ENTOMOLOGY

SANITARY ENTOMOLOGYC~APTER IHow Insects Can Carry or Cause Disease 1W. Dwight PierceOur nation, as well as all our world civilization, is facing the greatestcrisis in its existence in these days of reconstruction. We must conservehuman energy and keep it at its greatest possible point of efficiency.This means ab~ve all that questions of health are foremosttoday.Entomology bears a twofold relationship to health. Adequate foodsupply upon which human and animal health are contingent is dependentto a greater or less degree upon insect depredations. This is the side ofentomology which has in the past received most of the recognition, thatis, agricultural entomology. It has been generally recognized that insectsalso bear a direct relationship to health, but the public has more or lessdiscounted the relationship, with the result that our public appropriationsfor the study of insects affecting crops are approximately thirtytimes as great as the appropriations for the study of insects affectingthe health of man and animals. The present course of lectures aims togive the latest views in this almost unworked field of medical entomology,with a view toward demonstrating the necessity of obtaining a betterbalance in the two great phases of economic entomology.The scope of the course embraces studies of the relationship ofinsects to disease, the life history of the insects which cause disease,and the best methods of prevention of disease cap.sation by insects. Itis intended to be placed in the hands of the men who will conduct workalong these lines:. to show them why insects are dangerous, how they aredangerous, what their habits disclose as weak points subject to attack,and finally, how to go about controlling them.In my opinion the near future will see a group of professional sanitaryentomologists whose services will be available to solve the insect prob-1 This lecture was given on May 20, 1918, and mimeographed copies were distributedMay 22. It has been considerably revised for the present course.19