120 



death rate, the rate for the city as a whole being- fourteen per 

 one thousand, roughly, and you will find there more mos- 

 quito breeding than in any of the dense tenement areas. Now, 

 we can't inspect everybody's back yard. One of our prob- 

 lems is to handle the breeding of mosquitoes in these temporarily 

 abandoned properties in the City of New York, property that is 

 vacant for the time being. A further difficulty is to get these 

 people to feel responsible for it. You can't bring a man to court 

 if he is on a hunting trip in Norway. It doesn't affect him if the 

 company which is caring for his house is mulcted a small sum 

 in court. I do not see immediately a likelihood of eliminating the 

 home-bred, fresh-water mosquito as grown in New York last 

 summer. 



I dare say you have been told here, in parts of the city of 

 New York, a majority of the mosquitoes last summer were salt- 

 marsh mosquitoes. They are blown there by the winds from the 

 great marshes. They were carried there in trains. They were 

 brought by automobiles, and Central Park is not surrounded by 

 salt marsh, but there were many salt-marsh mosquitoes found 

 there. There is no salt-marsh mosquito breeding in the Borough 

 of Manhattan, yet Central Park had an abundance of salt-water 

 mosquitoes throughout the summer when they once got fully 

 grown and developed in the marshes to the east and south. We 

 believe that within another two years all the drainable area in 

 the City of New York will be drained except some of the ponds 

 of fresh water in Staten Island — which can't be drained — which 

 will have to be oiled for a good many years to come. With those 

 exceptions I think I can say that all the general breeding areas in 

 New York City can be, and will be, drained so as to eliminate 

 breeding so far as drainage can eliminate it. 



D'r. Becker — It is not in the regular order of business, prob- 

 ably, but the reference of Dr. Emerson to the Federal health 

 officer leads me to bring up that question, and I am going to offer 

 this as a motion. The sense of this meeting is that there should 

 be a Federal health officer, with a seat in the President's cabinet. 

 I offer that as a motion for discussion. 



