The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-11-04
THE TsETsE FLY.
It's Connection With a Peculiar Disease
A New Theory

Its connection with d eSuiAc'A CASNNT1S
A New Theory.
The mystery which has hung so long
over the cause Of that peculiar African
epizootle, known as 'fly disease dis
ease of certain domestic animals, which
our great traveller Livingstone was
among the first to describe accurately
and make familiar to the English read
ers. seems at last to be in fair way Oh
being cleared up. 1t has all along been
believed, both by the natives and by
the majority of travellers, that the
tsetes-fy (Glossina morsitans, West
wood was, If not the cause, at all
events the principal medium for the
distribution OF the disease it seemed to
be associated with. This fly is a dip
ferrous insect, slightly larger than the
common domestic fly. 1t is provided
with powerful maxillary apparatus by
which it is enabled to penetrate the
skin and suck the blood of the lower
animals, and even traversing the
clothes of man himself.
AS the tsetse is a voracious plood-
sucker, passing in search OF fooo from
one animal to another, it is well ADAPT
ed as a. medium for the conveyance ana
transmission of the germs OF olood dls-
eases. 1t has an extensive dlstrloutlol,
being found here and there over almost
+be whole Of Central Africa; it abounds
Ia the north Of the Transvaal, and on
The right bank of the Zambesi, and IL Is
also common on the low country lying
between the Ougogo and the eastern
shore of the continent. 1t shuns VII
,ages and cultivated places, preIerrlng
the borders of swamps and WOODY
nlaces. and, curious enough, IN SOME
wav or other its distribution is pouno
m with and depends on the presence OIL
large game The goat, the buffalo, the
antelope. the zebra and man are not
seriously affected, but the dog, the OK,
the sheep. the ass and the horse, when
b;+tan nv Ii under what are now Well
y,nown conditions, are doomed to al
most certain death. Travellers tell us
how large herds of oxen have perisheu,
one animal after another and how, IN
this way, it is a serious obstacle to the
settlement and civilization OF the DARK
Continent.
hitherto the nature of the poison, as
s1,med to be introduced into its victlm
Nv the tsetse-fy, was unknown. Inv
ingstone suggested that 1T might De de-
,,,vad from the secretion OF certain
glands which are rather a conspicuous
feature in the anatomy of the insect.
others coniectured that it might be a
,,arn of some description, Othefs
again. have denied that the fly was IN
a.ny way the cause OF the dlsease IL
would now appear that the natives
were right, and that to certain extern
livingstone, too, was right, IN so Tar as
he recognized the casual relationship OF
+ha f1v to the disease, though wrong as
IN the nature of the virus. Surgeon
rantain David Bruce has shown thai
4ha tr,1e cause of the tsetse-fiy disease
,s NOT any secretion, or property OF the
fy itself, but that the fly IS merely ths
massive agent for conveying a. living
virus from infected to uninfected AMI
mails.
The virus is found to be micro-or
ranism, a protozoon, resembling tina
which produces similar disease, th'
s1,ra. in India. The connection OF thu
s'fv disease" with the presence of larg'
game is explained by the fact that th'
Iarya of the fly developes in the dung O
the buffalo. The fact that the micro
organism distributed by the fly Is s'
deadly to some animals and so compar
a.tively harmless to others has not beef
explained, but it is a quality possessed
also by other germs, which appear t.
thrive in the blood of one creatur
while that of another is fatal to them
In closing, the editors of the Journa
make the following remarks: "Sur
geon-Captain Bruce's discovery viii