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1 
I MALARIA 
HISTORY CAUSE 
PREVENTION 
1937 GE OR GIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH 
ATLANTA, GEORGIA 
I 
_j 
 
 Fore word 
This series of articles on malaria has been prepared particular! y for the use of children attending Georgia schools in connection with classroom studies of malaria as a local problem. This material is intended to supplement any which the school may obtain through the county department of health or from other sources. 
This manual aims to arouse an interest among children in the role which the mosquito plays in causing malaria, leading up to practical knowledge of means for protecting the individual and the family <tgainst an infection by this disease, and the methods by which the .community and the public health agencies check and control its spread. 
The facts presented in this manual would of course be subject to .change as research discovers new methods of prevention, control and treatment. 
The information contained in this bulletin is revision of a bulletin prepared by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Courtesy of the T.V. A. is acknowledged. 
Georgia Department of Public Health. 
 
 MALARIA 
 
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MALARIA COSTS MONEY 
When a dust storm passes over a section of the country, carrying a~ay top soil and ruining crops to the value bf thousands of dollars we say it is a disaster and that something must be done about it. Of course a dust storm is something that everyone can see and feel, and so people realize the damage that is being done. 
Malaria affects thousands of people in the southern states and costs every year more than six hundred (600) million dollars. It causes frequent illnesses which result in much loss of time from work. Malaria lowers energy and so a person who has it can work only a part of each day; therefore, land goes uncultivated and crops are not brought to a successful harvest. 
Malaria sufferers make unsatisfactory workmen both on the farm and in the factory; therefore, business loses money in employing them. Malaria makes people nervous and unstable and results in a constant moving of people from one section to another. New settlers hesitate to move their families to areas in which malaria is common and so the population is not increased as it might be. 
Malaria thins the blood, makes people pale and causes general loss of strength and energy. Malaria keeps children from growing and because of frequent illnesses and absences from school they get behind in their work, and fail to make progress. 
All these things cost much more than most disasters and a grea.c deal more than would be required to put the malaria mosquito, which is the cause of all these troubles, out of business. When more people appreciate that malaria in a community is really a disaster, more will be done to stamp it out. 
MALARIA STILL A PROBLEM 
Malaria has been a problem of warm countries for hundreds of years and still remains so in spite of all that science has done to control this disease. 
It is believed that the downfalls of Greece and Rome were largely due to malaria infections. India and Africa have had malaria for centuries past. The disease was brought to America in the early colonial days, and has now spread throughout the southern part of the United States and is also found in some eastern, northern and western states. Malaria was one of the great problems of the Panama Canal project, and was largely solved by the work of such men as General Gorgas and Major LePrince. 
For a long time it was believed that chills and fever came from bad air from swamps, or from vapors which rose from the ground. Since 
 
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MALARIA 
 
it has been definitely proved that a certain mosquito is ,the guilty party, and that without this mosquito, malaria could not possibly spread, much progress has been made in its control. 
While an enormous amount of work his been done and thousands of dollars have been spent to stamp out malaria in the southern states, there are still about 3,000,000 cases every year. 
"CHILLS AND FEVER" 
Everyone knows that people who have malaria suffer from chills and fever. In fact "Chills and Fever" is the popular name for malaria in some places. In certain forms of malaria chills come on at fairly regular intervals of three or four days, so the person knows just about when to expect them. In other forms of malaria, chills may come at any time. These chills are directly connected with something that happens in the blood stream as a result of a bite by a malaria mosquito. 
This mosquito injects a malaria parasite, a very tiny animal, into the person's body; the parasite finds its way to a red blood cell where it burrows in and begins multiplying. When the red blood cell is as full as it can be it bursts open and releases many small parasites which in turn begin their search for homes in new blood cells. When a huge number of these blood cells burst at once and release millions of new parasites the person has a chill. The chill is followed by a fever, sometimes as high as 104 or 105 degrees. 
So we see that in malaria many red blood cells are destroyed every time a chill happens. A person who has several such attacks becomes pale and tired and too weak to do a day's work. 
Any one who has a chill should go to a doctor at once, and, if he diagnoses the cause as malaria, take treatment until the parasites in the blood have disappeared. 
EARLY BELIEFS ABOUT MALARIA 
For many, many years malaria was a puzzle to everyone. No one really knew how people got it, although it was thought that in some queer way it was connected with swamps and stagnant water. It took years of study and experimentation before Sir Ronald Ross, working in the malaria infested areas of India, found the real cause to be a mosquito. 
Some of the early beliefs about the cause of malaria were quite near the truth. For instance, it was thought by some that malaria was caused by a poison, taken into the body by drinking water from swamps, or by inhaling dust that contained the poison. In some cases decaying, water~soaked rock was supposed to cause this disease. 
 
 MALARIA 
 
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Others thought that digging in swampy ground was sufficient to cause a poisonous vapor to rise into the air. It was believed that this poisonous air penetrated to the ground floor of houses, and so many people slept up under the roof, often in intense heat, to escape the effects of this deadly vapor. 
At one time people came very near the truth when they believed that the mosquitoes took poison from the swamp and injected it into the bodies of people they bit. 
Dr. Ross was the man who found out by the use of his microscope that instead of carrying poison, as people supposed, the malaria mosquito actually carried a very tiny animal obtained from the body of someone with malaria. It was this animal that was passed on to the person bitten, thus giving him malaria. 
Since this discovery was made there has been great progress in stamping out malaria. Now it is known that anything which destroys the mosquito at any stage will cut down on the number of people suffering from malaria. So millions of dollars have been spent by countries all over the world to get rid of the malaria mosquico. Everywhere that a real fight has been carried on, the number of cases of malaria has been lessened. 
Perhaps, some day malaria will be as rare a disease as yellow fever is today, and this disease was stamped out by a campaign against a mosquito. 
MALARIA, A WORLD DISEASE 
When we think of a malaria district we are apt to have in miad the place in which we live, or perhaps some other place where a person we know had malaria. We are not apt to think of it as a world problem, altho as a matter of fact, a great many countries have to work constantly to stamp out the malaria mosquito, and so prevent the spread of the disease. 
If we were to take an imaginary trip across the map and mark with a cross all the countries in which malaria is found we would be surprised at the number of crosses and the wide geographical distribution of the disease. 
Of course, in the tropical countries we would expect to find many more cases because the climate is favorable to the breeding of mosquitoes for many months out of each year. But even in some of the northern countries where summers are quite short we find that these are malaria mosquitoes that have given people the disease. 
Let us first mark with crosses the places in which malaria is more or less of a problem. We might begin with states nearby and mark 
 
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MALARIA 
 
Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina. Then if we broaden our area we will mark North Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas and California. Then if we move south of the United States we will mark the republics of Mexico, Salvador, Panama, and Colombia, Venezuela and British Guiana. 
Next we will move to Europe and mark Greece, Italy, France, and Spain, then Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and Czechci Slovakia. Then we will move north and check Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Lithuania, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. 
Now we will travel eastward and check India, Japan, the Island of Ceylon, and the Philippines. 
Africa will show large portions in which malaria is a very great problem. It would be found that huge areas in West Africa, South Africa, Egypt and Australia have malaria cases in large numbers. 
Even the islands in the ocean have the malaria mosquito, and we find it a great problem in Porto Rico, Jamaica, and the Barbados. 
So we see that fighting the mosquito must go on the world over if we are ever to overcome malaria and make people safe against this and other mosquito-borne diseases. 
MALARIA IN GREECE AND ROME 
Malaria is at the present time one of the great problems of Greece and Italy, and thousands of dollars are being extended in these countries every year to stamp out the particular kind of mosquito which is responsible for spreading the disease. 
In the days of ancient Greece and Rome we know that the people were strong and athletic, and that they promoted as a national ideal, health and beauty, courage and strength. In those days beautiful homes were built by the wealthy people on the hills surrounding the cities, in the exact spots that since have been depopulated because of malaria. How could this change have taken place? 
We know that the early Greeks and Romans engaged in many wars which took their soldiers down into the tropical countries. When the soldiers returned home they brought with them hundreds of captives to serve as slaves in the Greek and Roman households. About this time history tells us that a sickness characterized by chills and fever began to appear and to spread more and more widely every year. The people of that time did not know the cause. They did, however, even in that early day, use mosquito nets because they believed that the bites of special kinds of mosquitoes produced signs of poisoning in the people who were bitten. 
 
