Replies

On June 25, 1901 Walter Reed arrived at Columbia Barracks in Quemados about six miles from Havana. Major Reed attended Major Jefferson R. Kean, Chief Surgeon of the Department of Western Cuba, who had himself contracted the disease and fortunately recovered. Then Doctor James Carroll and Major Reed set out enthusiastically to prove Sanaraelli's theory. By August, 1900 however they had found no causal relationship between Bacillus icteroides, a member of the hog-cholera group, and yellow fever.

Agramonte, Lazear, and Carroll at Camp Columbia Barracks, July-August 1900. It is likely that Reed was in the United States finishing the typhoid report when this photograph was taken (Hench-Reed Collection, CMHSL, UVA).

The Board then turned its attention to the theory of Dr. Carlos Juan Finlay and examined it more carefully. For nineteen years this resident of Havana had contended that yellow fever was carried in the body of a common house mosquito which at that time was called Culex fasciatus, later Stegomyia fasciata,and is now known as Aedes aegypti. This theory had been expounded even earlier, but it was Finlay who was its staunchest exponent. However, after some 100 experimental innoculations had failed to produce any cases of the disease under strict laboratory control, Finlay was scoffed at; people referred to him as the "mosquito man." There was evidence, however, that tended to lend credence to this theory which even the Yellow Fever Board, optimistic though it was, had doubted. First of all, the disease skipped erratically from house to house, jumping around corners. One member of a household might contract the disease while others in close contact never became ill or did so after a period of about two weeks had elapsed. This was quite unlike any other infectious disease except malaria which had already been shown to be spread by the Anopheles mosquito.

Carlos J. Finlay (1833-1915).
Ridiculed by his associates as "The Mosquito Man," Finlay tried for nearly twenty years to win support for his theory (Hench-Reed Collection, CMHSL, UVA).

The Board then decided that the best way to study yellow fever was not by searching for a specific agent but rather by identifying the means by which the fever was transmitted. For this purpose Major Reed organized the Board in the following manner: Major Reed himself was in charge of the entire project; Dr. James Carroll was in charge of bacteriology; Dr. Jesse W. Lazear was in charge of the experimental mosquitoes; and Dr. Aristedes Agramonte was in charge of pathology.

Dr. Lazear had recently been working with malarial mosquitoes and attacked his duties with great enthusiasm in view of the information he read concerning the observations of Dr. Henry R. Carter of the Marine Hospital Service (now the Public Health Service). Dr. Carter had observed that it took two or three weeks for the first case of yellow fever to produce the next case in a community. On the basis of this observation, he suspected that an insect might be the intermediary since this would account for the delay in transmission as the disease ripened in the mosquito. Dr. Finlay had given some of the black, cigar-shaped eggs to the Board, and Lazear allowed them to hatch. It wasn't difficult to maintain a supply since the mosquitoes bred in any clean, still water. Dr. Carroll then volunteered to be bitten and promptly developed a successful case of yellow fever which was experimentally defective since there may have been other sources of contamination. Carroll luckily recovered and went on with his work in bacteriology. Next, Lazear asked Private William Dean of Ohio if he would consent to be bitten. Answering that he wasn't "afraid of any little old gnat" Dean permitted the female Aedes aegypti to dine on him. He developed the first successful case and recovered. Dr. Lazear allowed himself to be bitten and, after several days of delirium and black vomit, died - a true martyr to science. He had been working in Las Animas Hospital in Havana.

Major Aristides Agramonte

Major Reed, although grieved at Lazear's death, was excited at the prospect of successfully tracking down the secret of the fever. Dr. Lazear's notebook, found by Lieutenant Albert E. Truby (later Brigadier General), yielded the key. In it, through the carefully recorded controlled experiments, Walter Reed found that in order for a mosquito to become infected, it had to bite a yellow fever patient during the first three days of his illness; only during that time was the agent present in the bloodstream. Further, it required at least twelve days for the agent to ripen in the female mosquito (only the female aegypti draws blood) and migrate to her salivary glands before the fever could be passed to another person.

Las Animas Hospital Ambulance, Havana, ca. 1900 (Hench-Reed Collection, CMHSL, UVA)

In October 1900, Major Reed was able to announce to the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association that "the mosquito serves as the intermediate host for the parasite of yellow fever."

