Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-09-03
Fly 10 Ills we Know Not of.
f..lro.l Nn..-k

1t was Hamlet who expressed pref
erence for the fly to ills we know not
Of, or words to that effect, and Hamlet
either was or pretended to be insane.
The idea that there is any more annoy.
ing torment possible than the frequent
fly affords is an unsound notion, sign
OF o very thick skin or o very thick head.
But setting aside for a time the direct
discomfort that the creature works of
man, it is interesting, and instructive too
to see the seriously injurious effect that
its indirect influence seems to have upon
the worlds industry. There are in
round numbers 33,OO0,0O0 COWS, oxen,
horses and the like in this country,
which for about ten hours day during
hy-time keep their tails in almost con-
slant motion. 1t is no exaggeration to
estimate that they swing them at least
ten times minute with force equal at
each swing to raising one pound foot.
That is, their tail force is ten foot
pounds a minute. One horse power is
thirty-three thousand foot.pounds in a
minute, so thirty.three hundred cattle
would exert with their tails one horse
power, and all these creatures in the
country would put forth upon the fly the
aggregate force of ten thousand horse
power. Now the entire force OF all the
steam engines and water wheels in the
country used in the manufacture of
steam engines and boilers is less than
twelve thousand horse power. That is,
the force wasted by our domestic ami
mails in waving tails to keep the fly away
is almost sufficient, if rightly applied, to
make all the motive machinery in the
land.
1t is an enormous power to throw away
upon 80 small thing as the fly. but so
it happens, and until somebody invents
a machine for catching and transferring
this force it will continue through. the
daylight of the fly season, Sundays and
all to be so wasted Could the Ely be
abolished and the thirty-three million
tales kept quiet the theory of the CORE
lation of forces will show us how vast
the saving Of food and consequent rela-
tive extension Of our pasture lands
would be. Each flourish consumes so
much force which must be made up by
food, and 10 stop the flourish would be
to stop that particular demand for food,
What especial good the fly does re-
mains to be found out, and the utilita-
rian will hardly consider the creature
worth the sacrifice OF ten thousand horse
power Of energy every moment Of two
months each year. 1t is the moralist
rather than the utilitarian to whom the
insects virtues are revealed. The bald
head is its fayorite race course and the
face of the Hleener is its frequent resting
place. 1t is perpetually falling into
food and every dish in summer teens
with the remains Of the fallen. In
milk, in water, in molasses, in soup aud
in gravy--in everything the dead fly
turns up with the regularity Of meal
time. 1t is an unmeasurable annoy.
ance, and in its vexations are the virtues
of its being. 1t is lesson and a warn,
ing. Every misfortune Of the fly, every
disagreeable and annoyang feat that it
performs comes from its folly. 1t was
not made to insult the bald or to over
run the sleepy or to Yex the lives of
thirty million cattle. Those SHOULD be
only the side issues Of its career, but the
creature is cursed by nature. 1t is born
grown up, all aieG are the same size and
there are no young or old, and being
thus created the thing is a fool. 1t has
no childhood, no experience, no parental
instruction. II does not know what to
do and so Is always wrong. 1t is NOV
ing monument Of the need Of intelli-
gence; it also calls for wiresoreened
windows and netted doors.