September, 1911.] 



255 



Miscellaneous, 



tunity than Ceylon for botanical study. 

 Nor can one find any tropical country 

 with a more intelligent and progressive 



Fopulation, finer cities or more beauti- 

 ul scenery. 



One will naturally make comparisons 

 between botanical opportunity at Pera- 

 deniya and at Buitenzorg,t in Java. It 

 may be said that the establishment at 

 Buitenzovg is much older and better 

 provided with funds, but that Pera- 

 deniya is a more comfortable place to 

 live, that travelling is much less compli- 

 cated and communication more easy 

 because of the use of English by the 

 natives. In Java one must learn Malay 

 in order to communicate with servants. 

 On account of the very moist climate, 

 Buitenzorg presents a more luxuriant 

 vegetation, but this very great moisture 

 makes work harder, anil in the after- 

 noons it is practically impossible to do 

 any kind of study in the garden on 

 account of rain. To many people the 

 large number of visitors in the Buiten- 

 zorg gardens seems a detriment. The 

 place is too much "civilized." At Pera- 

 deniya, on the other hand, the number 

 of casual visitors is rather small, and 

 they do not embarrass the student by 

 their presence or their questions. It 

 will be seen that it is impossible to say 

 which of the two places will be better 

 for the student. Something depends on 

 the kind of work he wishes to do, and 

 very much depends on his work tem- 

 perament. In fact, both gardens should 

 be visited, and the length of time spent 

 in each be determined by conditions as 

 they arise. 



MOSQUITOES AND MALARIA. 



By E. E. Green. 



The mythical association of Malaria 

 with a subtle miasma liberated by 

 newly turned soil dies hard. Some 

 recent correspondence in a local news- 

 paper shows how strongly rooted is this 

 old exploded theory. It would not be of 

 much importance did it not distract 

 attention from what has been amply 

 proved to be the true causs of malarial 

 fever, and encourage neglect of the 

 proper precautions. To one who has 

 seriously studied the evidence, no doubt 

 of the correctness of the conclusions is 

 possible. To quote from one of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens Circulars ('' Mos- 

 quitoes and Malaria," Vol. I., No. 25): — 



"It would be difficult to name any 

 biological discovery that has been 



t See an article by the present writer in this 

 magazine for November, 1905. 



worked out more carefully and patiently 

 to its conclusion. The development of 

 this microscopic blood- parasite has been 

 traced, — stage by stage, first in the 

 blood of man, then through the stomach 

 and tissues of the mosquito, till it 

 reaches such a position that it must 

 inevitably enter the human system 

 when next the mosquito takes its draft 

 of human blood." 



"Negative proof of the correctness of 

 the mosquito theory of infection is 

 afforded by the fact "that Doctors Sam- 

 bon and Low lived a whole summer in 

 the deadliest part of the Roman Cam- 

 pagna, escaping infection by retiring 

 each night into a mosquito-proof hut. 

 Cell i made practical experiments on rail- 

 road employ6s in Italy. A certain 

 number of these were protected by the 

 use of mosquito-proof dwellings, and 

 almost completely avoided the fever 

 which attacked a lafcge majority of the 

 unprotected men." 



" Positive proof has been provided by 

 the well-known case of the deliberate 

 infection of Dr. Mauson's son, who per- 

 mitted himself to be bitten, in England, 

 by infected mosquitoes specially im- 

 ported from the malarious districts near 

 Rome ; with the result that an attack of 

 the typical form of Roman fever was 

 induced thereby." This is the sort of 

 work that one correspondent dismisses 

 as " bookish learning of conflicting setio- 

 logical theories." 



The correspondence referred to was 

 started by an otherwise very reasonable 

 and useful letter, on the treatment of 

 coolies, by an Indian planter. In dis- 

 cussing the causes of fever, after detail- 

 ing the symptoms (evidently those of 

 typical Malaria), the author of the 

 letter remarks : — " Excluding mosqui- 

 toes, which were not in evidence at the 

 time of the outbreaks, I put down the 

 fever to climatic conditions and to the 

 situation of the estate 1 was on, in a 

 river valley at an elevation of 2,000 feet 

 above sea level. The time of the year 

 at which the fever occurred was gener- 

 ally in April, May, and up to mid-June, 

 starting with the first heavy showers 

 cf the little monsoon. These seem to 

 have a bad effect on the soil previously 

 baked by a tierce sun from beginning of 

 December to mid-April. At night, as a 

 result, a heavy damp 'miasmic' mist 

 would surround the lines, the atmo- 

 sphere at the same Lime being so oppres- 

 sive that coolies slept in the open veran- 

 dahs and so caught chills." The italics 

 are mine, to emphasize what I believe to 

 be weak points in the argument. In all 

 such arguments against the mosquito 



