Reports of the trypanosomiasis expedition to the Congo, 1903-1904 of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Medical Parasitology / J. Everett Dutton, John L. Todd and Cuthbert Christy; with a comparison of the trypanosomes of Uganda and the Congo Free State / by H. Wolferstan Thomas and Stanley F. Linton; and supplementary notes on the tsetse-flies (genus 'Glossina', Wiedemann) / by Ernest E. Austen. Bound together with.

  • Dutton, Joseph Everett, 1877-1905.
Date:
1904-1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Reports of the trypanosomiasis expedition to the Congo, 1903-1904 of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Medical Parasitology / J. Everett Dutton, John L. Todd and Cuthbert Christy; with a comparison of the trypanosomes of Uganda and the Congo Free State / by H. Wolferstan Thomas and Stanley F. Linton; and supplementary notes on the tsetse-flies (genus 'Glossina', Wiedemann) / by Ernest E. Austen. Bound together with. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    but insect life generally, was remarkably scarce, house flies being so uncommon that in most parts of the town it was difficult to secure specimens. It is said that tsetse flies are to be found in the bush, at a short distance from Sekondi, and it is undoubtedly the case that horses and cattle cannot be kept there, so that this absence of house flies is probably an indirect out- come of the presence of the tsetse, on account of the absence of dung and stable litter, which are as necessary to the breeding of common flies as water is to that of mosquitoes. On this account the tiy-proof chicks (mats formed of finely split bamboo), which are indispensable to comfortable existence in most hot countries, are quite needless here. Another point in the natural history of this region, which bears on the question of the propagation of malaria, is the singular absence of the semi-domesticated animals that insist on sharing the habitations of men, in the prolific climates of most of the hotter countries of the world. In India, last year, I was much struck, when examin- ing a considerable number of gorged mosquitoes, to find that only a very small proportion of the insects had attacked the inmates of the bungalow, as by far the larger proportion were filled with the blood of birds, and, in some cases, of lizards. Now, on the West Coast, within the houses, there are none of the birds, lizards, squirrels, civet cats, etc., that swarm in and about human habitations in, I believe, most similar climates, and the result is that these house mosquitoes must needs attack man, or stay hungry, so that a com- paratively small number of mosquitoes will perform a larger amount of duty in the transmission of malaria. On this account the real scarcity of the insects might be expected to produce a sense of false security, for the actual facts of the case are such that it is easy to understand anyone not specially trained to search for them, asserting the entire absence of mosquitoes ; and it speaks well for the sound sense of the inhabitants, that although one can sleep in perfect comfort without mosquito nets, as far as ordinary annoy- ance is concerned, it was found that their use, as a protection against malaria was almost universal among the European part of the poDulation. With the exception of the lagoons, the only possible breeding-places are the numerous water tanks, but there is a regulation in force that all of these shall be kept carefully covered, and this is enforced with such care by systematic inspection on the. part of the health officer, that even in the native part of the town all tanks are provided with a cover of some sort. No doubt, in many cases, the covers do not fit as well as they might, and we were shown by one of the medical officers instances of how small a defect will serve to allow the passage of mosquitoes, but these cases were distinctly exceptional. Some time ago I noticed in a periodical a reference, which I cannot now trace, to a simple form of cover for water butts, devised by one of the Colonial medical officers of this coast, the adoption of which might very well be insisted upon by municipal regulation. The contrivance is described as being constructed of a circular piece of canvas or sacking, spread loosely over a heavy iron ring, such as a barrel-hoop ; and, from the nature of the case, must securely close the top of the water cask over which it is placed. The objection alleged to its adootion appears to be the difficulty of contriving a simple way of locking it on to the cask ; for water is so precious a commodity at times that security against theft is essential, but it ought not to be difficult to overcome