Leonard Wood (1860-1927).
Americans considered Wood's administration in Cuba highly effective. In 1920, he nearly won the Republican nomination for president (Photo by U.S. Army Signal Corps; print acquired by Philip S. Hench).

These two cases, although sufficient to convince the Yellow Fever Board that they were at last experiencing some success, were not enough for the thorough scientific mind of Walter Reed, nor would they be for a public which the press had instructed in the "foolishness" of the mosquito theory. With the express permission of General Leonard Wood, Governor General of Cuba, Camp Lazear, named for their fallen comrade, was established on November 20, 1900. Moreover, General Wood authorized the Board to use and pay American and Spanish volunteers for the experiments since at this time yellow fever was thought to be a disease afflicting only humans. Dr. Carroll had exhausted the list of experimental animals, rats and the like normally used for scientific research, failing to produce any cases of the fever in them. In addition to the mosquito theory, Dr. Reed also desired to disprove the seemingly fallacious belief that yellow fever could be transmitted and induced from clothing and bedding soiled by the excrement of yellow fever sufferers. These articles were known as fomites and were commonly thought to carry the disease. Just as "everybody knew" that the mosquito theory was foolish, so "everybody knew" that fomites were dangerous.

In November, 1900, Camp Lazear was established one mile from Quemados and placed under strict quarantine. At this experimental station Private John R. Kissinger permitted himself to be bitten and promptly developed the first case of controlled experimental yellow fever. This case has been deemed as important to medical science as Robert Koch's discovery of the tubercle bacillus and the development of the diphtheria anti-toxin. Kissinger and John J. Moran had volunteered on condition that they would receive no gratuities, performing their service "solely in the interest of science and the cause of humanity."

Jesse W. Lazear (1866-1900)

Then, in order to prove the theory for all time and to destroy the fomite myth, two specially constructed buildings were erected in Camp Lazear. Building Number One, or the "Infected Clothing Building," was composed of one room, 14 x 20 feet heated by a stove to ninety-five degrees. For twenty nights Dr. Robert P. Cooke and Privates Folk and Jernegan hung offensive clothing and beefing around the walls. They slept on sheets and pillows befouled by the blood and vomit of yellow fever victims. Not one of the volunteers contracted the disease. On December 19, 1900, they were relieved by Privates Hanberry and England who, in turn, were finally relieved by Privates Hildebrand and Andrus. From November 30, 1900 to January 10, 1901 the experiment ran to completion, disproving the fomite theory of transmission and thereby demonstrating the uselessness of destroying the personal effects of yellow fever victims, thus saving thousands of dollars in property.

The first volunteer at Camp Lazear was Private John R. Kissinger. Kissinger, an Ohioan from Truby’s hospital corps, developed yellow fever on December 8, 1900, after being bitten by several infected mosquitoes. He recovered ten days later, but the disease left permanent damage. He was granted a disability discharge the following year. In 1910, Congress rewarded Kissinger with a $100 per month pension for his services (Photo in Hench-Reed Collection, CMHSL, UVA).

The second building was similarly constructed and was called the "Infected Mosquito Building." It was divided into two parts separated by a screen with screens on the windows as well. Mr. John Moran, a clerk in General Fitzhugh Lee's office, was bitten by fifteen infected mosquitoes, developed the fever and recovered. The other volunteers who were separated, and thereby protected by the screen, escaped infection. Ten cases were produced in this manner.

Mr. John J. Moran, a civilian clerk in General Fitzhugh Lee’s headquarters, was bitten just six days after Kissinger, but he did not develop yellow fever. Moran later volunteered to be confined in Camp Lazear’s "Infected Mosquito Building." There he was bitten repeatedly by fifteen contaminated mosquitoes. On Christmas Day, 1900, he fell ill with yellow fever. Moran survived. Forty years later he assisted Dr. Philip S. Hench in his search for the actual site of Camp Lazear (Photo in Hench-Reed Collection, CMHSL, UVA).

Yellow fever was produced in the bodies of twelve more American and Spanish volunteers either by direct mosquito bites or by injections of infected blood or blood serum. These injections proved that the specific agent of yellow fever is in the blood and that passage through the body of a mosquito is not necessary to its development.

