten by any 

 anopheles that night, and I think the coolies would very likely be benefited. I see 

 Dr. Christy is present, and he will be able to speak as to that. 



DR. CHRISTY ON THE SITUATION OF COOLY LINES. 



Dr. Christy :— I think it is a very good plan indeed, but there are many 

 other things which may be carried out very successfully. Still, the oil method is a 

 very good one and ought to succeed. I have noticed on some of the plantations in 

 Ceylon the cooly lines are very much at fault. They might be built on the high 

 ridges with a hundred yards clear all round and away from the water. The coolies 

 might be made to carry the water from down below. One might make the lines in 

 fifty different ways so as to minimise the chances of getting malaria. 



His Excellency -.—What part of the country, Dr. Christy, have you 

 visited ? 



Dr. Christy ;— I have been to the Kepitigalla Valley district. 



His Excellency :— I think the Public Works, as a matter of fact, have not 

 suffered so much as they have at Maha-iluppalama with the coolies, and they attribute 

 it to the position of their lines and to the excellence of the lines built by them. 

 Have you heard anything about that ? 



Dr. Willis :— No, Sir. The coolies could have had their lines close to the 

 bungalow, which is a mile from the Experimental Station, but every cooly is said to 

 have preferred to go on at the Experimental Station -which is six or ten feet lower 

 than Mr. Mee's laboratory. There they can have little gardens around the house 

 owing to the fertility of the soil. There is a good deal of malaria among the coolies 

 down there, but on the other hand Mr. Mee suffers for several days in a month, so I am 

 not sure that his bungalow is very much more proof against fever than the 

 cooly lines. Of course, the fever varies with the season. Just now there is no 

 malaria and there are no mosquitoes. 



His Excellency :— Is Mr. Mee's house protected? 

 Dr. Willis :— No. 



His Excellency :— I thought an arrangement had been made to protect it. 



Dr. Willis said it was not put through, but there was a scheme for 

 building an upstair bungalow. 



mosquitoes and upstair bungalows. 



His Excellency : — One of the fallacies that exist is that mosquitoes will 

 not go upstairs. (Laughter.) I am in a position to say that they do. 



Mr. Carruthers :— We, in the Straits, believe that fallacy, and our lines 

 are built on brick pillars six feet from the ground. One of the results is that the 

 cooly uses the place underneath for his cooking, and the smoke passes through the 

 cracks in the boards. I believe, speaking with due deference to Dr. Christy, that 

 this has a certain effect in preventing insect pests by the smoke trickling through 

 the room and driving the mosquitoes away. 



His Excellency :— Yes, there is a good deal in that. 



Dr. Willis said that in Cuba, where the coolies, though very black, dressed 

 like white men and were of a higher class and more intelligent than the coolies 

 in Ceylon, they lived inside protected lines. 



