134 Insects and Disease 



people of the French quarter refused to cooperate. 

 At last the city in desperation appealed to the 

 President for aid. Surgeon J. H. White and a 

 number of officers and men of the United States 

 Public Health and Marine Hospital Service soon 

 took charge of the work. This was continued 

 along the same lines as before with the same ob- 

 ject in view. But with the coming of the regulars 

 the work was more systematically and thoroughly 

 done. Every case of fever was treated as though 

 it was yellow fever and every precaution taken 

 to prevent mosquitoes from biting such a patient. 

 The houses in which the fever occurred were 

 thoroughly fumigated to kill any mosquitoes that 

 might be there, and the neighborhood was thor- 

 oughly searched to find any places where the mos- 

 quitoes might be breeding. So confident were the 

 authorities that the mosquito was the sole cause of 

 the disease spreading, that besides fighting it no 

 other work was undertaken save to make the sick 

 as comfortable as possible. 



Finally the results began to be apparent. The 

 number of cases gradually diminished, until long 

 before frost came the city was free from the great 

 pest. Yellow fever will doubtless appear from 

 time to time in New Orleans and other cities, but 

 there is, at least there should be, small danger of 