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Since the cause of malaria has been known to be the bite of a special kind of mosquito, it has been thought that the slaves probably brought malaria into Greece and Rome from their tropical homes. The mosquitoes living in the marshes of Greece and Rome became infected by biting these slaves and so spread malaria to the people of these countries. 
It is thought by many historians that malaria, because of its weakening effects upon its victims, was one of the chief causes of the fall of Greece and Rome. In spite of all that has been done to combat it, malaria has remained a problem since that early infection tJ the present time. 
AFRICA, THE MALARIA CONTINENT 
When we think of the continent of Africa we are apt to think of I intense heat, huge deserts, dense jungles and wild animals. We do not always associate Africa with swamps, mosquitoes, yellow fever and malaria, although there ;,tre miles of African territory in which mosquitoes breed in great numbers and where a large part of the population has malaria. 
People who go to Africa to live and who know the danger of mosquitoes and their ability to carry not only malaria but other diseases as well, take many precautions against being bitten. 
In the first place, knowing that all mosquitoes must have water in which to lay their eggs, people are very watchful to see that there is no standing water anywhere near or in the home. Oil is put on any outside pools, rain barrels are closely covered and, because the yellow fever mosquito likes to breed right in the house, no pans or kettles of water are allowed to stand anywhere in the house. 
If possible, of course, the house is thoroughly screened. If not, nets are used over beds, usually hung on a pole stretched tightly around the bed and tucked under the mattress on all sides. 
If the whole house cannot be screened usually a part of the porch is screened so that people can sit there safely in the evening where it is cooler than it is inside. Travelers in Africa often ca~ry cotton netting and put this up around their berths in trains, on boats and in houses. 
Electric fans help to drive away mosquitoes and even carrying and waving a palm l~af fan outdoors helps to protect one against the malaria mosquitoes. 
Various kinds of liquids such as oil of cloves and cedar are used on hands and face to drive away mosquitoes. These-liquids do not last 
 
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MALARIA 
 
long because the intense heat causes people to perspire so freely that any lotion is constandy being washed off. 
People in Africa have tried wearing heavy gloves and veils around their hats when going out, especially in the evening, but these have been found to keep out air and make the heat almost unendurable. 
People living in the tropics develop a habit of watchfulness against mosquitoes and inspect their houses daily, killing any that may be found. Bed nets are kept well mended since the mosquitoes can enter ever so small a hole. 
It is by these means and constant vigilance that people living in Africa escape attacks of mosquito-borne diseases. 
HOW THE TRAVELER CAN GUARD AGAINST MALARIA 
Some time or other you may take a trip through a section of the country where people have malaria. Of course you will want to take every precaution against carrying away an attack of this disease as a souvenir of your visit. If you know about the disease and how it is caused, then you can go about planning how to avoid coming in contact with the malaria mosquito. 
First, you will stay away from the heavily infected district. Knowing that the malaria mosquito only flies about a mile from the water in which it breeds, you know that the heavily infected area will be within about a mile of the river or swamp. 
Second, you will not go out unnecessarily after sundown, because the malaria mosquito is most apt to bite then. If you do have to go out you will wear gloves and perhaps you will use some repellant on your face and neck to keep mosquitoes away. Some people use oil of cloves or pepperment, and kerosene is supposed to be quite effectual for a short time. Perhaps you will carry a fan as a means of scaring mosquitoes away. 
Third, you will never stay overnight in a house or hotel that is unscreened. Even if it is screened you will notice carefully whether the screen has 16 wires to an inch, because if it is coarser than that the malaria mosquito, which is very small, can go right through it. 
It pays for any traveler to safeguard himself against a malaria infection in these ways. These methods are simple. Many people have used them, and have found them to be successful. 
HOW MOSQUITOES ARE STUDIED 
There are many different kinds of mosquitoes in the world, all differing in appearance and habits. In the United States alone there are 135 different kinds. Some of these are the kind that bite but do not 
 
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carry organisms of disease. Others, like the malaria and yellow fever mosquitoes, are dangerous because of the disease organisms that they may carry in their bodies and that they may pass on to people in their bite. 
The malaria carrying mosquitoes differ in different countries. Some like best to breed in cool shady pools, while others breed best where the sun shines. Some prefer fresh water, while others breed in salt water. In some places the malaria-carrying mosquito is very wild, and hardly ever enters a house, while in Palestine, for instance, the malaria mosquito enters houses freely. In some places it is found that the mosquito ordinarily carrying the malaria parasite bites only animals and will not touch people at all. 
Because of these many differences in mosquitoes and their habits, mosquitoes must be studied before plans can be made to stamp them out. Much of this study is done by the use of a microscope and sometimes the mosquito is dissected in order that the malaria parasite may be located. 
To help people to know the malaria-carrying mosquito found in this country, men from the U. S. Public Health Service catch mosqui'toes, identify them and then mount them in small glass bottles. These bottles are then sent to other parts of the country for people to examine and to study. 
The mounting of the mosquito is done like this. First the mosquito is caught in some way that will not injure the wings or legs. It is given a whiff of ether or chloroform and is then mounted on a steel pin driven into a cork. A charge of electricity is sent through the pin, which makes the wings and legs spread as if the mosquito were ready to fly. The mosquito is put into a glass bottle, the cork is screwed in tightly and the bottle is sealed securely so that ants or other insects can not get in and eat up the mosquito. Usually, a male ...uJ fema.le moquito are mounted in the same bottle. 
A study of these specimens with a magnifying glass helps one to know the characteristics of the particular mosquito which in this country carries the parasite of malaria. 
 
THE EGGS OF THE MALARIA MOSQUITO 
The female malaria mosquito may lay a thousand eggs each season. She usually lays as many as 120 at a time and of course may lay several batches each summer. In order to lay the eggs the mosquito must obtain a blood meal by biting some person. That is the reason this mosquito hunts so eagerly for a tiny opening or broken place in a screen where she can get in and have her dinner. These mosquitoes have a 
 
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very keen sense of smell which guides them to the place where there is a human being. 
She much prefers to lay her eggs in clean, still water, where grass grows along the edges. She sometimes lays her eggs in the watery holes left by the feet of cattle. If she cannot find such favorable surroundings she will occasionally lay them in dirty water, or in artificial containers such as water barrels and old dipping vats, if these have a green mossy growth on the inside. 
The eggs float on the surface of the water and look somewhat like particles of soot that might have fallen there. Sometimes the eggs group themselves together into beautiful patterns quite differentlv than the eggs of other kinds of mosquitoes. 
In warm weather it usually takes from one to two days for the eggs to hatch out into tiny little wiggle tails, which is the first step in the development from the egg to the mosquito. Sometimes the female mosquito hides away in some protected place over the winter and lays her eggs early in the spring. These eggs usually give us our first crop of mosquitoes each year. 
THE MALARIA MOSQUITO WIGGLE TAIL 
The wigglers of the malaria mosquito are so different in appearance and habits from the wigglers of most other mosquitoes that every one can easily learn to know them. At the wiggler stage this mosquito is most easily destroyed, so anyone who recognizes that these wigglers are breeding in the neighborhood will want to report it to the public health authorities or take steps to destroy them at once. 
The wiggler of the malaria mosquito has a straight body and floats on the top of the water like a tiny stick. Unlike most other wigglers it eats anything that it finds on the surface. It is for this reason called a top-feeder. The fact is made use of by engineers when they scatter paris green dust on the surface of ponds in order to poison the wigglers. Farmers who stock ponds with gambusia fish also make use of the fact that these wigglers remain on top of the water. Gambusia are top feeders too and so eat the wigglers as fast as they find them. 
When disturbed most mosquito wigglers dive to the bottom of the pond. The malaria mosquito wiggler scoots backwards in short quick jerks and only goes to the bottom when it is very much alarmed. 
The next stage of the malaria mosquito wiggler comes when it turns into a tumbler which has a rather roundish body with a tail, and which dives actively in the water for a short time before turning into a mosquito. 
 
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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MALARIA MOSQUITO 
The mosquito that is responsible for carrying and spreading malaria in this country is a delicate slender insect with long legs and spotted wings. The male mosquito has bushy plumes on his head and can be distinguished in this way. The male is not responsible for carrying malaria, however. He lives on grasses and vegetable and fruit juices and does not bite people. 
The malaria mosquito has a peculiar way of resting that is different from most others. For this reason she is sometimes called an acrobat because when sitting down her body is pointed at an upward angle with her hind legs up in the air. 
The female malaria mosquito rests during the day time in dark shady places. At sundown she comes out to feed and so she is most dangercus at night. She is very shy and easily frightened so she does most of her biting while people are asleep. 
Her bill is very fine and delicate and so her sting is not painful. She does not sing loudly as some mosquitoes do, but makes a very low soft sound which does not waken people readily. 
The female malaria mosquito is the one that carries a very tiny animal or parasite in her body. The mosquito gets the parasite from a person who has malaria. She keeps it for a while in her body and when it has developed to the right point she gives it again to some person whom she bites. It is this little parasite that causes people to get malaria and no insect but this female mosquito can carry it from one person to another. 
When more and more people get to know this interesting insect and destroy it promptly, the number of cases of malaria in the southern states will steadily decrease. 
HOW TO STUDY THE MALARIA MOSQUITO IN A SCHOOL 
A study of the malaria mosquito will make a person become interested in mosquitoes in general and in knowing the serious consequences that may result from one close contact with a mosquito that has become infected. 
The best way for a class to observe the mosquito is to have her right in the classroom. This can be done in several ways, but I shall tell you of a way that was used very successfully a short time ago in a school that I know about. 
Not far from the school was a pond. The sanitary officer who knew that the pupils were interested in learning more about mosquitoes brought to the school a pailfull of pond water in which there were many mosquito wigglers. He told the pupils that there were at least 
 
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two kinds of wigglers in the pail, one kind being those which turn into 
 
pest mosquitoes and who bite but do not carry disease, the other kind 
 
those which turn into the dangerous malaria-carrying mosquito. He 
 
did not tell them which was which so the students hunted for a descrip- 
 
tion of these and after finding it they decided they would separate the 
 
two kinds of wigglers and see what happened. 
 
