The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-12

greater number of cases of typhoid fever by carrying the germs on their legs from the excreta (urine or feces) of typhoid patient to the food that others are to eat He may come to the dining room from the sick room next door or he may fol- low a horse two miles and then leave him to enter a house where dinner is ready, or it may be done in thousand ways by the fiy's agency. Admitting this the householder is Immediately interested in the destruction of the fly and his breed ing place and is little short of astounded when he learns that the common house fly (muscae domesticate) breeds nowhere but in horse manure.
 Stable Is the Menace.
 Cow manure may breed some rare kinds and few blue bottles breed in decay ing meat Ca dead cat in the weeds if you wlD, but all varieties are so insignif- cant compared to the common kind as not to count. It now requires no great ef- fort of mind for the householder to come to the conclusion swiftly that one innocent but ignorant neighbours stable IS a deadly menace to everybody. He will see that there is no room for argu- ment in a matter that costs scores of human lives in this and hundreds of other cities every year. Typhoid fever is a preventible disease in proportion as the advice of health boards are listened to and could be completely eradicated and prevented as it was in the Japanese army if medical men had the same au- thority in civilized countries that those heather gave to their medical organi- zation. The typhoid is sometimes late in getting a start and 1t so happened that the season following the establishing of our magnificent filter plant, we had no fever all through June and those who had been severely blaming the unfiltered water. though their argument was proven, but after the June rains (which had been incessanD ceased the flies appeared and the fever came exactly with them. The cold rains had discouraged the egg lay Ing in the manure pile at the stable door and there was no sun warmth to hatch the few that were laid. With these factS before him, a householder sees that we should have very simple ordinance gov erning the maintenance of a horse stable and that the people should be made to sit up and take notice of it by having the most severe penalty possible attached.
 Wasting Gray Matter.
 If able court officials are to waste valu- able gray matter in running down some poor ignorant nobody and fining him on the S10O and 1S0 days basis for selling or giving a drink of whisky to friend, penalty of proportionate importance for this stable offense that murders so many
 
 should be, say a fine of $200o,000 and 1SO years in iail, though something less might do as we'll
 The simple solution of the matter which will at once occur to householders is that all stables should have hard floor and that they should be cleaned each day and the manure kept in covered cans un- til removed by the wagon The chief thing necessary is that householder and his wife should have a clear conception of this chain of important and proven facts and that the lives of their household are constantly menaced by dirty stable. Once clearly understood the people will demand this law and the law once passed the householder's wife, if not himself, will array herself fiercely in an attitude to protect her family by keeping watch ful eye out for offenders of this law. Houses should have screens and every body, especially children. should wash their hands before each meal and all oth CT possible precautions taken; but the neighbor with a dirty stable must be made to do his part if he should be slow about it. after he understands the facts. As matter of fact. the only diff ficulty is to make the people understand how very dangerous the fly really sS This done the battle is nine-tenths won.
 Plenty of Warning.
 Our very efficient city health officer, pr. Hardness. has had words of warning of this kind in almost every one of his