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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON']

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5. I have a collection of mosquitoes caught at various periods of the year at Government House, but the anopheles does not exist among them, nor have I seen this insect during my wanderings about the Island, except in the solitary instance men- tioned above.

6. In regard to the suggestion that a bacteriologist should be appointed, I do not think this is at all necessary in the case of the Bahamas; the connection of the anopheles and malaria appears to have been fully demonstrated, and a further study of the mosquito as it exists in the Bahamas is not likely to lead to additional enlight- enment:

7. I trust, however, as an official with a more than usually wide experience of malarious countries, that I may be permitted to make a few remarks upon the general question based upon my own observations, mostly in West Africa, and which are admittedly made from a common sense rather than from a scientific point of view.

8. I may say at once that while I entirely believe in the faculty attributed to the anopheles of communicating malarial germs to the individual, yet I cannot concede to this insect the sole responsibility of infecting the human subject, which has been charged to it upon high scientific authority.

9. My attention was drawn to the anopheles mosquito first of all in 1884. when I was serving in the Gambia. It was the practice of Europeans, both official and otherwise, to seck change, especially in the rainy season, at a place at the mouth of the river in British Combo, known as Cape St. Mary, and it was frequently remarked that cither while there, or after return to Bathurst, an attack of fever supervened. Both before and after I became Administrator that Colony, I was a frequent visitor at Cape St. Mary, and invariably noticed in the rainy season that the type of mosquito was entirely different from that found in Bathurst, and was unquestion- ably the anopheles; the position of the insect in repose was very characteristic, and the puncture of the proboscis was followed (in my case) with much greater irritation than occurred after attentions from the ordinary culex. Although personally I never was attacked by fever owing to my residence at Cape St. Mary, yet there can be little doubt that the anopheles were the cause of the fever so frequently observed in

others.

10. During the nine years I spent in Gambia I only had one serious attack of fever, though it was quite impossible for any European to spend a whole rainy season in that Colony without an experience of the condition known as run down;" this condition in most people was accompanied by a rise in temperature, though in my case this symptom was absent almost invariably,

11. I attribute my serious attack of fever to a cause quite apart from the anopheles, and personally I have no doubt that it occurred owing to an inspection of some foul drains in the process of being cleaned out, and from which there was a very evil-smelling effluvium. Although I suffered from no organic complications, the fever was very severe (though fortunately of an intermittent type) and proved very intractable; this fever was followed by carbuncular eruptions, thus proving blood- poisoning of unusual virulence.

12. I mention this in support of my own theory that malarial fever can be acquired by other agencies than the intervention of the anopheles.

13. At times in the town of Nassau there exists malarial fever, though as a rule not of a bad type. I cannot believe that this is in any way due to the anopheles, in view of the great rarity of this insect. I understand that my predecessor used to have periodical attacks of malarial fever in this house, but as before stated I have never seen an anopheles in the house, nor have I ever met one in the 20 acres of grounds attached thereto, though I have interested myself in entomological pursuits during my leisure ever since I have been in the Island.

14. There can be no question, I think, that the effects of malaria vary in different individuals, and that there are some people who are practically immune, though I am one of those who believe that there is no such thing as "acclimatisation" in regard to malarious environment.

15. There are, in my view, two potent means of acquiring malarial fever in West Africa, apart from the anopheles. The first, and perhaps the most certain, is chill, following upon getting wet, and the second is exposure to the sun without

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proper protection to the head and back of the neck. Every experienced West African has noticed this quality in 'the sun, and many have acquired the knowledge with serious results. Nevertheless there are those who are able to expose themselves to the sun with impunity, and others who can get wet and chilled without contracting fever. The late Sir John Glover invariably wore a round skull cap in the sun while at Lagos, and lived to rule other Colonies, though, it is true, he died comparatively young. Apart, however, from individual idiosyncrasy, there is one method which stands out above all others as the most effective to preserve health in West Africa and other malarial climates, and that is strict temperance and the observance of ordinary rules of hygiene. I believe that even the anopheles can be defied, given this simple condition. Isolated cases will doubtless occur of strong, healthy, tem- perate nien, succumbing rapidly to a pernicious attack of fever, but these are the exceptions, and the steady man unquestionably stands the best chance, enjoys his life more, and does the most valuable work.

16. I had the privilege of serving under two Governors in West Africa whose example was of the greatest service to me in my own career. One was the late Sir Arthur Kennedy, and the other (I am glad to say) the present Sir George Berkeley. Neither of these distinguished officers spent a day in bed from illness during their service in West Africa while I was associated with them, but they both exercised that "prudent, cautious self-control" which is "wisdom's root." It can hardly be supposed that these gentlemen entirely escaped the attentions of mos- quitoes, nor that those which attacked them were invariably non-infected.

17. In West Africa it is of the first importance to keep the digestive apparatus in good order. I think it is not too much to say that the majority of men are careless in regard to this matter, and many are imprudent both in regard to stimulants, and what is equally important, in regard to the food they eat. It is true that the question of suitable food is always a difficulty in West Africa, and the various meats procurable do not contain the same nourishing properties as this class of food in more favoured climates; nevertheless, if an intelligent interest is manifested in these matters, much can be done to secure good and sufficiently wholesome meat of various kinds. In the Gambia, Sierra Leone and in Lagos there is an excellent fish supply. The heavy surf on the Gold Coast interferes with the fishing industry, and so far as my own experience went, the supply there was irregular and unreliable.

18. In the absence of proper attention to questions of diet, digestive troubles' almost invariably supervene, when there comes a tendency in many people to resort to stimulants in the erroneous belief that this is a remedy for the depression and discomfort which is experienced in almost all forms of indigestion. This treatment, of course, only intensifies the mischief, and a state of chronic irritation of the stomach is the usual result, laying the foundation of most of the evils from which Europeans suffer in West Africa. Troubles of the liver and spleen surely follow, and it is at this stage that the introduction into the system of malarial germs, either through the medium of the anopheles, or by some other agency, is pretty sure to be succeeded by an increase of the temperature, and the condition known as malarial fever.

19. It must, I think, be admitted that malarial fever does not invariably follow from a bite by an infected anopheles. To cite my own case, I may mention that I spent over eighteen months in Sierra Leone before being attacked with fever. I never used a mosquito net on board the ship in which I mainly lived, though mos- quitoes were always more or less present, nevertheless every European in this ship except myself had one or more attacks within this period, and I can only account for my immunity from the fact that I took a great deal of exercise, lived well, avoided stimulants except in moderation at meal times, and practically eschewed alcohol in its more potent forms altogether. This practice I kept up during my long connection with West Africa, and to this I believe I owe the fact that I came out of it, not, perhaps, undeteriorated, but at any rate brganically sound, and bearing favourable comparison with most men of my age whose lives have been spent amidst more healthy surroundings.

20. In the intervals of residential service which I spent in West Africa during my 23 years' connection with this region, I have no difficulty in localizing all the fevers of any consequence from which I suffered, and in spite of the experts, I do not believe that the anopheles was responsible for any of them, unless it is certain that the germs communicated to the blood by this insect are able to lie dormant and innocuous, until such time as they are stirred into baneful action by fresh influences such as chill, undue exposure to the sun, or other unfavourable conditions.

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