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living, by taking measures to prevent himself from being bitten by mosquitoes.
This has been proved, and at the present time is not doubted by any one
who is capable of forming an impartial opinion on the matter.
The chief precautions to be taken are:-
(1) Never go to sleep except under a good mosquito curtain.
(2) Never go out in the evening or sit in the house or verandah without
wearing sufficient clothes to protect the whole body from
mosquito bites.
Especial care should be taken to protect the feet and ankles by wearing
high boots or putties. The reason for this precaution will be obvious
to anyone who has lived in the tropics. Theoretically it would also be
necessary to protect the hands by wearing gloves and the face and
head by wearing a gauze net covering; but in actual practice it is un-
necessary to take these extreme precautions, because most people,
except during sleep, take care to prevent mosquitoes from biting their face
or hands.
In houses in tropical countries the beds should be broad and long so as to leave a
good space between the sleeper and the mosquito net. The net should be hung inside
the poles and the sides and ends should not trail on the ground, but be tucked under the
mattress. In houses where mosquito curtain poles have rot been provided it is easy
(if one has plenty of striag) to arrange one's curtain properly over the bed by hanging
it from nails in the wall at each corner of the room. If a bed is so small that the
sleeper's feet or parts of his body come against the net a strip of cloth about a foot wide
should be sewn round the net just above the level of the mattress so that mosquitoes
resting on the outside of the net cannot bite the sleeper through the meshes. The net
should be stretched tightly so that air may pass freely through it. After getting into
bed one should examine the inside of the net carefully and kill any mosquito found.
Anyone who carries out the principle of always protecting himself from
mosquito bites by the simple methods outlined above, can live in the most
malarious country with impunity. There are, however, certain additional
safeguards for the individual which no wise man would neglect.
The chief of these is an application of the prophylactic method known
as the "segregation of the European" which has already been referred to,
and of course is equally applicable to any individual native who chooses
to make use of it. Remembering that this method has its origin in the obser-
vations that natives in malarious districts are the chief source of danger,