View report page

38
A fair number of representatives from the various districts
abutting on the Forest, as well as a good many of the Forest Commissioners,
attended.
A paper was read by Dr. Brook, Medical Officer of Health
for Chingford, in which he embodied a Report by Dr. Ross, of the
Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, an acknowledged
authority on mosquitoes.
Dr. Thresh, the County Medical Officer of Health, also contributed
certain facts.
Several lay speakers testified to the nuisance caused by these
insects in the neighbourhood of the Forest.
The following is a general summary of the facts :—
The mosquitoes which infest the Forest and its surroundings
are of the variety "Culex."
The mosquitoes which convey the germs of Malaria, Yellow
Fever, etc., viz., the Anopheles and the Stegomyia Fasciata, have
not been found hereabouts. But as 100 years or so ago Essex and
the Fen country were malarial districts, the possibility of invasion
of the district by this former variety must not be lost sight of.
The female mosquito lays her eggs in stagnant water. When
the eggs hatch out the resulting larva; swim about in the water,
but they have frequently to come to the surface to breathe, and
it has been found that by covering the surface of the water with
oil of some kind, e.g., paraffin, the larvae are drowned.
Any collections of stagnant water, rain water butts, pools,
ponds, etc., form favourable breeding places for mosquitoes.
From the time the eggs are laid till they become the mature
insects, a period of ten days elapses.
Consequently if vessels used for storing water are emptied
weekly, the larvae are destroyed.