Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1909-09-04

IA contracted with unusual frequency.
Many persons have come down with
typhoid on returning to the city from
their vacations, and tainted wells have.
general been blamed; whereas, pos
sibly in some cases the well has not.
been SO blameworthy as the bluebot-
tie.
"The Musca domestica has not in
APPLY been termed the typhoid fly. OF
course there are other means Of con
tracing the disease than through this
insert; but that it Is a formidable
agent can not be doubted. It's breed
fng-p'aces are in the manure and re-
fuse in and about stables; in the ex-
cre-nent of animals and human be-
ipgs: in dust from dried urine and
feces, and the discharges Of typhoid
carriers" in decaying vegetable mat
ter. especially when congenial warmth
and moisture coexist. Two hundred
larvae have been faund in one inch
of manure: ten days viii suffice for
the development of d brood; fifteen
broods a season are possible; twelve
flies surviving a winter may reproduce
100000 during the following warm sea-
son. The fy's life is unusually but a
few weeks; but it may live dormant
through the winter in closets and the
warm parts Of houses.
i" Felt has found that this insect
does not as a rule travel beyond three
hundred to FIVE hundred feet from its
breedlng-place; it's habitat may in
deed be close at hand-in spittoons,
under the table. behind doors. 1t is
then. the part Of wisdom to keep these
insects from the sick-room, especially
IN contagious cases; to screen all
doors and windows, especially in kit
chen and dinning-room; to or
screen all food, particularly such as is
uncooked, not only in homes, but also
IN hotels, provision stores and mar
kets. Decaying material should not
accumulate in or near a dwelling; fer
mentable re~fuse-bedding straw, waste.
paper, etc, which can not be burned
or otherwise destroyed, should be COW
cred with lime or kerosene oil; a
modern sewage system, not leaking
and not exposed, should be maintain
ed; plumbing should be sanitary, fl
tration effective; kerosene should be
poured into drains. Nulsances should
be at once reported to health depart
ments. Where there is no dirt and no
filth there will be no flies. 1t is sug
gested that the best and simplest fly
killer is a weak solution of formal
dahyd in water 1.-TWO drains to the
pint); this should be put in saucers
throughout the dwelling. Pyrethrum
powder burned is also destructive of
flies.
THE typhoid bacillus may be car
RED from open drains, vaults and
cesspools by flies, and then deposited
by them on food and water; or the
infection may be conveyed from open
box privies through underground
lakes and reservoirs visited by flies.
Howard would have large metal ves-l
sells used in rural districts; the ex-
creta should be covered with earth,
and the vessel should be emptied daily
in a place where it is certain the draiD
age would not be dangerous. Manure
should be put into tight pits or vaults
without wire screens (Which would be
corroded by disinfectants); there
should be an outer door from which
the manure can be shoveled away.
A barrel of Chord of lime should be
constantly at hand, from which each
deposit of n should be sprinkled.
Thus the breeding OF flies may be
prevented, but undoubtedly will not
be until something like the same eff
fort has been made to arouse pub ic
sentiment against the fv as against
the mosquito, When by iteration and
reiteration the chain OF cause and eff
sect that connects refuse, flies, and
disease shall have became known to
every one; when the housewife shall
feel as much horror at finding a
swarm of flies at her back door as she
now feels at finding one in the parlor
then, perhaps, the day may come
when s%cavenger flies will be as I'M
known in any self-respecting commun-
ity as are o. such 8%cavenger dogs
as those which constitute the street
cleaning force of Constantinople. Even
if the determination of the fly should
not mean as much with relation to
any one disease as the determination
of the anopheles has meant for ma
laria or the extinction Of the calopus
for yellow fever, in view of the num-
Der and variety of germs for which the
fly is host, it is certain to NEAR an inn
mense gain in general health"
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