The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1906-08-01

worry in the housckccpcr > lace, but
it has been proved to be a serious
monaco to health. TO begin with. It's
origin and habits are such as to put
us on our guard. 1t lays its eggs in
excrcmcnt, lrcfcriug horse manure,
but If that does not offer, readily
using any other. 1t feeds on the
same and On the spittum Of diseased
throa.s and lungs, on refuse Of all
kinds, and it bears on its hairy feet
and legs particles Of these substan-
ces.
Thanks TO the science Of bacteriolo-
gy. our case against the fly is no long
CT guess work it has been made to
walk across the sterile gclatinc plate,
and the microscope has later told us
what it fetches and carries. Unlike
the mosquito, the houscay is not a
biter-but it has it's own way oi car
rying contagion. 1t deposits, where
ever it goes disease and disease germs
may abound in it's breeding and feed
ing places. Onthe joint of meat exposed
for sale by the butcher, on the bread
and sweet meats of the confectioner' 8
counter, on the edge Of the milk pail,
on the kitchen and dining room tables
they have been found.
TO understand fully the possible
danger Of allowing this insect access
to our food supplies, we must remem-
ber that in the disease called enterio
those affecting tho intestinal tract;
such as cholera, dysentery and typhoid
fever-multitudes of germs peculiar
to tho disease are voidcd in the ex.
creta, not only during the attacks but
for some days before tho disease is
recognized, and for considerable Pc
RODS of time after recovery, and
since the oontagion is spread from
one person to another solely by these
germs as they find access to water or
food, to guard the water supply from
contamination and to forbid the sale
of milk from the dairy farm whcrc
any contagious disease exists, is we'll
recognized as tho first duty of the
Health Board; bus comparatively
recent is tho knowledge that flies also
carry the germ of these diseases.
Not only does the fly carry about on
its feet and legs any disease germs
that may be in focal matter, but suoh
germs taken into it's body in food are
known to remain alive in intestines
aud also eser days =sse: :hey a.e e;sc:-
ed in the speoks. By recent expe-
riments this has bsen proved true Of
both the tuberculosis and the typhoid
bacillus, the germs in the "speoks"
having actually given the disease
from nine to fifteen dsys after it was
deposited.
This is very important point, as
it establishes ON new ground the DAN
ger of splitting in the streets or where.
ever flies soan have eooess to the
spittnm. A lull in tho efforts to
prevent;publio splitting came on the
discovery that tubcrcuinsis germs,
, exposed to direct sunlight, must per-
ish in from twenty.four to thirty
hours, but since we discovered that
the fly, who greedily feeds on the
sputum, can transport it to consider.
able. distances and keep it alive Hirp!.
lent for many days, the splitting aui.
sauce hassassumed new importance.
The epidemic Of typhoid fever in
Chicago in 1902 also fixed the guilt on
the Ay.:. It WAS especially severe in
the nineteenth ward, which furnished
one.seventh ofithe deaths, while con.
taining but one-thirty-sixth Of the
oity's population. This locality did
not differ from tho rest Of the city
in its water or its food supply, but it
did differ in having more than 80 per |
cent of its houses without sanitary
plumbing, the water being insufficient
Flies caught in undrained closets, on
the fences aud in the room Of a patient
were proved 20 carry the germ. I=s =I=,
What, then, is to bo done TO protect
our food SUPPLY from this disgusting
and dangerous insect? twill be we'll
to note, first, what has been accom-
plished in the extirpation Of other in
SECT pests. *. T.. ;, :%,> ;ErI: II
=. "A year aso New Orleans learned at
heavy cost that, if The city was to be
freed from yellow fever, the, mosquito
must 90, and in tthe space Of a few
months, so vigorous ;vas the campaign
:. The now famous $stesonay s}sor% = yellow
ssrer mos4niso Was nearly iextermina.i