How to Destroy the breeding places of mosquitoes.-every citizen should use his influence to have every village, city and state corporation appropriate money to eliminate all marshes by filling with soil, drain all stagnant streams and have kerosene oil spread on the surface of lakes, ponds or any other body of standing water, no matter how small. The object of using oil as to prevent the "wrigglers" and "tumblers" from getting air, for after leaving the eggs, they require air to develop. A film of oil prevents the "wrigglers" from getting the needed air and they are destroyed by choking. 1 ounce of oil is sufficient to cover 15 square feet of water. Oil should be applied and removed once a week during the breeding season. In standing water must be kept, screen the containers or keep tightly covered, so the females cannot deposit their eggs. Screen all doors and windows. But screams up early in the spring.

So finally in the last paragraph the author drops a bombshell about who actually destroy mosquitoes. Surprisingly, the recommended procedure is to essentially contaminate and poison lake streams and cons with oil. While that recommendation might possibly stifle the development of mosquitoes, which I am actually somewhat doubtful about, it would also stifle the health of anyone that wanted to benefit from drinking that water or any animals for that matter. So this case the concept of position do no harm seems to trigger a scenario where this remedy is worse than the original problem, even though the author did not understand this concept 100 years ago probably.  Today, it is common knowledge and even a oil futures broker would be hard pressed to recommend this tactic.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• BLADDER AND PART OF VAGINA.
  
  

  The function and form of the bladder are familiarly known. It is the recipient of the kidney secretions, and contains them till voided to the urinary canal. It is a tough, elastic structure, guarded at the exit by a contractile file, a means of which the urine can be retained until the quantity becomes excessive. The plate brings out the entire urinal tracks, from the bladder to the vagina, and presents a fine and useful anatomical and physiological study.

  Again within this section the author in his no-nonsense, concise and to the point and descriptive of process just enough, but not too much. The section is not terribly illuminating, and read somewhat like sixth grade biology report that lightly describes a topic but really doesn’t tell you any useful information. The lack of information as it can to using a light bulb from a hundred years ago versus using advanced halogen light today or possibly a high-end fixture such as kichler lighting. It just wasn’t a lot of information provided.

• Organic Impurities in Water
  
  

  Organic Impurities in Water. — a small quantity of organic matter of vegetable origin, that is to say, an amount not exceeding three grains to the gallon, is not generally found to be injurious, but even very minute quantities of organic material of animal origin, especially if this material is composed of the waste matters, such as urine or excrement, for man or animals, is the great cause of unwholesome nests of water. Probably one fourth of the sickness and death in civilized communities arises directly or indirectly from this one cause, and, unfortunately, even when we are fully forewarned of this imminent danger to health, it is exceedingly difficult and most thickly populated places to secure a source of water supply with which sewage has not been mingled.

   

  It is little wonder, that 100 years ago and even further back, people developed a taste for wine and other forms of alcohol, which essentially had to be distilled. This was one way to actually purify water or something drinkable, and help people avoid some of the issues that were probably readily found in the water supply of many urban areas.  If you were to travel back in time, and you were looking for a small business opportunity to earn a good living in the past, setting up some sort of water purification system, could definitely help a person earn a good living and possibly change the course of history not to mention decreasing the deaths of many children in newborns. In fact the war old would probably be more populous today, if it had not been for this issue.

• Fine View of Stomach Coatings
  
  

  Fine View of Stomach Coatings.  — On turning over the flap we obtain a very fine view of this remarkable membrane.  The areolar coat is placed between the mucous coats, and connects with both.  The muscular coat is very thick and stout, and composed of three sets of fibres,  the longitudinal, circular and oblique, which form three distinct layers.  The outer coat is a thin, smooth, transparent and elastic membrane, derived from the peritoneum, and well lubricated to prevent friction.  When the fibres of the muscular wall contract, a peculiar churning movement of the stomach is produced, thus securing the thorough mixing of its contents, that every particle may come into contact with the solvent properties of the gastric juice.

  _____________

  There’s not much to say about the section however from a chemistry perspective I wonder if the author understood what comprise the gastric juice.  Biology was never my strong suit however I seem to recall from chemistry class that hydrochloric acid is the actual chemical that constitutes the majority of the gastric juice,  I can’t remember what strength of HCl is in the stomach, but as I recall the lining of the stomach is strong enough to hold it without being burnt or damaged.  I must’ve missed the lesson that explained why your throat and esophagus and possibly your nostrils are burned when items in your stomach go the wrong way. 

  There are a lot of things that of been learned over the last 100 years and I want to mention that I’m not trying to point out the ignorance of the writer or the author or even demonstrate my own ignorance, I’m just trying to remark on the evolution of thought in the change that’s taken place over a hundred years.  I’m comparing the written knowledge of medical professionals as compared to a layman today.  It’s an apples to oranges comparison, or maybe a different way to put it with an even worse analogy is that it’s stone tool cutting versus a  plasma cutting way of achieving the same result.  The irony is that some stone tools actually have sharper and more precise blades and many of the tools that we’ve created over the last 100 years, and so I recognize that there are some things that we may have learned over the last 100 years that are actually a step backwards.  Maybe with a little bit of luck, if I find it in this book I’ll actually know it when I see it.