So they got two Mason jars and two lamp chimneys of a size to fit 
 
over the tops of the Mason jars. In each Mason jar they put pond 
 
water, about half full. 
 
Then with a medicine dropper they sucked up the wigglers from 
 
the pail, putting each kind into its separate jar. They fastened down 
 
each lamp chimney securely by putting a strap of adhesive around it at 
 
the bottom. To prevent any mosquitoes from escaping, they put a 
 
piece of fine gauze over the top of each chimney and fastened it by put- 
 
ting an elastic band around it. 
 
They kept the jars in a warm place day and night. Then they 
 
watched to see what would happen. 
 
In about a week mosquitoes were noticed sitting on the inside of 
 
the lamp chimneys. With magnifying glasses they could see clearly 
 
that the mosquitoes in the two jars were different. It was very clear 
 
that the malaria mosquitoes looked and acted quite differently from the 
 
m~n. 
 
\ 
 
Every day more and more mosquitoes came out of the water. To 
 
feed them, slices of ripe bananas were laid on top of the gauze covering 
 
the lamp chimneys. The gauze was then moistened with water. The 
 
mosquitoes lived in their classroom cage until every student was so well 
 
acquainted with the malaria mosquito that he would recognize her 
 
on sight. 
 
THE MOSQUITO BUS LINE 
 
We all know about plants called parasites that live and grow on 
 
other plants or on trees, like the mistletoe that grows on southern 
 
trees, or mosses that grow on tree trunks. We know about fleas that 
 
live on dogs and worms that live in the bodies of animals. But not 
 
everyone knows that in malaria a tiny animal or parasite lives a part 
 
of its life in the body of a mosquito and part in the blood stream of 
 
a human being. All organisms such as these that live on the bodies of 
 
animals or plams are called parasites. So malaria is a parasite disease. 
 
People who have malaria got the parasite from the bite of a certain 
 
kind of mosquito.. Only the female mosquito can carry this parasite. 
 
The mosquito got it from some person who had malaria. The mos- 
 
quito was the go-between carrying her load of parasites with her and 
 
distributing them through her bites. 
 
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Malaria parasites are consequently traveling from people to mosquitoes and from mosquitoes to people. The mosquito is like a bus line, and the parasites are the passengers. To stop malaria from spreading we must put the bus line out of business by destroying the bus driver. When we kill a malaria mosquito, we put that bus out of business. This means that the parasites must stop traveling too, and so malaria can no longer be spread. 
PRACTICAL WAYS OF PROTECTING THE HOME AGAINST MOSQUITOES 
For people who live where mosquitoes are prevalent, there is perhaps no better means of protection than having the house thoroughly screened with the right kind of screen wire. 
For a family that lives in a malaria district it is much cheaper to pay for proper screening than to pay the cost of frequent attacks of malaria. 
There are several points about screening that every family should know and that will make protection against the malaria mosquito more certain.. 
First, before buying screen wire one should make sure that there are 16 strands of wire to every inch. This can very easily be measured and counted with a ruler. Buying coarser wire than this is throwing away money as far as malaria protection is concerned because the malaria mosquito goes right through a coarse screen. 
Next, screen doors and windows must fit tightly and must not allow even the tiniest hole or crack for a mosquito to get through. It will be a great help if screen doors have a one-inch strip of wood nailed along the top and down the free side, to prevent the door from warping. If screens are put on at windows without wooden frames the edges of the wire should be doubled over and the tacks should be driven in close together through the double edge. Windows should be screened full length so as not to admit mosquitoes between the sashes. 
Breaks in wire screens, even the tiniest holes, should be closed by a dab of paint or by pla.cing a small patch of screen wire over the broken place. This can easily be done by having one person on the inside and one on the outside w baste the patch closely all around using a strand of wire as the thread. 
Screen doors are often kicked out at the bottom. This can be prevented by placing a board or, better yet a heavy piece of hardware cloth wire screening across the bottom. The heavy screen is best because it admits air freely, while the board does not. Screen doors. 
 
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MALARIA 
 
should always open outward as this does not encourage insects to enter so readily as when the door opens inward. 
Screen doors should fit closely at the bottom. If the door sill has been worn down or is uneven, perhaps a new board will correct this. 
Of course there is little use in screening doors and windows if holes and cracks are left in floors or walls. These should be stopped up with heavy building paper, strips of wood or screen wire. If paper is used, it should be put on with tacks protected by tin or cardboard disks, and all corners of paper should be well overlapped. If the home has a fireplace, mosquitoes may come down the chimney into the house. If the chimney is in use, a good way is to put one pound of moth balls in a screen wire sack, hung in the chimney by a wire, about three feet down from the top. A metal cover ~uch as a tin funnel may be fastened above the sack to keep the rain ofL If not used in summer months, the chimney may be plugged up. 
 
Jt'~ or ,~~ 
 
Bag 
 
Stick 
 
Many of these measures are simple, such that any boy or girl in the home can take part in seeing that their home is protected against the entrance of mosquitoes. If every family in a county took these measures alone, malaria would probably soon be on the decrease. 
THE BEST WAY TO SPRAY A HOUSE FOR MOSQUITOES No matter how carefully you screen your home, if you live where malaria mosquitoes are numerous they may find their way in when the screen door is opened. These mosquitoes usually hunt for some dark, secluded place, as in a closet or under a bed or on the wall in a dark corner, and here they sit quietly until night comes. Then they come in search of food and they find exactly the food they want by biting people who are asleep. Often the people bitten do not even wake up. This is especially true in the case of the malaria mosquito, whose bite is not painful and whose song is very soft and low. In the morning, however, there are bumps on the skin where the mosquito bit. In such a home careful search should be made for some crack or hole through which the mosquito got in. This should be repaired 
 
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immediately. If the opening can not be found, a small house sprayer used every morning with a good insect spray will destroy every mosquito in the house. 
To use the spray, first, close all doors and windows tightly,"'then fill the sprayer, and holding it so that the nozzle points toward the ceiling, spray thoroughly all parts of the room. Spray also in closets and under beds. 
Then go out of doors leaving the house closed tightly for a half to one hour. At the end of that time all mosquitoes, and flies as well, will be overcome and can be swept up and burned. 
A good mosquito spray can be bought at a hardware or drug store. Sprays that contain kerosene or other inflammable liquid should not be used if there is a fire in the stove, and every care should be taken to make their use safe. 
FIGHTING MALARIA FROM THE SKY 
If you lived near Muscle Shoals you would see a small airplane flying low, back and forth over the river or along the swampy shoreline. Perhaps you would think the pilot was trying out his machine or gi~ing some tourists a trip over the Tennessee Valley. Neither of these thoughts would be correct. It is likely that the airplane was carrying on a very important business, that of spraying paris green dust over the places where mosquitoes had laid their eggs and where the wigglers were then living in the water. 
Everyone knows that the mosquito is public enemy number 1 as far as malaria is concerned and that the criminal must be hunted high and low, mostly low if we are ever to get rid of him. One of his haunts is along the Tennessee River and in the swampy undergrowth that provides a quiet cool place for the female mosquito to rest in the day time. 
When the mosquitoes' eggs hatch and become wigglers, they lie on the surface of the water like little sticks, eating anything that t1oats on the surface. If the wigglers can be killed at this stage, of course they will never turn into mosquitoes and so will never carry malaria. 
The pilot of the airplane makes it his chief business to feed the malaria mosquito wigglers. But wait till you know what he feeds them. In the front of his cockpit he has a hopper made of tin. This hopper has a valve that opens right through to the bottom of the cockpit and the pilot can open and shut this valve while flying the plane. In the hopper he has a fine mixture of pulverized soapstone with a very small amount of paris green mixed with it. 
As the pilot flies along he opens and shuts the valve and lets some of the powder float through the air and settle on the water below him. 
 
