Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-08-15
HARM DONE BY FLIES.
House Pests Convey Germs % Dis
ease from One Victim to
Another.

DR.. L. o. Howard, of the division of
entomology of the agricultural depart
ment, calls public attention to the
great harm lone by the common house
fly in the carriage of disease germs.
After referring to the activity of the
fly in this direction during the civil
and Spanish wars, and in Egypt, where
the fly is responsible for the transfer
ence of the eye disease (%purulent
opthalmia) common among the lower
classes, Dr.. Howard says:
Evidence has been gathered which
shows that where excrement is not
properly cared for, as in box privies
in small towns and in the country, as
well as in the lower quarters of large
cities, where in alleyways and vacant
lots and other waste placesethe sub
stance is frequently found, the house
fly carries %virulent typhoid germs, and
transmits them to food substances in
houses. It has been shown that
active typhoid germs may be found
in excreta for some time before the
character of the fever can be recog-
nized. It is also shown that they are
found i'll such places for some weeks
after the patient has apparently re-
covered, and now that we know as a
definite fact that the house fly breeds
in this substance we consider the
enormous numbers in which it swarms
in the kitchen and dining-rooms and
how, for example, in many cities milk
jugs are left standing in the early
morning when just filled by the milk
man outside the kitchen door, it be-
comes a matter of wonder that ty-
phoid fever is not more prevalent than
it actually is.
The Importance of organized effort
looking toward the decrease in num-
bers of this insect, therefore, at once
becomes evident. Considering that
horse n is the breeding place of
the very great majority (and I think
it is safe 70 say that more than 95
per cent. of the house flies in most
civilized regions breed in horse ma
nure), the first step in remedial work
is naturally the effort to stop the
breeding. Experiments in the treat-
ment of horse Il piles with a
number of different substances have
shown that the best material to use
for this purpose is chloride of lime.
This, however, cannot be economically
and thoroughly used except where
some effort is made to keep the ma
nure for a time at least in a nor or
less confined space. The open manure
heaps, everywhere seen about stables,
account for the majority of our house
flies. They may be swarming with
house-f1y maggots, the numbers of
which, in a good-sized pile, will I'M
doubtedly in midsummer run into the
millions. One thousand WI hundred
maggots have been counted in a
| pound of manure
The house fly is a rapid breeder. In
seven or eight or ten warm days a
! generation will be produced. Each fe-
| male lays 100 eggs, and with II or more
! generations in a summer, the descend
ants of a single individual, increasing
in geometrical proportion, will in au-
/ tumn be almost countless. Stables,
especially in towns and cities, should
be kept clean. Manure piles should
be kept either in a vault or in a closet
and a shovelful of chloride of lime
| should be thrown over them with each
days addition to the pile. When the
manure is to be removed to the garden
or field, then and then only should the
closet IT vault be opened, except, OF
curse, for the daily additions. I am
assured by a competent chemist that
the addition of chloride of lime does
not injure the value of the manure
Some such measure as this should, in
| towns and cities, be enforced by the
boards of health. Penalties for the
open disposition of human excrement
should be made and enforced.