Dr. Philip S. Hench with Mr. John J. Moran (right) at Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, January 1944. Moran was one of several volunteers to be bitten by infected Aedes mosquitoes at Camp Lazear (Hench-Reed Collection, CMHSL, UVA).

The courage of the volunteers is inestimable. A unique honor helps keep alive the memory of the twenty-four gallant men who participated in this experiment. In 1929 Congress awarded a special gold medal to each man or his next of kin. Had it not been for Major Reed's fair and thoroughly scientific approach to the problem and misconceptions concerning the disease, especially the whole contagion theory, yellow fever might have continued for years. As a result of the Yellow Fever Board's success, Colonel William Crawford Gorgas, then Chief Sanitary Officer for the Department of Cuba, rid the island of this longtime pestilence. Realizing that the mosquitoes never stray far from human dwelling places in order to get their meals of blood necessary for them to lay their eggs, Colonel Gorgas organized inspection parties to check all homes in Havana for possible breeding places, insuring that the only standing water in the homes was needed for family use and properly screened. All other water receptacles were to be emptied. Later he applied the same techniques in the Canal Zone, freeing it of fever, permitting the United States to complete the Panama Canal so vital for commerce and deployment of the Pacific fleet. Thus the menace which had struck the United States every year since 1648, from Pensacola to Nantucket Island, was eradicated. There would be no more epidemics such as that in Memphis in 1878 which cost the country one hundred million dollars.

Hospital Corps Detachment at Camp Columbia, Havana, September 1900. Most of the volunteers for the yellow fever experiments came from this unit. Lt. Albert E. Truby, unit commander, is seated in the front row, second from left (Hench-Reed Collection, CMHSL, UVA).

In February, 1901 Walter Reed returned to the United States where he was an instant success in medical circles. All through the acclaim he remained modest and reserved. His constant hope of doing something to relieve the suffering of mankind had been fulfilled; his dedication to duty, sound judgment, and thorough scientific methods was an inspiration to the deans of medical research.

"Conquerors of Yellow Fever"
In 1900, Major Walter Reed was given the responsibility of finding the cause of yellow fever and eliminating it. After many unsuccessful experiments, he decided to test an old but unproven theory that the disease was transmitted by mosquitos. Unfortunately, no animal was known to be susceptible to yellow fever at the time, so it was necessary to use human volunteers. In the painting, Dr. Lazear, who died a month later as a result of self-experimentation, is shown inoculating Dr. Carroll with an infected mosquito, The experiment proved conclusively that the mosquito was the carrier of yellow fever.

In the summer of 1901, Dr. Carroll proved that the specific agent of yellow fever was sub-microscopic and too small to be caught in the pores of the diatomaceous filter that retained bacteria. Thus the last key to the disease was found. Carroll had proved through a series of innoculations that a filterable virus could cause disease in man. The Board's discoveries were confirmed by the Board of Health of Havana and later a commission of the Pasteur Institute confirmed the agent's filterability. In 1927 it was found that certain species of monkeys were susceptible to the virus, thereby eliminating the need for human subjects. In 1937 a vaccine against yellow fever, called 17-D, was produced by scientists of the International Health Division of the Rockefeller Foundation. The use of this vaccine became routine in the United States Army in 1942. Since yellow fever is still endemic in the jungles of Central America and Africa where anti-mosquito measures are almost impossible, the fever still exists. A distinction is therefore made between "urban" yellow fever which is under control and the jungle variety which persists. As yet there is no cure for the disease, only innoculation against it.

Dr. Philip S. Hench with Walter Reed's wife, Ms. Emilie L. Reed (left), and daughter, Ms. Emilie "Blossom" Reed (right), examining Walter Reed's Congressional Medal, January 1942 (Hench-Reed Collection, CMHSL, UVA).

After his return to the United States in February, 1901, Dr. Reed served again as professor of pathology and bacteriology at the Columbian (George Washington) University Medical School and as professor of bacteriology in the Army Medical School (the present Walter Reed Army Institute of Research). In the summer of 1901 he was awarded two honorary degrees: a Master of Arts from Harvard University and a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Michigan. He was appointed librarian of the Surgeon General's library on November 1, 1902. His duties sapped his strength and, following an appendectomy, he died of peritonitis on November 23, 1902. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. On his simple monument is inscribed the following epitaph, taken from the remarks of President Eliot when Harvard University conferred the Master of Arts degree: "He gave to man control over that dreadful scourge, yellow fever."

