314 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Nov. 1, 1901. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH WHITE ANTS. 
BY A PHILIPPINES FOREST CFFICEH. 
Capt. McCabe, in charge of the Forestry Bureau 
in the Philippines, has cornmeneed a series of 
experiments to test the extent of damage done to 
wood by white ants or termites, and to learn 
remedies or checks for these tropical scourges. 
He is obtaining specimens of the wood boring 
ants and testing their damage to the various 
classes of woods grown and used here, and tlie 
tests extend also to American woods in use. To 
this end he is inviting all those interested to send 
him specimens of ants wherever they are found 
committing their injuries, and most probably his 
experiments will result in a highly interesting 
report.— 0. China Mail, Sept. 9. 

MAJOR ROSS'S ANTI-MALARIA 
MISSION. 
AN INTERESTING ACCOUNT FROM LAGOS. 
The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine received 
ou Saturday the following accouut of the progress 
of Major Ross's mission at Lagos : — 
The praiseworthy activity of the Lagos Government 
in health matters has been promiueutly brought to 
public notice during the visit of lilfijor Ronald Ross, 
r R s. of the Liverpool Tropical Medicine to the co- 
lony. Major Ross, having inaugurated his campaign 
against mosquitoes in Sierra Leone, arrived on a brief 
visit to see what was being done here in the same 
line, and received a very warm welcome. He was 
entertained at dinner by his Excellency the Governor, 
Sir William MacGreg r, and by Mr. C Tambaci, pi esi- 
denti of the Chamber of Commerce, most of the lead- 
ing people of Lagos being present ou both occasions. 
He was also conducted by his Excellency in his yacht 
to Badagry, and by Di. Henry Strachan, the chief 
medical officer, to the great native city of Ibadan, 
by the new railway, 120 miles from Lagos, 
On August 2nd at a lunch given by the Governor 
for the purpose of introducing Major Ross to 
THE LAGOS LADIES' LEAGUE, 
speeches were made which indicated the nature 
of the important sanitary efforts now being at- 
tempted in Lagos to control malaria — efforts 
which will probably soon be followed in many 
other parts of the tropical world. His Excel- 
lency remarked that there was something very ap- 
propriate in bringing together Major Ross and the 
ladies of the league, for it was quite likely 
that, had there been no Major Ross, there 
would have been no league. He felt it a great hon- 
our to have Major Ross at his table and in the colony ; 
he took a pardonable pride in presenting to him a 
society of ladies who had voluntarily come forward 
to work in the cause of humanity, and he believed 
that no other governor on the coniinent of Africa 
could produce before Major Ross a similar band of 
workers. Sir William Macgregor continued : — 
''You have seen, Sir, that Lagos is not the charnel- 
house it has often been represented. You have 
observed something of the country between this and 
Ibadan, and will have noticed that the land is fertile 
and lends itself readily to agriculture. Indeed, Sir, 
in the 30, ( 00 square miles which form this territory 
there are probably not 400 or 500 square miles unfit 
for cultivation. We are proud of our country and 
of our people. We feel that this race has taken the 
foremost place in West Africa. The Yorubas have 
shown that they are capable of attaining to a high 
degree of civilization. We hold unanimously a clear 
and concise policy. We believe that Lagos, already 
the first town in West Africa, will become a great 
city. We are of opinion that our energies must be 
devoted to three great undertakings in order to 
work out the future of the country — 
RAILWAYS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND 
SANITATION. 
You have seen that we have 122 miles of railway now 
working to Ibadan— a city of 150,000 souls. That rail- 
way must be extended towards the interior. We are 
alive to the fact that in the ex ensive province of North- 
ern Nigeria there lies a grea', a magnificent Hinterland, 
of which Lagos is the natural inlet and outlet. There 
are no other European possessions in West Africa 
which can claim to have behind them a population 
of 20 millions. We see clearly that military and 
commercial invasion of this great country can best 
be prevented by the extension of the Lagos railway 
to Northern Nigeria. Accordingly, Sir, we shall 
never rest content until our railway arrives not only 
at the Niger but at Kano. The economic develop- 
ment of the country we are fostering by setting 
apart forest reserves ; by making numerous roads ; by 
opening model-farms ; by establishing a proper botanic 
garden for the distribution of economic plants ; and we 
are educating a similar number of the young men of the 
country in industrial pursuits. You see, Sir, what 
immense value we attach to our railway and our in- 
dustrial life. But now I must add our conviction that 
these undertakings must be carried on hand in hand 
with sanitation. The first condition of Lagos is 
improved sanitation, without which these undertakings 
will not raise the country to the pl'i.ce it should occupy. 
It is in connection with ihis point that I bring jou 
and this ladies' league together. 
"The primary object in forming this league was aa 
follows: — We have an appalling infantile mortality in 
this town. We lose 42 per cent of all our children 
before they reach one year of age. In 1899 we lost 
861 ; in 1900, 842. The principal causes of death are 
fever and bowel complaints. Fever is our great enemy. 
It v.as 
TO COMBAT FEVER BY THE ADMINISTRATION 
OF QUININE 
that the ladies' league was created. We are 
building additional dispensaries ; we are earnestly 
trying to improve the water supply, we are reclaiming 
swamps, we are delivering courses of public lectures 
on sanitation and a medical officer has been appointed 
for the sole purpose of attending the sick poor. But 
it was felt with all this that there would remain a 
residuum of the population which we should not be 
able to reach — and it was to reach it that the ladies' 
league was formed. The league today numbers 95 
members, who are the most refined and highly- 
educated ladies in the community — all animated by 
the rif;ht spirit to assist the less enlightened people 
of their country, to preach the use of quinine, the 
prevention of fever by scientific methods, and the 
cleanliness of private houses ; and that they will suc- 
ceed in doing very much good I have no doubt 
whatever." 
In introducing Major Ross, his Excellency dwelt, 
on the importance of his work in connection with 
malaria. Great Britain, Germany, and Italy had 
taken up the work. Liverpool stood pre-eminent in 
this, perhaps because it possessed Major Ross and Mr. 
A L Jones. The Romans were acquainted with the 
connection between fever and marshes, and even sus- 
pected mosquitoes. The same notion had arisen even 
in the wild- of Africa. Unfortunateb , for 20 cen- 
turies philosophers and men of science had surrounded 
and obscured the subject with unfertile hypotheses. 
The disease had been attributed to water, to earth, 
to bad air without proof. The speaker continued by 
describing the progress of research, and particularly 
the investigations of Major Ross, who first deter- 
mined with experimental exactness the mode of 
infection in malarial fever, and concluded by referring 
to the vast importance and far-reaching influence of 
his work, in the light of which steps were now being 
taken to deal with malaria. 
