Footnote was moved to the article's first page, where it belongs. — Ineuw talk 10:25, 6 August 2017 (UTC) (Wikisource contributor note)
locality since then, and for the two years last past no further case has developed, so far as I have been able to find.
The agency of mosquitoes in the transmission of other febrile diseases is so definitely established that their economic importance as a menace to public health can not be doubted. Their agency in a number of other diseases is suspected with good reason. In New Jersey a recent amendment to the general health law classifies 'waters in which mosquito larvæ breed' among the nuisances over which local boards of health have summary jurisdiction, and we have the fullest powers under our law for dealing with the mosquito pest. Action under those powers is not yet the rule, but each year sees a greater advance in this direction.
The great bulk of the mosquitoes occurring in this section of our country are not agents for the transmission of any disease known to us; but their attacks may be, and often are, so annoying as to form a positive injury to the health of weak or sickly individuals by robbing them of sleep and by the constant irritation of their bites. To some persons the bite of a mosquito is really a serious matter and severe swelling and inflammatory conditions are caused. To nobody is it a pleasure to be bitten, and there is no point of view from which the insect is not a detriment to health and the pursuit of happiness.
Second: the influence on the agricultural development of an infested area. This is a point that is rarely referred to, and it is not realized that the character of a farming district may be substantially modified by mosquitoes. Dairying, or supplying milk for the markets of New York, Philadelphia and our own cities, is a very important industry in New Jersey, and a large portion of the Philadelphia supply comes from the southern part of that state. We have a stretch of land in one of these southern counties eminently adapted for dairying, and where herds have been in times past established again and again; but they never lasted long, simply because the incessant attacks by swarms of mosquitoes reduce the yield as well as the quality of milk to such an extent as to make the animals unprofitable. It has been necessary to change the type of agriculture in these areas to a less profitable one simply because of the mosquito pest.
Another section of our state, not far from the shore, is peculiarly adapted to the growing of small fruits, particularly berries of various kinds. These are very profitable and find a ready sale in the near-by resorts. But just about the time when these berries ripen, the country is apt to be flooded with swarms of mosquitoes from the salt marshes, and when they do come it is impossible to get pickers. Gangs of Italians have been brought down from Philadelphia, they have started in