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MALARIA 
 
It only takes a very small amount of paris green to give the mosquito wigglers a real meal. There is not enough to hurt fish, cows or vegetation. The wigglers eat it as it falls on the surface of the water and of course do not live long after their feast is over. 
The pilot must be able to fly his plane quite low, often below the tree tops. He finds it very hard sometimes to steer his plane so that he can follow the edge of the river bank which curves in and out, and round about. If he finds a straight stretch of swamp land, he flies back and forth in straight lines like the lines on a piece of paper. Wherever he goes he leaves a fine film of paris green behind him. 
Attacks on malaria mosquitoes from the air have been made in other places than the Tennessee Valley. In fact, the airplane has been used in many countries of the world as a part of the campaign to stamp out malaria, the disease that causes more sickness and costs more money than almost any other disease in the wo'rld. 
 
PAUL, THE MALARIA FIGHTING PILOT 
It is almost 4:30 in the morning when Paul Flannary reaches Muscle Shoals Airport. He always flies early because at this time the air is still and the film of paris green dust which he will scatter behind the plane will settle quietly on the water below. Paul climbs into the cockpit of his plane, tests his engine carefully to make sure that it responds quickly. Opening the cover of the metal hopper he empties into it several bags full of powdered soapstone mixed with paris green. When the hopper is full it holds about 850 pounds, quite a load, for the front of his cockpit. He then tests the valves in the bottom of the hopper. Yes, they are working fine. By 4:40 Paul is ready for his morning's work. Dusting the shore line for a distance of thirty-three miles takes an hour and a half of careful flying, and he may have to refill his hopper and start out again. 
The bi-plane which Paul uses in this malaria control program has a wing-spread of 45 feet, and when ready to start off, the plane can climb to an altitude of a thousand feet in one minute. Not that Paul 
flies much at 1,000 feet up. No, he is more interested in flying low- 
25 to 50 feet is more along his line. 
Paul watches below him the curving shore line of the river, and tries to have the plane follow the curves, since it is along the shore line that the malaria mosquito wigglers hide. Sometimes to make sure that the stream of green dust hits the mark, he may dip low, at the same time being careful to avoid hitting the tops of some tall trees that are almost in his pathway. 
 
 MALARIA 
 
l7 
 
Flying a plane low at a hundred miles an hour takes skill, steady nerves and good eyes. Besides watching the path of his plane, Paul operates the slot in the bottom of the hopper which releases the paris green dust. This is eagerly eaten by some of the hungry wigglers below, and is probably their last meal. 
At six-thirty Paul returns to the airport. From now on the wind is apt to blow and air currents will make bumpy riding and difficult steering. Besides the dust cloud may be deflected by winds, and may not reach the places intended. 
\\'ill airplane dusting help to rid the Muscle Shoals area of the malaria mosquito? No one knows yet just how effectual a method 1t 1s. Improvements may still be made in the hopper, in the mixture and in the type of area dusted, but always a good pilot will be needed to guide the malaria fighting plane. If you see the little bi-plane in the sky early some morning, salute the pilot and be thankful that Paul Flarmary is helping to protect you from the malaria parasite, an enemy that attacks silently but that does more damage than a big army with drums and fifes and flags. 
 
Paris green is also used in Georgia to control malaria mosquito 
 
breeding. In most cases the nature of our breeding places is more 
 
favorable to drainage as a means of control, but sometimes paris green 
 
is best. 
 
In Dougherty County and several other place-s, laborers walk around 
 
the ponds with hand guns that blow and sptead a paris green and lime 
 
powdery mixture very lightly over the pond surface. They must be 
 
very careful to see that the wind is blowing just right. In other places 
 
it is necessary to use boats for this purpose. 
 
. 
 
Sometimes health departments hire men to spray oil instead of paris 
 
green, but mostly they use gangs of men to drain the breeding place 
 
wherever it can be done, as this is more permanent. 
 
GETTING RID OF MALARIA MOSQUITOES IN PANAMA 
Everyone who is familiar with the early history of the building of the Panama Canal knows that the chief reasons for its early failure were repeated epidemics of the mosquito-borne diseases, yellow fever and malaria. Over a period of eight years there had been 20,000 deaths among the French workmen and thousands more had deserted their work because of fear. Many people at that time did not believe that the mosquito was responsible for these diseases, but thought that they came from poor sanitation and dirty streets and that cleaning up Panama would stamp them out. 
 
 18 
 
MALARIA 
 
President Theodore Roosevelt decided, when the responsibility for building the Canal became that of the United States, to send General William Gorgas to Panama. General Gorgas had been successful in Havana in helping to stamp out yellow fever, and he knew that the mosquito was the guilty party. He knew also that it caused malaria, and he organized an army of sanitary inspectors. He secured many barrels of oil, divided Panama into districts, and each district was visited every day by inspectors armed with pails of oil. Every bit of standing water was oiled, and householders were warned against leaving water standing in or around their houses. 
Before long General Gorgas had crews of men digging ditches and draining swamps. Irregular places iri .:he ground were levelled, and water holes were filled up. 
Kerosene and crude oil were used on all stagnant pools, drip pans allowed oil to fall into running streams and oil carts sprayed roadside gutters and ditches. 
Inspectors were on the job daily searching for and killing mosquitoes on walls under .bridges and in dark places. 
Fish, spiders, small lizards and ants, all natural enemies of the mosquito, were bred to let loose in places where thousands of mosquitoes and wigglers were found. 
General Gorgas concentrated on the destruction of mosquitoes by destroying their breeding places and killing them before they had a chance to become infected. This work enabled the engineers to complete the canal. General Gorgas demonstrated that such a tiny thing as a mosquito could no longer stand in the way of a great piece of constructive work. 
 
THE MYSTERY OF THE LOST MOSQUITOES 
Mr. LePrince, the sanitary engineer, who was with General Gorgas in Panama made many studies of mosquitoes. He found out, for instance, that they fly no further than about a mile from their breeding places. He also discovered that they have a keen sense of smell and that by this means they are guided to the houses where people are sleeping and where the female can get a blood meal. It was in connection with this study that a very interesting thing happened. 
Mr. LePrince set a trap for mosquitoes in the wall of a house and put a certain number of mosquitoes in it to find out if they could possibly escape in any way. The next morning when he counted the mos- 
 
 MALARIA 
 
19 
 
quitoes he found that several were gone. He looked everywhere for some opening but could not find where they could have gotten out. 
So the next time he put mosquitoes into the trap, he put another trap right close to the opening of the first one so that if the mosquitoes got out of the first trap, they would find themselves in another one. The next morning he looked again and sure enough a large number of mosquitoes were gone. This was a puzzle. How could they have gotten out? Mr. LePrince decided that the next night he would sit up and watch. 
About 2:00 o'clock in the morning he saw a strange sight. An army of tiny ants came up to the trap and went right through the openings in the screen. The mosquitoes being naturally afraid of ants began to fly wildly about the cage. The ants watched their chances and whenever a mosquito stopped to rest, an ant jumped on her back and away they went, the ant clinging tightly to the back of the mosquito and the mosquito flying wildly in every direction, doing nose dives, tail spins and loops and every other kind of stunt in her effort to shake off her passenger. It was no use. When an exhausted mosquito stopped to rest even for a second, two or three more ants jumped on for a wild ride. Finally the mosquitoes were exhausted and had to stop. The ants hopped off, divided the mosquitoes between them and carried the pieces out through the screen and back to their nests. After that Mr. LePrince understood what happened when his cartives were gone in the morning. 
 
