The Coalville times. [volume] (Coalville, Utah) 1894-1923, 1903-12-11
THs HOUSE FlY SHOWN UP.
Communicates Everything II Touches
with IT. Feet.


Communicates Everything II Touches
with IT. Feet.
A proper housewife hates q fly rs the
devil hates holy water. The compar-
ison Is really unjust TO the housewife.
lnstlnctivoly she knows more about
the common ny than Mr.. William Ly.
man Underwood, lecturcrin the Massa-
chusetts Institute OF Technology. who
has written a pamphlet on the insect
which Is a horrible warming Any good
woman who has cooked. and baked and
set the table WIN nnd the house fly
guilty on any count In Mr.. Under
woods indictment without the evil
dence, which. however. we shall set
forth for the information Of the sterner
sex. which is sufficiently impressed
with the iniquity OF the mosquito, but
makes light OF flies. Too long has
the burden OF every wasting and dead.
ly fever been laid on the narrow shout
ders OF the mosquito. and the female
variety at that II Is time the fly,
rather weakly called the house fly.
for he is as much NJ home outdoors
as in the house. got his deserts.
''The house fly (Musca homestead"
says Mr.. Underwood. SIS particularly
filthy. Our domestic animals, the dog
ana cat. though far from clean In all
their habits. we like 10 have about us.
but we keep them in their proper
places. The house fly, on the other
hand. IA generally tolerated every
where. IL crawls over hands and faces.
It's gets into milk. II walks over sugar
and salt, over bread and cake, often
soiling and communicating everything
that Il touches with It's filthy feet"
An unbidden guest that is treated like
the prodlgal son. to the fatted calf
or 90 anything else the table groans
under. The house fly has only six
feet and one tongue. but Mr.. Under
wood has proved that on feet and
tongue II may harbor thousands OF mi
crobes. A photograph OF the foot.
prints OF fly on a loaf Of Jelly illus
trates his text. ats hunger satisfied"
says the author, ut flew away, leay-
ing no visible sign 10 show that II
had ever been there; the Jelly looked
as clean and pure as ever. Countless
numbers OF germs. too small 10 be seen
save by the aid OF n microscope. had.
however. been planted there by the
fly's feet and tongue. Twelve hours
later. when tn,s photograph was taken.
the dish OF Jelly having Deen kept I'm
the meantime in warm place. the
groups OF bacteria could easily be seen
with the naked eye, just as the camera
has here reproduced them. During this
time the germs had multiplied many
thousand times. Each mass now rep.
resented living colony. or. as II were.
a city OF germs. the smallest spot
which can be seen on the plate con-
tanning many millions OF them. The
tracks OF the fly MS he walked along
can be plainly made out, and midway
between the ny's tracks In several
places will be seen n number OF small.
rounded spots or colonies. These came
from the germs carried and planted by
the fiy's tongue, and they show the
different places where the insect
paused TO feed as Il walked along.
The population OF one OF these colo
MES was counted, and forty-six mill
ion (l6,OO0.0OO germs were found to be
present in single spot They had,
OF course. multiplied many times after
they were planted on the jelly by the
ly's tongue"
IL IS hardly necessary for Mr.. I'm
derwood TO add that 1T is most Inn
portion that files should be kept away
from all food supplies" A perusal OF
his pamphlet viii make the insect 50
odious that no one viii want TO eat
without some form Of ny insurance. II
is n comfort. however 10 be told by
the author that at must not be i'm
ferred that flies always carry the
germs OF dysentery aud tropical fever
upon their feet" If they did, how
long could the human race hold its
own against files that propagate 49,
OOO,000 microbes apleceG why, DR..
l.. O. Howard. the Government en-
tomologist. once experimental with
23.OS7 flies to see how mlcroblc they
were. There is solace In such figures,
Sun.