. Town and city. ar the business of having itreally seems to be the occupation of the people. Thisis not strange, for to this day most of the inhabitantsfail to protect themselves from it. They believe thatmalaria is a queer mixture of dampness and warmth;that it oozes out of the ground; that it belongs to cer-tain places, as cold belongs to the north pole and heatto the torrid zone; and that no one who breathes it canescape it. In 1900 two scientific men went to that region toprove an opposite doctrine which a few other scientistsalready believed. They chose the most malarial spotin the entir
. Town and city. ar the business of having itreally seems to be the occupation of the people. Thisis not strange, for to this day most of the inhabitantsfail to protect themselves from it. They believe thatmalaria is a queer mixture of dampness and warmth;that it oozes out of the ground; that it belongs to cer-tain places, as cold belongs to the north pole and heatto the torrid zone; and that no one who breathes it canescape it. In 1900 two scientific men went to that region toprove an opposite doctrine which a few other scientistsalready believed. They chose the most malarial spotin the entire Campagna, and there they built a five-room cottage. It stood on the bank of a canal thatswarmed with mosquito wigglers or larvae, but everydoor and window of the cottage was closely screenedto keep the mosquitoes out. These facts are the ones to notice, for they are the verycenter of the experiment. When sundown came the men slipped into the cottage behind the screens, lit their 228 WHY MOSQUITOES SHOULD GO 229. Anopheles pointed for Blood Three times as large as life. Malaria mayfollow lamps, and watched the gathering of the anopheles mos-quitoes on the outside. This is the kind of mosquitothat Hves in malarial places, and it seems that theygenerally stay in hiding byday. After dark, however,they stream out in swarmsand start off on splendidhunting expeditions. So now they came tothe cottage, perched on thescreens, and peered throughwith hungry eyes. Theylonged for one square meal of human blood, but themen did not relent. They simply went off to bed andleft them there lamenting. It was easy to tell which theanopheles were, for, in standing, the end of the body-generally points upward and away from the surfaceon which they stand, while the legsdo not curl upward, although theysometimes stretch straight out be-hind. With the culex, however,—the mosquito that sings and stingsharmlessly in every land, — the endof the body points downward when he stands, and his-legs curl up
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