NATURAL ENEMIES OF THE MOSQUITO 
The workers in the Panama Canal Zone found that malaria mosquitoes had several natural enemies and that the spider was a v.ery important one. It was observed that the malaria mosquito liked to rest on a dark background. Spiders seemed to know this and while watching to catch mosquitoes they were apt to choose a dark, shady spot. The malaria mosquito seemed to have little trouble in leaving a spider's web and so was not often caught by the spider in the web itself. In the Panama Zone thousands of spiders and millions of ants were often seen sitting quietly on tall grasses growing in shallow water. These spiders and ants made a feast on the young mosquitoes"as they hatched out and crawled up on the .grass ready for flight. 
Lizards were often very active in catching mosquitoes. They discovered a mosquito very quickly, took three or four quick moves toward her, resting in between, and then made a final sudden dive in catching her. In the Panama Canal Zone it was felt that lizards were 
 
 20 
 
MALARIA 
 
so helpful in doing away with mosquitoes that it paid to breed them and to protect them against harm in every way possible. 
Ants like mosquitoes for food and whenever they find a mosquito trap armies of ants go there, eating first the dead mosquitoes and then starting on the live ones. Sometimes two or three ants together will attack a single mosquito. They sometimes also catch the wigglers as well and make a meal of these. 
In the Panama Zone there was a night bird which came out at sunset and hunted mosquitoes all night, returning to his nest when daylight came. Bats too were great mosquito catchers. They were most active at sundown when t~e mosquitoes began to gather on the window screens. Sometimes when mosquitoes were biting people the bats would fly up quite close in their efforts to catch the mosquitoes before they got away. 
MALARIA PROTECTION IN A C. C. C. CAMP 
If you should visit a C. C. C. camp located in an area where malaria is found, you would discover many things that the United States Government does to protect the boys against the bite of the mosquito. The first thing you would be likely to see is the screening of the bunk houses. Every cabin in which the boys sleep is thoroughly screened with fine mesh screen wire. Barrels used for catching rain water are very closely covered so that no mosquito can possibly enter to lay her eggs. No water is allowed to stand any place around the camp and heavy brush is cleared around the buildings. 
If you go into the bunk houses you will see that above every bed is a pole reaching the length of the bed. On this pole is hung a cotton net. This net is large enough to be tucked well under the mattress on all sides. When stretched tightly, the air can enter the enclosure but no mosquito can find its way in. 
It costs Uncle Sam a good deal of money to provide this protection but it would cost much more to pay for the care of hundreds of young men sick with malaria. Of course if one of the boys should come down with malaria, a doctor would he called at once and the right kind of medicine would be prescribed for him, so that he would be quickly cured. No boy in a C. C. C. camp would be allowed to take patent chill tonics or other advertised remedies. The Government would consider buying these a terrible waste of mon~y. 
HAVE A DOCTOR FOR MALARIA 
Years ago no one ever thought of going to a doctor for chills and fever, or for what was sometimes called bilious, swamp, or malarial 
 
 MALARIA 
 
21 
 
fever, all one and the same thing. A drug store on the corner usually furnished the treatment and every year people went back for more. Most of these patent remedies contained quinine in some form or other and were successful in overcoming the uncomfortable symptoms, but did not cure the disease. 
Since that time doctors have studied malaria and have found out that there are three distinct kinds. One kind causes chills and fever every third day; another kind, every fourth day; and the third kind brings chills and fever at irregular times. 
When a sufferer of chills and fever goes to a doctor now-a-days the doctor takes a drop of blood from the patient's finger and puts it under a microscope, or sends it to a laboratory for examination, and by this examination he is able to tell what kind of malaria the patient has, and is able to prescribe the best kind of treatment for that particular kind of malaria. Money spent in this way brings results far ahead of patent medicines and advertised chill tonics, most of which bring no permanent results except to make a hole in one's pocketbook. 
CARE OF MALARIA IN THE HOME 
If a person in your family has a chill, followed immediately by a high fever, what would you do? There are several things you should do at once if you wish the patient to recover promptly, and if you wish to protect others as well. 
First, you should call your doctor or take the patient in to see him. The doctor can find out at once whether the patient has malaria by taking a drop of blood from his finger and sending it to a public health laboratory for examination. The laboratory will tell him whether the patient has malaria parasites in his blood, and, if so, what kind of parasite, so the doctor will know the kind of medicine to give. 
Second, you should investigate your house and make sure that there is no place where a mosquito can get in through doors, windows, cracks, or chimneys. If possible, the house should be made mosquito proof at once, because if the right kind of a mosquito bites the sick patient, this mosquito may carry malaria all over the neighborhood. 
If the house is i~ such a condition th~t it cannot be perfectly screened, then you should make a bed net large enough to cover the bed completely when hung over a rope stretched from the head to the foot of the bed. The bed net should be tucked in well under the mattress on all sides and top and bottom. 
Third, you should give the patient the treatment prescribed exactly as the doctor orders and this should be continued until the doctor 
 
 22 
 
MALARIA 
 
feels it is safe to stop. He will then take another drop of blood from the patient's finger and have it examined to make sure that the parasites are gone. 
If every one followed these directions when a case of malaria broke out in a home, the patient would recover more promptly and others in the home and neighborhood might be protected against a malaria infection. 
WHERE QUININE COMES FROM 
An old story is told of a missionary who, years ago, found himself sick and alone in the jungles of South America. By turns he was coldso cold that his teeth chattered; and then he was hot-so hot that he was famishing of thirst. The story says that he crawled on the ground to what looked like a pool of water. He found it warm, full of tropical plants, and with the trunk of a fallen tree sunk into it. In spite of this the missionary dipped the water up in his hand and drank to quench his terrible thirst. Oh, how bitter it was! He thought he had never tasted anything so bitter. As he lay beside the pool trying to make up his mind to drink ag~in, he realized that the chills and fever had lessened, and he was able to walk slowly into the forest in search of the friendly settlement not far away. 
The story goes on to tell that the fallen trunk was a cinchona tree and the bark soaking in the water of the pool had made a solution of quinine. The story says that this missionary was the first person to discover what quinine can do for the chills and fever of malaria. 
As time went on people cut down so many of these trees to get the bark that finally a cinchona tree could hardly be found in South America. Some Dutch people who saw how valuable a.crop of these trees might be, transplanted them to the island of Java and now most of the quinine used in the world for the treatment of malaria is made from these trees which have been cultivated over many years on this tropical island. 
If some one should ask you what the island of Java is noted for, perhaps you will say. "Not for coffee, but for the cinchona tree, the bark of which is the quinine producer of the world." 
If you will look in Nature Magazine for February 1933, you will find an article on "Bark and Bite" in which there are excellent pictures of the cinchona tree, its leaves and blossoms; also a picture of a grove of these trees on the island ofJava. Perhaps some day the Philippine Islands will produce the quinine needed for the United States since it is known that the climate and soil are excellent for growing the cinchona tree. 
 
 MALARIA 
 
23 
 
BREAK THE CHAIN TO STAMP OUT MALARIA 
 
Break the first link by: 
Protecting the malaria patient against being bitten by a malaria mosquito, by screening the house or by putting a net over hi'> bed, and by having a doctor treat the patient until hi8 blood is free from parasites. 
Break the second link by: Preventing breeding of malaria mosquitoes by depriving them of water; and destroying malaria wigglers and mosquitoes by oil and paris green. 
Break the third link by: 
Screening all houses with 16-mesh wire screens, and by protecting one's self when outdoors at night during the mosquito season. 
 
MALARIA 
 
0"::::;'.':; :,b~:"~" ( 
 
I 
 
B-h-~-~-~-:-1_r_e_s_u_lt-s-. 
\.---s'"'e-ri_o_u_s_p 
 
malaria mosquito breeding: 
 
in: 
 
1. Warm climates 
2. Swampy lands 
3. Grassy ponds 
4. Lakes with shallow 
L headwaters or floatage 
along shoreline 
5. Grassy highway borrow pits and baeked up ditches 
 
1. Destruction of red blood cells 
2. Anemia 
3. Nervousness 
4. Chronic fatigue 5. Repeated attacks of 
illness 
6. Sometimes death 
 
Is very expensive because of: 
 
1.'' Time lost for sickness 2. i'i Untilled land 
3. Inefficient labor 
 
4. Lowered incomes 5. Cost of medical care 6. Deaths 
 
 24 
 
MALARIA 
 
PRINCIPAL 
 
Eradication of Malaria 
Depends TJpon: 
SECONDARY 
 
I 
 
II 
 
r. ~~o~quito Control 
 
I 
 
1 
 
I. Drniniug ~TI"arr.ps & ponds 
 
4. Dusting water with paris green 
 
I 
) 
C!t::lliing ditehc;:; & shore~ of 
pond.-; 
I 
 
I 
5. Raising & }()wering the water 
level 
I 
 
3. Oiling stagnant 
pools 
 
6. Putting top 
minnows in ponds 
 
I 
 
II. PcrRcmal ContrOl 
 
I 
 
I. Having blood examination 
 
3. 
Screening doors and windows 
 
2. Taking- 
treatment from a 
doctor 
 
4. Using in- 
sccticides to kill 
mosquitoc5 
 
5. Using repellents to keep mosquitoes away 
 
CAN YOU TELL 
1. Some countries that had malaria long ago. 2. How much malaria costs the southern states. 3. Which southern states have much malaria. 4. Which Asiatic countries have malaria. 5. Which continent has much malaria. 6. Why malaria sufferers make poor workmen. 7. What malaria does to the blood. 8. What happens when a person has a malaria chill. 9. What the malaria mosquito looks like. 10. What is peculiar about the wiggler. 
 
