The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-25
THE FLY AS A PUBLIC ENEMY.
A Carrier of Typhoid, Tuberculosis
 Diphtheria and Other Diseases.

One by one the plaques, ,sof Egypt are being abolished by science. The
 frogs were abolished long ago by the drain-tile, The fieas are checked by in sect powder, and the darkness that could be felt has melted away before the arc light. The sixth plague still l remains in full glory, The fly is always with US. The great pr. Radcliffe used to declare that the three worst an- n0yances of life were smoke, flies and irraivvant questions. Humanity has hitherto accepted these with a patient shrug of the shoulders as among the inevitable. At last the worm has turn ed, It is proceeding slowly, to put on smoke consumers, and has declared a war of exterfnination against the fly The motives which whet our hitherto easily blunted purpose are supplied by science, They are first, that flies carry disease; second, that their very pres ence is a sign of dirt That the fly is frequently the angel of the pestilence. hus long been suspected, but it's most vivid and impressive demonstration was furnished by the disgraceful death rate from typhoid, one of the most scandalous of the many murders of of- ficial stupidity in our camps in the South during the Spanish-Arnerican war It was clearly proved by the em- inent commission of experts, who in vesigated the situation post-nlortem that the principal means of the spread of this dread disease was the flight of flies from the excreta of the earliest cases to the food exposed in the camp kitchens, carrying the typhoid germs on at1eir legs and probosees. Experi- ments were promptly set on foot, and a gruesomely vivid corroboration fur nished. Flies were allowed to feed up- or meat srneared with cultures of va rious baollli, then induced to alight on gelatin plates, and walk about on them. These plates were then placed in an incubator, and evey step of the track of the fly could in a few days, be traced by the clumps of ba- ciill which sprang up where his feet had planted them.
 Not merely typhoid, but tuberculosis, diphtheria, measles and sepsis blood poisoning, may be readily carried by these pests. The fly must go, Forum ately. the problem of his extermfna- .tion is not diff1cult-he is not only cause but a consequence of dirt. While he can live almost anywhere, he can breed only in some form of filth, most commonly, and chiefly in barnyard manure, particularly horse manure. This he infinitely prefers, but can make shift with garbage barrels, dustbins or other aceumulations of dirt. Destroy or properly disinfect the latter, and remove stables outside of town limits, and flies will quickly disappear. That this is not too good to be true one may satisfy himself by practical test. In small towns, where stables cannot be got rid of, if the manure be thrown into tight box or pit, the opening of which is covered by a wire-screen swing door, or, failing this, as rough and read substitute, the heap be sprin- kled once a, week with a little paris green or other form of arsenic, to pois- on both the breeding flies and any eggs they may deposit, the plague can be stayed. Or the problem may be at- tackled from the other. end of the line where open-vault privies are in use,
 s. sprinkling the latter with arsenic, and thus killing any flies that may resort to them and become infected.
 We have known small towns, where the water supply was good, kept en- tirely clear from any spread of typhoid by this simple precaution, while their neighbors5 with equally good water supply, suffered severely.-C Golfers Weekly.