Additional Sources:

www.med.virginia.edu
wrair-www.army.mil
www.congressionalgoldmedal.com
www.personal.psu.edu
www.humanprint.com

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on September 05:
1187 Louis VIII [Coeur-de-Lion] king of France (1223-26)
1638 Louis XIV the great, king of France (1643-1715)
1791 Giacomo Meyerbeer Vogelsdorf Germany, composer (Golt Und Die Natur)
1847 Jesse James Missouri, outlaw
1875 Napoleon "Larry" Lajoie RI, hall of fame shortstop (.426 in 1901)
1892 Joseph Szigeti Budapest Hungary, violinist (Violinist Notebook 1933)
1901 Florence Elridge actress (Long Days Journey into the Night)
1902 Darryl F Zanuck Hollywood producer & motion picture executive
1905 Arthur Koestler Hungary, writer (Darkness at Noon)
1908 Joaqu¡n Nin-Culmell Berlin, Germany, Cuban/Spanish composer
1912 John Cage LA, Calif, composer (Silence) & fraud
1914 Gail Kubik South Coffeyville, Okla, composer (Gerald McBoing Boing)
1917 Jack Buetel Dallas Tx, actress (The Outlaw, Half Breed)
1921 Jack Valenti Pres of Motion Picture Assn of America
1923 Arthur C Nielsen market researcher (TV's Nielsen's Ratings)
1927 Paul Volcker Federal Reserve chairman
1929 Andrian G Nikolayev USSR, cosmonaut (Vostok III Soyuz 9)
1929 Bob Newhart Oak Park Ill, comedian (Bob Newhart Show, Newhart)
1934 Carol Lawrence Illinois, dancer/actress (Dean Martin Summer Show)
1935 Werner Erhard Phila, founded EST
1937 William Devane Albany NY, actor (Family Plot, Missles of October)
1939 John Stewart San Diego Ca, rocker (Kingston Trio-Fire in the Wind)
1940 Raquel Welch Chic Ill actress/5 star babe(Myra Breckenridge, 1,000,000 BC, 100 Rifles)
1942 Eduardo Mata Mexico City Mexico, conductor (Improvisaciones)
1945 Al Stewart Glasgow Scotland, rocker (The Year of the Cat)
1946 Freddie Mercury rock vocalist (Queen-We are the Champions)
1950 Cathy Guisewite cartoonist (Cathy)
1952 Graham Salmon blind runner (fastest 100m by a blind man)
1956 Steve Denton world's fastest tennis serve-138 mph)
1960 Willie Gault bob sledder/NFL receiver (Chicago Bears, LA Raiders)
1964 Kristian Alfonso actress (Days of our Lives, Falcon Crest)
1965 Christopher Nolan Ireland, handicapped writer (Under Eye of Clock)
1967 Michele Ebadi Omaha Nebraska, Miss Nebraska-America (1991)
1969 Dweezil Zappa rocker/son of Frank Zappa/MTV VJ

Deaths which occurred on September 05:
1548 Catharine Parr (36), queen of England and last wife of Henry VIII, died
1566 Suleiman I, the Great Law Giver, sultan of Turkey
(1520-66), dies
1683 Jean-Baptiste Colbert, French Minister of Navy, dies
1859 W Friedrich Olivier, German landscape painter, dies
1877 Crazy Horse, [Tashunka Witko], last great Sioux war chief, dies
1969 Mitchell Ayres orch leader (Hollywood Palace), dies at 58
1980 Barbara Loden actress (Ernie Kovacs Show), dies at 48
1981 Ayatollah Ali Qoddusi prosecutor-general of Iran, assassinated
1995 James "Pigmeat" Jarrett, pianist, dies at 95
1997 Hungarian-born conductor Sir George Solti (b.1912) dies at age 84

1997 Mother Teresa (Gonxhe Bojaxhiu) (b.1910),dies of heart failure in Calcutta.

Take A Moment To Remember
GWOT Casualties

Iraq
05-Sep-2004 4 | US: 4 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Private 1st Class Ryan Michael McCauley Baghdad (Sadr City) Hostile - hostile fire
US Staff Sergeant Gary A. Vaillant Khaldiyah (nr. Fallujah) - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Specialist Charles R. Lamb Log. Base Seitz (W. of Baghdad) Hostile - hostile fire - mortar attack
US Sergeant Shawna M. Morrison Log. Base Seitz (W. of Baghdad) Hostile - hostile fire - mortar attack