 MALARIA 
 
25 
 
11. Who helped solve the malaria problem in Panama. 12. How many kinds of malaria. 13. Who discovered that there was a malaria parasite. 14. Where the malaria parasite travels. 15. What European countries have malaria. 16. How it is thought malaria came to Rome. 17. How it is thought malaria came to this country. 18. How people in Africa protect themselves against mosquitoes. 19. How you might be bitten in an automobile. 20. How to spray your home. 21. What kind of screen wire is best to protect against malaria. 22. Of what use is a fan in malaria protection. 23. How mosquitoes are mounted for study. 24. The stages in the development of the mosquito. 25. Two ways to destroy mosquito wigglers. 26. What the eggs of the malaria mosquito are like. 27. How to mosquito-proof a house. 28. How to raise mosquitoes in the classroom. 29. How airplanes help in mosquito fighting. 30. What are natural enemies of mosquitoes. 31. How the Government protects its men against malaria. 32. How the doctor finds out whether a person has malaria. 33. The best thing to do if one has become infected. 34. How to protect a malaria patient in the home. 35. Where quinine comes from. 
 
A TEST ON MALARIA 
Some of the following statements are true and some are false. There is a blank before each question where you may make a check mark saying whether you think that the statement is true or not true. Read each statement carefully and then mark it either true or false, whicnever you decide. 
True ____ False____ 1. Malaria is a disease found only in the southern part of the United States. 
True ____ False ____ 2. A person can catch malaria by being exposed to damp night air. 
True ____ False ____ 3. Patent chill tonics are sure to cure malaria. True____ False ____ 4. Wet, swampy places are good breeding 
grounds for mosquitoes. 
True____ False ____ s. All kinds of mosquitoes can carry malaria. 
 
 26 
 
MALARIA 
 
True ____ False____ 6. The best size mesh wire to use for screening houses is 10 mesh. 
 
True 
 
False____ 7. ''Chills'' are caused by something happening in the blood stream. 
 
True . __ False ___ . 8. It is cheaper to treat malaria than it is to let it alone when we consider the lost time it causes. 
 
True____ False ____ 9. The person who is suffering from malaria is. tired most of the time. 
 
True ____ False ____ 10. Mosquitoes can be kept from breeding by 
 
spraying water with oil. 
 
True ____ False ____ 11. It is better to have a doctor for malaria. 
 
True ____ False ____ 12. A mosquito gets malaria germs from the water. 
 
True ____ False ____ 13. When a person is bitten by a mosquito he al- 
 
ways gets malaria. 
 
True 
 
False ___ 14. Malaria can be done away with if proper precautions are taken. 
 
True 
 
False ____ 15. The blood of a malaria patient is not as red as. that of a person who does not have malaria. 
 
True 
 
False ____ 16. Unless a mosquito can bite a person having malaria that mosquito cannot give it to anyone else. 
 
True_ 
 
False ____ 17. Fish are valuable as a means of destroying mosquito wigglers. 
 
True_ 
 
False ____ 18. Paris green spread upon the water will not affect mosquito wigglers because they are particular about what they eat. 
 
True__ False ____ 19. If a person has had malaria once he cannot 
 
have it again. 
 
True _ False ___ 20. If ponds and swamps are drained  the danger of malaria will be lessened. 
 
Some of the following things are to be found in a part of the country where there is a great deal of malaria. Make a check mark (x) opposite those things which you think might have something to do with the fact that there is a great deal of malaria there. 
Damp night air Many small ponds A stream which is clogged with rubbish 
 
 MALARIA 
 
27 
 
A woods with much dry underbrush Houses which have holes in their screens A very heavy rainfall every year A great number of unscreened houses 
 
Of the Italic parts of the paragraph below draw a circle around each part which you think really has anything at all to do with malaria: 
Mary came to school one day and told her teacher that her father vas not feeling very well and that he thought he had malaria because 
~w~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
for him. The teacher said that if the windows were screened it would not make any difference as far as malaria was concerned. She told Mary that it was likely that a mosquito had bitten her father after it had bitten a person who had malaria and that was the way he had contracted the disease. Mary said that there was a pond back of the barn and that there were always mosquitoes around there. The teacher told her that if the pond were sprayed with oil the mosquitoes could not breed there. She told her that any kind of oil wottld be all right. If the pond were drained it would give the same result. But Mary said that she thought that the water didn't have anything to do with malaria and that it ran 
in her f ami~)'. 
 
SUPPLEMENT 
A SCHOOL INTERPRETS MALARIA TO THE COMMUNITY 
After the malaria problem has been studied in a school, perhaps the pupils working together might like to tell what chey have learned to the fathers and mothers of the district. If an exhibit is arranged and each part of it is carefully explained this will add greatly to the interest and enjoyment of the program. Many things can be gathered at very little cost on such an interesting subject as malaria. 
First, it would be a very helpful thing for people to know more about the malaria mosquito in its various stages. Perhaps eggs, live wigglers, tumblers and mosquitoes could be obtained and shown to the people. It might be that the county health department could help in securing mounted malaria mosquitoes. However, live ones are always of more interest and a school could hatch these without much trouble. 
 
 28 
 
MALARIA 
 
If a microscope can be obtained, it might be possible to show the spotted wing of a female malaria mosquito. A malaria parasite might also be shown on a slide, and could be obtained from the health department. 
Usually, the county health department will be glad to loan to a school articles of equipment used in sanitation activities. Different kinds of sprayers, both for home and outside use, with insecticides and paris green powder, also various implements used in ditching and draining, would be of interest. 
Perhaps samples of screen wire could be obtained in the hardware stores to illustrate the wrong and right kinds, with a ruler by which the number of strands per inch might be counted. 
A tiny play house might be thoroughly mosquito proofed by means of screen doors, windows, and protection of the chimney. 
Various kinds of home made fly swatters might be shown to illustrate the slogan, "Kill th::: Mosquito as well as the Fly". 
In schools where clay work is done large size models of the malaria mosquito eggs, wigglers, and the mosquito itself would be very interesting. Wire might be used for legs and cellophane for wings to make the mosquito very realistic. 
Pictures and photographs of malaria control activities might be mounted and posters would be useful in telling way~ to overcome the mosquito and so to control malaria. A play written by the school is often an interesting and instructive way of telling what to do about malaria in the home. 
Perhaps the county health department might bring out a moving picture to show at the meeting and this would add much interest, and perhaps bring more people to the school program. 
Any school that translates to the community what it has gained in a study of such a problem as malaria is helping to improve public health in their district. When people in general understand clearly the causes of malaria, steps will be taken to stamp it out. 
 
 MALARIA 
 
29 
 
A Playlette 
 
MR. CRABBIE LEARNS MALARIA CONTROL 
 
Place: A rural school district Time: Early June 
 
Characters: 
 
Mr. I. M. Crabbie, a large farm owner who doesn't believe in public health; thinks "it's money wasted". 
 
Mrs. Nora Crabbie, his wife, who is "ailing" and who buys 
 
patent medicine with her egg money. 
 
Wanta Crabbie, a frail little girl, 12 years old, who attends the sixth grade in the Robert E. Lee School. 
 
Mrs. Public Spirit, president of the P.T.A. and interested in 
 
community problems. 
 
Mrs. M rs. 
 
TDeol1l.itt 
 
IJ. 
 
members 
 
of the 
 
health 
 
 
comm1ttee 
 
of the 
 
P.T. 
 
A. 
 
U. Drainum, the filling station owner who builds business by 
 
building good will. Also a member of the health committee. Miss Lerna Fast, the progressive teacher of the Robert E. Lee School who believes that community problems have a place in education. Dr. Healthway, the county health officer who is active in malaria work. 
 
Miss Goodakind, the health nurse who is much interested in children. 
 
Mr. Mose Keeto, the sanitary officer who is always looking for places to drain or oil. 
 
SCENE I 
 
CHARACTERs: 
 
Mr. I. M. Crabbie Mrs. Nora Crabbie Wanta Crabbie Miss Goodakind 
 
PLACE: Home of Mr. and Mrs. I. M. Crabbie-4:30 p.m. on a day in June. Mrs. Crabbie is reading a patent medicine folder that came around; her latest "cure"-a bottle of which is on the table. Mr. Crabbie is experimenting with an old sprayer- which he hopes to use for the bugs in the cotton field. 
 
