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The Meaning of Mosquito Extermination for the People of 



New Jersey. 



BY RAI,PH H. HUNT^ M.D., PRESIDENT 01^ THE ESSEX COUNTY 

 MOSQUITO' EXTERMINATION COMMISSION. 



Just what the mosquito has meant to New Jersey in the remote 

 past, we can best judge from statements in the literature of 

 that period, and reports which have come down by word of 

 mouth. O'ur personal experiences in the recent past give us a 

 graphic idea of what the unchecked mosquito has meant to 

 others. 



We must remember that the early colonists and their fol- 

 lowers did not enjoy the benefit of well-screened houses, neither 

 was it possible for them to leave their homes at the time of 

 infestation and seek places of recreation where mosquitoes were 

 not present. 



Surely the sufferings of the colonists from, the mosquito must 

 have been almost unbearable, protected only as they were by 

 smudges and similar primitive measures. Even our well- 

 screened houses of these later days are rendered almost un- 

 habitable by a visitation of a horde of pipiens mosquitoes. 



In a paper read before this Association at its last annual 

 meeting, we attempted to draw a picture of the actual sufferings 

 of the colonists by extracting the literature. It can be readily 

 appreciated that the mosquito was a real deterrent to coloniza- 

 tion and industrial development. 



Living in an era of intensive research we cannot appreciate 

 or understand the passive attitude of accepting pests, scourges, 

 and in general the hostile manifestations of nature, without an 

 attempt at relief, yet it seems to have been the fact that peoples 

 have suffered many things which a little vision and wisdom 

 would have eradicated. 



We all know what an unenviable reputation the mosquito has 

 given our State in the past, and ''Jersey Mosquito" and -''Jersey 

 Lighting" has been used as opprobrious terms. Perhaps it is fit 

 that we who have suffered the most should take the lead in 