Afghanistan
A GOOD DAY

http://icasualties.org/oif/
Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
//////////
Go here and I'll stop nagging.
http://soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php

On this day...
1519 2nd Battle of Tehuacingo, Mexico: Hernan Cortes vs Tlascala Aztecs
1622 Richelieu becomes Cardinal
1666 The Fire of London is extinguished after two days.
1774 1st Continental Congress assembles, in Philadelphia
1778 Gideon Olmstead and 3 fellow Americans take over the British sloop Active and sail it toward the New Jersey coast, where it was intercepted by the American brig Convention, owned by the state of Pennsylvania. A state court ruled the sloop a prize of the state. An appeals committee overturned the Philadelphia court. Olmstead spent the next 30 years fighting for his claim and won in 1808
1781 Battle of Virginia Capes, French defeat British, traps Cornwallis
1804 In a daring night raid, American sailors under Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, board the captured USS Philadelphia and burn the ship to keep it out of the hands of the Barbary pirates who captured her.
1836 Sam Houston elected president of the Republic of Texas
1867 The first shipment of cattle leaves Abilene, Kansas, on a Union Pacific train headed to Chicago.
1862 Lee crosses the Potomac & enters Maryland
1867 The first shipment of cattle left Abilene, Kansas, on a Union Pacific train headed to Chicago
1877 Southern blacks led by Pap Singleton settle in Kansas
1878 Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Bill Tilghman and Clay Allison, four of the West's most famous gunmen, met in Dodge City, Kansas
1882 10,000 workers march in 1st Labor Day parade in NYC
1884 The Merritt brothers discover Iron ore in Minnesota's Mesabi Range (the largest deposit of iron ore in the world)
1885 1st gasoline pump is delivered to a gasoline dealer (Ft Wayne, Ind)
1900 France proclaims a protectorate over Chad
1901 National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues formed
1905 Treaty of Portsmouth USA, ends Russo-Japanese War
1906 1st legal forward pass (Brandbury Robinson to Jack Schneider)
1914 George Herman "Babe" Ruth hit his first minor league home run at Hanlan's Point Stadium in Toronto.
1914 Battle of Marne (WW I) begins
1918 Due to WW I, 15th World Series begins a month early
1922 Yankees final game at the Polo Grounds, after 7 years
1923 Flyweights Gene LaRue & Kid Pancho KO each other simultaneously
1925 112ø F, Centerville, Alabama (state record)
1927 Red Sox beat Yankees 12-11 in 18 innings
1936 Red Sox turn a triple-play on the Yankees
1944 Allies liberate Brussels
1944 "Mad Tuesday" 65,000 Dutch nazi collaborators flee to Germany
1946 Joe Garagiola plays his 1st major league baseball game
1953 1st privately operated atomic reactor-Raleigh NC
1956 20 die in a train crash in Springer NM
1957 "On the Road" by author Jack Kerouac was first published.
1958 "Doctor Zhivago" by Boris Pasternak published in the US
1958 1st color video recording on magnetic tape presented, Charlotte NC
1960 Cassius Clay captures the olympic light heavyweight gold medal
1960 President Kasavubu fires PremierLumumba of Congo
1961 President Kennedy signs law against hijacking (death penalty)
1968 21 killed by hijackers aboard a Pan Am jet in Karachi Pakistan
1970 Estimated 6" of rainfall, Bug Point, Utah (state record)
1971 NY Mets Don Hahn hits 1st inside the park homer at Phillies Vet

