4 
MALARIA 
Following the incrimination of mosquitoes 
in the transmission of yellow fever and 
malaria, a keen demand arose for informa¬ 
tion relating to the life history of mos¬ 
quitoes and of measures for their control. 
In part this was supplied by L. 0. Howard 
(1900) through the publication of Bull. 25, 
N.S., of the Division of Entomology, which 
marked the beginning of an extensive lit¬ 
erature reporting the results of widespread 
research. 
From these studies it has been found 
that the various anopheline species have 
a very diverse ecology, especially exhibit¬ 
ing striking differences in the water collec¬ 
tions favorable for breeding, and as a con¬ 
sequence many of the paradoxical differ¬ 
ences in the epidemiological picture of 
malarial incidence in different parts of the 
world have been explained. These studies 
emphasize the fact that effective anti- 
anopheline work requires an extensive 
knowledge of the bionomics of local vectors, 
and that control measures must be adapted 
to the character of the local problem aris¬ 
ing from these peculiarities. 
Progress in Treatment and Prevention 
The tremendous importance of the dis¬ 
closure to European medicine that the bark 
of a Peruvian tree could cure intermittent 
fevers should be stressed (Dock 1931). 
Attention may be called to the study by 
Paz Soldan (1938), which indicates that 
the account of this event by Markham 
(1880) is historically inaccurate. Paz 
Soldan presents a document which was the 
official day-by-day account of the adminis¬ 
tration of Don Fernando de Cabrera y 
Bovadilla, the Count of Chinchon, as vice¬ 
roy from 1629 to 1639, during the greater 
portion of which period he suffered from 
repeated attacks of recurring fevers. 
Nothing in the chronicle indicates that 
his wife, the countess Dona Francisca de 
Rivera, ever suffered from malaria, al¬ 
though it appears that by the year 1639, 
the viceroy had regained good health. 
Tantalizingly, the narrative does not dis¬ 
close whether he had been given the pow¬ 
ders of Loxa bark, which according to the 
tradition had been sent in 1638 to Don 
Juan de Vega, his physician in Lima, by 
Don Juan Lopez de Cannizares. It is 
alleged that previously, as early as 1630, 
Don Juan Lopez himself had been cured 
of an intermittent fever by the use of the 
bark. 
The extent to which the bark came into 
general use as a febrifuge in the Americas 
during the next century and a half is 
obscure. The buccaneer surgeon, Lionel 
Wafer (1699), appears to have become 
familiar with the Peruvian or Jesuits’ 
bark in his cruise down the west coast of 
South America in 1680-81, as he speaks 
of observing it brought into Arica, Peru, 
on mule back for export. He states in 
the account of his adventures that, “We 
brought away with us several bundles of 
this bark, and I found it to be the right 
sort, by the frequent use I made of it in 
Virginia and elsewhere.” He was in Vir¬ 
ginia in 1682-83 and again in 1688-90. 
Peter Kalm (1770), the celebrated Swedish 
botanist, traveled extensively in the mid¬ 
dle Atlantic colonies in 1748-50 and men¬ 
tions the use of Jesuits’ bark in the treat¬ 
ment of ague. He states that this was 
formerly a certain remedy, but that at the 
time of his visit it was not always effec¬ 
tive, though genuine and selected. Fur¬ 
ther on he says that the bark can seldom 
be secured unadulterated, and describes 
the manner in which it was effectively 
used. According to Humboldt (1852), at 
the end of the 18th century the people of 
America (South) had a most inveterate 
prejudice against the employment of the 
different kinds of cinchona. According to 
Juan and Ullua (1806), the aversion to 
the use of the bark in Guayaquil was due 
to the notion that on account of its hot 
quality it could have no good effect in that 
climate. As early as 1776 the Continental 
Congress ordered the medical committee to 
forward 300 pounds of Peruvian bark to 
the southern department for the use of the 
troops (Blanton 1931). Jackson (1791), a 
British army surgeon attached to one of 
the regiments of Lord Cornwallis’ army, 
made extensive use of Peruvian bark in 
