Laughs Save Lives

For some time the Army has been laboring in vain to make its soldiers realize the dangers of malaria and the necessary means of prevention. After a deluge of formal technical field manuals had failed to accomplish their purpose, the Army turned the matter over to Major W. Munro Leaf, author of the famed "Ferdinand the Bull," now public relations consultant to the Army Medical Corps. Major Leaf got together with Captain Theodor S. Geisel '25, known throughout the country as the celebrated bug cartoonist, Dr. Seuss, and the result was "This Is Ann," an official Army story book. The good "Doctor," on duty with the Special Services Division, has done the illustrations for Major Leaf's amusing biography of "Ann" (anopheles mosquito), and it seems as though the two humorists have at last succeeded in conveying to American soldiers fighting in the tropics the necessity for observing the many precautions which the Medical Corps recommends. This is just one more example of the way in which American talent and ingenuity have been turned to the war effort. Congratulations to Ted Geisel, Major Leaf, and the Army Chiefs of Staff who recognized that even nonsense can save lives.