 30 
 
MALARIA 
 
MRs. CRABBIE: Listen to this, I. M.-(Reads from testimonial). "The pain in my back was so bad and I had such chills and fever I couldn't hardly stand it. One bottle of Cure-all drove all the pain away and I've never had it since." Now that's what I call good work, and I'm going to try this bottle and see what it will do. 
MR. CRABBIE: Is that somethin' new you've got this time? What you going to do when the hens stop layin' and you can't spend the egg money? 
(Wanta enters-carrying a pile of school books and tablets which she throws on the table.) 
WANTA: Oh Mother, I wish you had been at school today. Dr. Healthway came to see how much everybody had done on their health records. He said I still ought to gain, and he wanted to know if I felt tired and he said he'd like to make a little test of my blood to find out why I don't gain more. He'd have to do it in his office, tho, cause he didn't have the stuff at school. And Pa, when he was all through he said everybody that's got screens on all your doors and windows stand up. I just hated to stay sitting down. Most of the houses have screens now, you know. Pa, when are we going to have screens on our house? 
MR. CRABBIE: Don't talk nonsense to me! I can't spend money for no such fol-de-rol. It's just a scheme to advertise that Health Department. How could you keep a disease out by a screen? Anyway, until I have a sprayer that'll work, I ain't investin' in even cotton screens. A slap now and then will kill a fly or mosquito-but the cotton can't pertect itself against the darn bugs. 
(A knock at the door. Wanta opens it. Enter Miss Goodakind, the Health Nurse.) 
Miss GoonAKINn: How do you do, Wanta. 
Wanta: Mother, this is Miss Goodakind. She was with Doctor Healthway this morning and she tested my vision because Miss Fast thought the light was poor and we should all be checked up. Didn't you! Pa, I could see 20/20 with both eyes. Doctor Healthway said that was fine! 
(Pa pays no attention, goes on working with the sprayer.) 
MRS. CRABBIE: Wanta was just telling us about the Health Department's visit to the school. What did the doctor say about Wanta? 
Miss GooDAKINn: \Veil, you see there's a lot of malaria around, although lately a great many people have been treated and cured. And 
 
 MALARIA 
 
- - - - - 31 
 
of course people pretty generally have screened their houses and with the draining and oiling, the mosquitoes are being stamped out. Doctor thought that maybe Wanta might have been infected. He can find out very easily by taking a tiny bit of blood from her finger and putting it under a microscope. If Wanta has malaria he will probably see the little parasites right there under the microscope. 
MR. CRABBIE: What good will that do? All he'll say is go and get some quinine and take it and take it and keep taking it till you're loaded up. It makes you feel so bad you might as well have chills and fever as that. 
Miss GoooAKINo: Well you see now there are other kinds of treatment that are much more effective than quinine and that don't have to be taken so long, and they don't make your ears ring, either. The doctor can tell what kind of treatment is best from what he sees in the microscope. 
MR. CRABBIE: How much will it cost? I ain't made of money. The little I've got has got to go to stoppin' the bugs in the cotton. 
Miss GoooAKINo: Well, it won't cost anything to find out if Wanta has the parasites in her blood and after that, of course, you would want to go to your own doctor any way. The treatments are short and not very expensive. Wanta is such a good student that something should be done to help her build up. Did you know she never misses an arithmetic problem and she's ahead of the whole class in her work? 
MR. CRABBIE: She comes by that natural All my folks were good figurers. Well, if you want to take her and her mother dowa it's all right with me. I can't take the mules off their work though, and the wheel's broke on the wagon. 
Miss GoooAKINo: Doctor Healthway's in the office right now. Get on your things and we'll take a ride to town. 
\\'ANTA: Oh goody, goody! llove to ride in a car. (All put on their hats and go out. Mrs. Crabbie comes 
back for her bottle of medicine and her spoon which she wraps up and puts under her shawl.) 
 
SCENE II 
 
Characters: Doctor Healthway Miss Goodakind Mrs. Nora Crabbie 
 
Wanta Crabbie 
. Mose Keeto 
 
PLACE: Office of the Health Department. Dr. Healthway is taking a drop of blood from Wanta's finger and putting it on a slide. 
 
 32 
 
MALARIA 
 
DR. HEALTHWAY: It'll just take a minute or so and I'll tell you whether I find the malaria bugs. (He goes into the adjoining room.) 
MRS. CRABBIE: Did it hurt much, Wanta? 
WANTA: No, just a little prick, that's all. 
DocToR HEALTHWAY: Yes, just as I suspected. Wanta has been infected by a malaria mosquito. The parasites are in her blood and until she gets rid of them I'm afraid she hasn't much chance to gain and get strong. Of course she can give malaria to other people too, if a malaria mosquito bites her. 
MRs. CRABBIE: (Takes a swallow from her Cure-all.) I wish I knew what was the matter with me. I have aches and pains and sometimes I feel hot and sometimes cold. You don't suppose that's what I've got? 
DocToR HEALTHWAY: Why not let me see if the bugs could possibly have gotten into you too? It'll only take a minute. 
(Doctor Healthway and Mrs. Crabbie leave for adjoining room. Enter Mose Keeto.) 
MosE KEETO: Hello! Hello! Oh, it's Wanta Crabbie. How are you, Wanta? 
WANTA: Doctor Healthway found I had some malaria bugs in my blood. 
MosE KEETo: Is that so! We'll have to hunt for the mosquitoes that put them there and get rid of them. 
WANTA: How will you know which mosquito put them there though? MosE KEETo: Oh, that's easy. We know just what they arelike when they are babies living in the water and we know the kind of places they like to breed in too, so we know where to look for them. And then the malaria mosquito has a way of standing on her head when she bites. You'd better examine the screens at your house and see if there isn't a hole somewhere. They get in through the smallest places you ever saw, under the door, through a crack in the wall or through a torn place in the screen. 
WANTA: Oh, we haven't any screens! Maybe Father'll get 'em tho', when we tell him what the doctor found. 
(Enter Doctor Healthway and Mrs. Crabbie.) 
DocTOR HEALTHWAY: Mrs. Crabbie, you have probably had malaria for a long time and that's why you've felt so bad, off and on. Probably the mosquito took the parasites from you and gave them to Wanta. 
 
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Now if they bit either one of you they can carry them to other people. Neither you nor Wanta should go out after sundown until you've been treated. 
MRs. CRABBIE: I know just where those critters come from. I see 'em comin' out of our rain bar'l, every time I lift the cover. 
MosE KEETo: Those aren't malaria mosquitoes. They're just the common kind. I think I can tell you just where the malaria mosquitoes do come from. About three quarters of a mile down your pasture there's a swampy place and a little spring where Mr. Crabbie lets his cows water. We wanted to oil that or put Paris green on it some years ago but Mr. Crabbie was a little afraid it might poison his cattle and he didn't want to bother stocking it with fish and he made us believe he'd run us off with a shot gun if we tried to do anything to his pond. We knew he was just fooling though but I don't think anything has been done since. I don't doubt but we'd find your malaria mosquito right in that pond. They fly as far as a mile and your house is the only one they could reach. So that's where they have been getting their human blood. You and Wanta have been their victims. 
MRS. CRABBIE: Doctor Healthway, what should we do? 
DoCToR HEALTHWAY: Who is your regular doctor-the one that always takes care of you when you're sick? 
MRS. CRABBIE: Well, we don't have a doctor much. Doctor Hudson came when Wanta was a baby. We keep some pain killer and some salts in the house most of the time and I always get any medicine I need down at the drug store. The clerk is so accommodatin' and recommends something for most anything that ails you. 
DocToR HEALTHWAY: That's very expensive treatment though and never will cure you of anything. I think I'd just throw away that medicine you have there and go and see Doctor Hudson. It'll cost you much less in the end. I'll send him a report on what I found and he'll probably give you both a treatment that will do the job in about five days if you take it faithfully. Then, get your screens fixed up and Mose will come out to help you with the pond if you want him. There may be a lot of places where the mosquitoes can breed-in holes left by the cows' feet, or in grassy pools along the bank. It may need a thorough going over. Let me know how you both get along. Wanta, you'll soon be coming up in weight and feeling as fit as a fiddle. M1ss GoonAKINn: I'll take them back by the pike where we can get a lovely view of the sunset, and it'll give Wanta a little extra ride and air. We'll get home before the mosquitoes come out. MRS. CRABBIE: Good-bye, Doctor. Thank you kindly. 
 
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SCENE III 
 
CHARACTERS: 
 
Doctor Healthway Miss Goodakind Mose KeetO Mrs. Doit 
 
Mrs. Public Spirit Miss Lerna Fast Miss Tellit U. Drainum 
 
PLACE: The Health Department Office. Meeting of the health committee of Robert E. Lee School. 
 
MRs. PuBLIC SPIRIT. (Presiding): Doctor Healthway, you say there seems to be an unusual number of children in our school that suffer from eye strain. What would you advise should be done? 
 
DocTOR HEALTHWAY: I believe if the shrubbery were cut down to the window levels and the walls were kalsomined a light shade it would make a heap of difference. The most urgent case in the school is Joe Brown. He should have an eye examination right away by a good eye man. Could the P.T.A. help on that and help with glasses if he has to have them? The family has nothing, hardly more than the food they eat and that's poor. 
 
