The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-17
FLIES IN WAR.

rhey Carry Infection to Wounds of
 Soldiers in the Hospitals-Rule of
 Modern Surgery to Keep Them From
 the SiclS-Natural Enemies of the
 Househy.
 Not least among the dangers to wounded soldiers is the omnipresent fly. In tropical regions, as in Cuba and Porto Rico, the familiar Musca domes- tica finds conditions most favorable for its propagation, while allowing plenty of room for the multiplication of Vart- ous other objectionable "diptera" in countless swarms. Many of these spe- cies. particularly the so-called "blue- bottles" or flesh flies, have an appetite for open wounds, and serve most effl- ciently as agents for carrying infection from one patient to another.
 During the war of the rebellion an appalling mortality was caused by Hospital gangrene"-a malady which was declared by the famous Dr. Leidy to owe its spread to flies. At that peri cd the "germ theory of disease was as yet unborn, and medical science knew of no means for fighting this dread complaint. What used to be known as 4mortifcation" was commencing gan grene, which is simply a name for C6dCn OL LH6 SOIL llSSueS OL tue DOuy, Just as necrosis" signifies death of bony structure. In the field hospitals near Santiago such thing as gangren- ous infection was probably unknown, because 1t can be checked immediately by the application of proper antisep- tics.
 Nevertheless, precautions against this sort of infection have to be man- 4ot- se @l,o way with traumatic erysipelas, which Is extremely apt to be conveyed by flies Erysipelas, when it attacks wounds, is an extremely dangerous dis ease-so like the puerperal septicaenlia of childbed as to be in effect the same complaint. Pathologists as yet have not differentiated the two satisfactori- 1y 1t is the easiest thing in the world for a fly to alight upon an erysipelas sore and carry germs from it to the healthy wound of another person. All of such matters, it is needless to say, were not in the least understood at the period of the last war, and military surgeons were literally groping in the bark.
 When one speaks of flies as carriers of disease, one thinks naturally of the housefy and its near relatives but from the entomologistNs point of view the discussion assumes a broader aspect. The mosquito Is a species of fly, belong ing asNit does to the order of the dipte- ra, and it has long been recognized as disease conveyer. Some authorities are of the opinion that it spreads yellow fe- Ver, while its instrumentality as dis fributer of malarial complaints is more than suspected. Some years ago a Washington physician of excellent rep utation gravely suggested that the ma aarial infection of the city might be re- duced by shutting off the Potomac flats with a mosquito net extended from Washington Monument to point few miles westward.
 The matters of course, are more or less theoretical, but there is no doubt whatever that flies in general are con- veyers of infection from wounds The common housefy is most conspicuous as a disease scattering agent, because of it's vast numbers. Wherever any thing of septic nature exists-any de- composed secretions of tissue-the fly, essentially filth seeking creature, will hunt for 1t and carry away its infec- ton. If it goes thence to a healthy wound, blood poisoning in one form or another is apt to result.
 Up to within comparatively recent period very little has been known about the life, history and habits of the housefy and it's near relatives. Profess sor L. o. Howard, the government en- tomologist, has been Investigating the subject for some time past, and he de- cIares that several species of flies are commonly found in dwellings. Most frequent among them, of course, is the notorious Musca domestica, a grayish fly, with 8 proboscis expanded at the tip for sucking up liquid substances It breeds in manure and filth, and Is found in nearly all parts of the world. This insect cannot bite, having no mouth-parts for this purpose, yet no Impression is stronger in the minds of most people than that 1t does bite oc- casionally. The false notion is due to the frequent occurrence in dwellings of the stable-fly, which resembles the househy so closely as to deceive any one but an entomologist. Unlike the housefy, 1t has mouth-parts formed for piercing the skin.
 A third species, commonly called the f'cluster fly" is frequent visitant of houses, particularly in spring and fall. It IS SO1IEGW lleit lcTScI IHdi tuC Alouoc- fly, with a sprinkling of yellowish hairs, and is less active than the Musca domestica Occasionally it occurs in dwellings in such numbers as to cause great annoyance. It is very subject to the attacks of 8 fungus disease, which causes it to die on the window-panes euveloped in a whitish veil. A fourth svecies is the so-called bluebottle fly otherwise known as the blow fly, or meat fly, which breeds in decaying anil mal substances
 Still another species, smaller than any of those so far mentioned, is some tirnee called the small housef1y. It is distinguished from the ordinary house. fly by it's pa1er and more pointed body. This species is largely responsible for the prevalent notion that flies grow af- ter attaining their winged form. Most people think that these little fellows are the young of the larger flies. The truth, of course, is that the housefiy, on leaving the puparium as a full fedged insect, has already attained it's full size Yet another species, even smaller than the one just described, is a jet-black fly, which breeds in dust