1972 11 Israeli athletes are slain at Munich Olympics

1972 Chemical spill with fog sickens hundreds in Meuse Valley Belgium
1975 Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme attempts to assassinate Ford in Sacramento
1975 Wings release "Letting Go"
1977 Cleveland Indians stage 1st "I hate the Yankee Hanky Night"
1977 Voyager 1 (US) launched toward fly-by of Jupiter, Saturn
1978 Sadat, Begin & Carter began peace conference at Camp David, Md
1979 Earl of Mountbatten funeral held in Bruma
1980 World's longest auto tunnel, St Gotthard in Swiss Alps, opens
1982 Eddie Hill sets propeller-driven boat water speed record of 229 mph
1983 8th Space Shuttle Mission-Challenger 3-lands at Edwards AFB
1983 Elmer Trettr sets record for highest terminal velocity at 201.34 mph end of a 440 yard motorcycle run from a standing start
1984 12th Space Shuttle Mission (41-D) -Discovery 1- lands at Edwards AFB
1988 Jerry Lewis' 23rd Labor Day telethon raises record $41,132,113
1988 CFL's Earl Winfield (Ham) scores TDs on 101-yd punt return, 100-yd kickoff return & 58-yd pass reception
1989 Deborah Norville becomes news anchor of the Today Show
1990 Iraqi Pres Saddam Hussein urges Arabs to rise against the West
1991 Actor John Travolta weds Kelly Preston
1991 US trial of former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega begins
1994 U.N.-sponsored population conference opened in Cairo, Egypt, Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland lashes out at the Vatican and at Muslim fundamentalists by defending abortion rights and sex education.
1996 Computer scientists discover the largest known prime number while testing a Cray T94 computer system. 378,632 digits and can be expressed as two to the 1,257,787th power minus 1.
1996 Astronomers using the Hubble space telescope discovered a galaxy under construction. They say 18 gigantic star clusters were packed within a space just 2 million light years across and apparently on the verge of forming a brand new galaxy. Light from the event originated 11 billion years ago.
2002 Illinois Judge Harold Frobish of Livingston County rules that prison inmates can choose to starve themselves rather than endure years of solitary confinement and that right outweighs the state's duty to keep them alive.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Iran : Iman Ali Day
Namibia, South Africa : Settlers' Day ( Monday )
Swaziland Independence Day (Britain 1968) or Somhlolo/The National Holiday of Swaziland.
US, Canada, Guam, Virgin Islands : Labor Day (1894)
Kiss a Bald Head Week (Day 2)
Mental Health Workers Week
Cable Television Month.

Religious Observances
Buddhist-Laos : Buddhist Holiday
Christian : St Laurence Justinian, bishop of Venice, confessor
Feast of St. Onesiphorus, martyr.
Feast of St. Zachariah, minor prophet of the Old Testament.

Religious History
1692 At Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Colonial clergyman Increase Mather, 53, received the first Doctor of Sacred Theology (STD) degree to be awarded in America.
1810 The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was formally organized by the Congregational churches of New England at Farmington, Connecticut.
1870 Three Roman Catholic universities were founded in the United States on this exact same date: St. John's in New York City, Loyola in Chicago, and Canisius in Buffalo, New York.
1888 American baseball player-turned-evangelist Billy Sunday, 26, married Helen Thompson, 20. In later years she became affectionately known as "Ma Sunday," and became his evangelistic campaign advisor. She survived Billy (d.1935) by 22 years.
1950 Baptist Bible College was founded in Springfield, MO, under auspices of the Baptist Bible Fellowship. With an enrollment of over 2,000, it is today one of the largest Bible colleges in America.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Man becomes world belly-flop champion
September 05, 2005

YOU need a tough backside and points are awarded for hiding your pain when you flop into the water - welcome to the weird world of 'dive-bombing'.
The event in a swimming pool in the western German town of Heilbronn actually only attracted competitors from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands, although organisers are convinced the 'sport' is spreading fast.
Unlike Olympic diving, in which medals are awarded for slicing through the surface without so much as a ripple, the name of the game in dive-bombing is to make as much noise and spray as possible when you hit the water.
"The kids here are freaks. Dive-bombing is an extreme sport," said the man who dreamed up the world championships, 36-year-old Oliver Schill.

Competitors had three attempts from the 10-metre board, including one classic backside-first dive and two 'freestyle' attempts.
It looked painful - and it was.

The winner was Simon Gfeller from the Swiss town of Muensingen who produced a dive comprising four turns and then a spectacular landing on his face - he won extra points from the judges for hiding his discomfort.
A German dive-bombing coach, Helmut Huenerfauth, is convinced the new sport is here to stay.
"All over the place there are groups of people getting together who just want to get their backsides flayed," he said.

Thought for the day :
"It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing.
It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving."
Mother Teresa