MRs. PuBLIC SPIRIT: We have ten dollars from our quilt sale and we'd be glad to use it for Joe. I think I can get some white-wash for the walls and we'll have that done. 
 
Miss LERNA FAST: I'd like to say that we may need some help in getting something done out at the I. M. Crabbie farm. Wanta is looking worse than ever, and I hear her mother is flat on her back with chills and fever so the poor child has everything to do. Her father is set on buying a big sprayer for the bugs in his cotton field and insists he'll do nothing till that's paid for. I don't believe he realizes the child's condition or his wife's, either. Wanta is really a little genius, but she'll simply fade away if something isn't done soon. She's so white and has so little energy. Now we know she has malaria, but what can we do about it? 
MosE KEETo: (laughing) Of course there is a way to condemn the pond as a public nuisance! If there's a fine attached to it I expect we could get old man Crabbie! I suppose he'd rather put screens on his house or lose all his cotton than to pay a fine for violating what he calls a worthless public health law. He's funny! 
MRs. DoiT: I think we should swear out a charge and haul him into court. What do you think, Mrs. Tellit? 
MRS. TELLIT: I don't know about using force. I don't believe it ever 
 
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succeeds a hundred percent. What do you think about some of our committee going out and making a call? Maybe talking it over kind of peaceful-like would make a difference. Mr. Crabbie may not know how the community feels about his neglect of Wanta. 
U. DRAINUM: In a way, you know, Crabbie sets a big store by the kid! He was telling me the other day that Wanta had inherited all the talent of the whole family, and he wants her to grow up to be a professor of mathematics or something like that. I'll tell you something that I can do. I have a tankful of old crank-case oil that'll be good riddance to have out of my filling station. It's a fire hazard you know. I'll be glad to have Crabbie use it on his pond. I believe the old skin-flint will be bowled over! 
MRS. PuBLIC SPIRIT: That's kind of you, Mr. Drainum. If necessary we might get up a pie social, too, and raise money for screens for the house. But you see that would just antagonize him, since he really has the means to do it. 
Miss LERNA FAsT: I know it's true what you say about Mr. Crabbie's pride in Wanta. I believe that down underneath he really has a kind heart, and I think it's through Wanta that we'll get action there. I move that a committee go out to the Crabbie place next Thursday after school and, Mr. Drainum, will you have the barrel of oil in the back of your repair truck? Would you give the committee a lift out there? Most of us have no cars. 
MR. DRAINUM: I'd be pleased to. I'd like to see Miss Fast and Mrs. Public Spirit on the committee. 
MRs. PuBLIC SPIRIT: I think I could go, but I feel that Miss Fast should be our spokesman, and of course Wanta will be her right hand. Could you be ready at the Drainum Filling Station at 3 :30, Miss Fast? 
Miss FAsT: Yes, I'll be there. I'll come right over after school. 
 
SCENE IV 
 
CHARACTERS: Mr. I. M. Crabbie Mrs. Nora Crabbie Wanta Crabbie 
 
Mrs. Public Spirit Miss Lerna Fast Mr. U Drainum 
 
PLACE: Living room in the Crabbie farm house-3:30, Thursday. Mrs. Crabbie on a sofa having a chill. Wanta wrapping a flat iron up in a newspaper to put at her mother's feet. 
 
(A knock at the door. Wanta opens the door.) 
 
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WANTA: Oh Miss Fast! and Mrs. Spirit! Please come in. 
MRs. CRABBIE: Wanta, get some chairs from the kitchen. How do you do? 
MRs. Punuc SPIRIT: We have heard you were flat on your back, and knowing Wanta must have her hands full, we fixed up a little basket of some eats that we thought you all might enjoy. It's hard for a child to do the cooking and if Mr. Crabbie is like most men they aren't too fond of preparing the victuals. 
MRs. CRAnnm: Oh, that's so kind of you. Wanta, run out to the woodshed and ask your father to come in. 
(Mr. Crabbie enters, awkwardly removing his hat and wiping his hands on his overalls.) 
MRS. CRABBIE: Well, I'd say this is a surprise, and Wanta says there's a pack basket in the kitchen. Now I call that being neighborly. I shore do. 
MRS. CRABBIE: Wanta, the turkey flock's in the garden. Run and shoo 'em out. 
(Wanta goes out.) 
MR. CRAnnm: Wanta is a great help. I'm glad she's getting along so well in school. 
Miss LERNA FAsT: Yes, she is, Mr. Crabbie. Wanta is in the sixth grade now and she's by far the best pupil inhernumbers, and all around in fact, and what with fifty-five children I need a little help every day with the tiny tots. I've often looked at Wanta and thought I'd ask her to help, she's so nice with the children. But she tires so easily that I was afraid it might betoomuch for. her, Then, too when she's caring for her mother and cooking at home it's a good deal for her to do. 
Now I know Wanta will have a chance to rest and get well this summer, and in the fall would you be willing for her to be my first assistant in mathematics with the primary grades? It will give her some valuable experience and practice teaching and she'll be able to keep up her seventh grade work besides. We all think Wanta will make a marvelous teacher some day. 
U. DRAINUM: And knowing how figurin' runs in the Crabbie family we know you'd like to see the kid make good along the family line. 
MR. CRABBIE: What say, rna? It'd be kind of nice, don't you think? MRs. CRABBIE: But we'd have to start right away getting rid of them malaria bugs in her blood, and get some good screens to shut out any of the old mosquitoes. Then when I have the treatment too, I'll soon 
 
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be up and around cooking some good old mustard greens, and we can eat the eggs instead of bartering 'em at the drug store. 
U. DRAINUM: Oh yes, that makes me think, Mr. Crabbie. I have a whole barrel of waste oil that I don't need and it's just in the way. I brought it out in the truck thinking it might be useful on the pond down in the pasture lot. I used some on my place and got rid of all the mosquito wigglers double quick. 
MR. CRABBIE: But what about the cows-They're valuable Jerseys and I can't risk anything that'll make them sick. 
MR. DRAINUM: Well, in my own experience, the oil didn't hurt the cows at all. They just splash it away when they drink. I think Mose would be glad to come over and help you look over the pond and kind of advise you on it. He'll tell you about your screens, too, and just how they should be made. 
MR. CRABBIE: I had thought about that but you see my wagon being broke and the mules loaned out to a neighbor, I couldn't see my way to get to town. 
Maybe you would ask Mose to come out. I'd have an estimate on the screens, too, if I could get to town. I sold a pig last week and I'm holding the money to pay for the screens. 
MRs. CRABBIE: Oh Pa! Did you really? 
WANTA: (Who comes in in time to hear her father.) Oh goody! We're going to have screens too! Won't Dr. Healthway be glad! 
MRs. PuBLIC SPIRIT: We go right by the hardware store on our way back to town. Would you like us to give him a message? I expect he'd come out most any time and measure up the windows and doors for you. 
MR. CRABBIE: That would be right kind of you. By next week my wheel will be fixed and I'll put Ma and the kid in the wagon and take 'em to Dr. Hudson. I 'spect a broiler every week will pay for the treatments. I hear the new malaria treatment doesn't cost as much as the old kind. 
Miss LERNA FAST: Oh I'm so glad to know about all these plans, and all the children at scho.ol will be happy, too. We've been studying about malaria you know. Doctor Healthway told us about the wonderful new medicines that are being used now. We learned how to paste newspapers over cracks in the walls of the woodsheds and such places, to keep out mosquitoes and a lot of the children are doing it in 
 
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their homes. We'll all be so glad to know that Wanta is going to have her treatment and will soon be strong and well. And I'm going to look forward to having Miss Wanta Crabbie as "First Assistant in Mathematics'' for the Robert E. Lee School next year. 
WANTA: 0 goody! I'd just love to do that! 
MRs. PuBLIC SPIRIT: Well we've had a nice visit and we must be going. Mr. Drainum and Mr. Crabbie will want to slide off the oil barrel and then we must be off. The next time we see you, Mrs. Crabbie, you will be feeling fine I'm sure. Good-bye. 
MRS. CRABBIE: We shore enjoyed your visit. Come again. 
MR. C&ABBIE: Shore! Glad to have you. 
(Door closes) 
WANTA: (Delighted, jumping up and down and clapping her hands.) Mother, may I look in the basket? 
MRs. CRABBIE: Yes, dear, we'll have a nice supper. I always thought Miss Fast was a grand teacher. Now I know she is. Just as soon as the screens are up, we'll have our treatments and by fall we'll both be well and strong and I'll be so glad to be able to do things again. I must join the P. T. A. and get to work. They shore are fine folks! 
MR. CRABBIE: That sure was fine of them. I wish Grandpa Crabbie was here. He'd sure be proud of Wanta. 
 
CURTAIN