Biological Methods of Solving a Problem

1. Observation:
People living near swamps suffered more from malaria. People sleeping near smoky fires suffered less. These observations raised questions.

2. Hypothesis:
A hypothesis was formed that malaria might be caused by some organism transmitted through mosquitoes.

3. Deduction:
If mosquitoes carry a disease-causing organism, then infected mosquitoes biting healthy people should give them malaria.

4. Experiment:
Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran first observed Plasmodium in the blood of malarial patients. Ronald Ross allowed infected mosquitoes to bite healthy people and proved that they developed malaria.

5. Results and Conclusion:
The results proved that the female Anopheles mosquito transmits Plasmodium to humans. The hypothesis was accepted and the conclusion was that malaria is caused by Plasmodium, which is spread by Anopheles mosquitoes.