The Scientific Monthly, October to December, 1915Various
Science
The Scientific Monthly, October to December, 1915
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
Lazear told us, however, that while at "Las Animas" Hospital
the previous Thursday (five days before), as he was holding a
test-tube with a mosquito upon a man's abdomen, some other
insect which was flying about the room rested upon his hand; at
first, he said, he was tempted to frighten it away, but, as it
had settled before he had time to notice it, he decided to let
it fill and then capture it; besides, he did not want to move
in fear of disturbing the insect contained in his tube, which
was feeding voraciously. Before Lazear could prevent it, the
mosquito that bit him on the hand had flown away. He told us in
his lucid moments, that, although Carroll's and Dean's cases
had convinced him of the mosquito's role in transmitting yellow
fever, the fact that no infection had resulted from his own
inoculation the month before had led him to believe himself, to
a certain extent, immune.
How can I describe the agony of suspense which racked our souls
during those six days? It seemed to us as though a life was
being offered in sacrifice for the thousands which it was to
contribute in saving. Across the span of thirteen years the
memory of the last moments comes to me most vividly and
thrilling, when the light of reason left his brain and shut out
of his mind the torturing thought of the loving wife and
daughter far away, and of the unborn child who was to find
itself fatherless on coming to the world.
Tuesday, the twenty-fifth of September saw the end of a life
full of promise; one more name, that of Jesse W. Lazear, was
graven upon the portals of immortality. And we may feel justly
proud for having had it, in any way, associated with our own.
The state of mind in which this calamity left us may better be
imagined than described. The arrival of Major Reed several days
after in a great measure came to relieve the tensity of our
nerves and render us a degree of moral support of which we were
sorely in need.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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