[Dr. Sternberg, Surgeon-General of the United States Army, is an investigator and author of distinction. His works include a "Manual of Bacteriology," a "Text-Book of Bacteriology," and "Immunity, Protective Inoculations and Serum-Therapy," all published by William Wood & Co., New York. The address which follows was delivered by Dr. Sternberg as president of the Philosophical Society of Washington, December 8, 1900. It appeared in the _Popular Science Monthly_, February, 1901, copyright, and is here reprinted by the kind permission of the editor of the _Monthly_ and the author. A book well worth reading in this connection is "Mosquitoes," by Leland O. Howard, Chief of the Division of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., and published by McClure, Phillips & Co., New York.] In my address as President of the Biological Society, in 1896, the subject chosen was "The Malarial Parasite and Other Pathogenic Protozoa." This address was published in March, 1897, in the _Popular Science Monthly_, and I must refer you to this illustrated paper for a detailed account of the morphological character of the malarial parasite. It is my intention at the present time to speak of "Malaria" in a more general way, and of the recent experimental evidence in support of Manson's suggestion, first made in 1894, that the mosquito serves as an intermediate host for the parasite. The discovery of this parasite may justly be considered one of the greatest achievements of scientific research during the nineteenth century. Twenty-five years ago the best informed physicians entertained erroneous ideas with reference to the nature of malaria and the etiology [inquiry into the causes] of the malarial fevers. Observation has taught them that there was something in the air in the vicinity of marshes in tropical regions, and during the summer and autumn in semi-tropical and temperate regions, which gave rise to periodic fevers in those exposed in such localities, and the usual inference was that this something was of gaseous form--that it was a special kind of bad air generated in swampy localities under favourable meteorological conditions. It was recognized at the same time that there are other kinds of bad air, such as the offensive emanations from sewers and the products of respiration of man and animals, but the term malaria was reserved especially for the kind of bad air which was supposed to give rise to the so-called malarial fevers. In the light of our present knowledge it is evident that this term is a misnomer. There is no good reason for believing that the air of swamps is any more deleterious to those who breathe it than the air of the sea coast or that in the vicinity of inland lakes and ponds. Moreover, the stagnant pools, which are covered with a "green scum" and from which bubbles of gas are given off, have lost all terrors for the