142 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY
concerning which Eoss wrote the first scientific treatise in 1902.^^ On the Oold Coast^ in 1901^ the streets were thoroughly drained^ hollows in the ground were filled with ruhble and earth, and all breeding places for mosquitoes were obliterated in 6,000 houses at Free Town. The BritisB Bank of West Africa even opened a tropical sanitation fund. All this was accomplished through the propagandism of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. But the crown of its achievement was to come at Ismailia, where, for ihe first tiqie, assistance was obtained from the government itself. Ismailia, a sleepy, picturesque little town, on the shores of Lake Timsah, destined by De Lesseps to be the headquarters of the Suez Canal Company, was supplied with fresh water by a shallow canal from the Nile, built in 1877 and deepened for the passage of canal boats in 1882. This canal being further used to irrigate the desert and the outlying parks and gardens, much of the water ran to waste forming shallow marshes and ponds in and about the town.
With the marshes came the moBquitoes; and with the mosquitoes came the fever, and with the fever came — the downfaHn
When malaria first appeared in 1877, there were 300 cases from August to December, out of a population of 10,000. By 1891, nearly 2,600 cases were reported and about 2,000 cases were treated annually. The town fell into decadence.
Men, both Europeans and natives were nnable to work, children were always ill, the death rate increased, while the birth rate felL Every one was down with fever, and trade was soon at a standstilL The government offices were closed and were ultimately moved to Port Said.i>
Boss arrived at the Suez Canal on September 12, 1902, in company with Sir William MacOregor, governor of Lagos, and immediately set about the task of mosquito reduction. The shallow pools and puddles the gardens and yards, and the cesspools under the houses were obliterated or treated with petroleum by the mosquito brigade, the marshes were drained, the canals and channels were cleared of reeds and other obstruc- tions to fiowing water, all water vessels, tubs and flower vases were emptied systematically, all breeding places of anophelines were visited and treated at stated intervals and penalties were imposed upon the townspeople who neglected to report faulty conditions. After an ex- penditure of 50,000 francs ($10,000), the anophelines were destroyed, and malaria disappeared, but an annual outlay of about $5,000 is neces- sary to keep the place healthy for " if the mosquito brigade stops work for a week, the mosquitoes return.'* The natives now call Igmftilift '* El turba e* nadeefa*' (the clean tomb), because, like ancient Greece, it has never recovered from the blow dealt by malaria.
10 Boss, "Mosquito Brigades and How to Organize Them," London and New York, 1902.
11 Eoss, " The Prevention of Malaria,*' Lond., 1910, p. 500. la Op. cit,, p. 500.
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