The Robesonian. [volume] (Lumberton, N.C.) 1870-current, 1909-07-01


than 5000 deaths from typhoid
and other intestinal diseases dur
ing the fly season. 1t is estimat-
ed that were the fly effectually
banished it would result in the
saving of 5000 lives a year in
that city and the prevention of
$4,000 cases of sickness. Ty-
phoid fever is estimated by ex-
perts to. cause an annual economic
loss amounting to $3.50, 600, 900 in
the United States and fully $25, =
0OO,00O in Canada. 1t is also
figured that the American people
spend $40, 900. 900 a year for door
and window screens. Not only
is the fly a disseminator of ty-
phoid, but he likewise communi-
Gates tuberculosis by carrying it
from the sputum of tubercular
patients to others, and carries
every form of intestinal disease.
1t is said that much of the chole-
ra infantum, the most fatal of
children's diseases, is carried to
the little victims by the flies.
It has been found, in studying
the life history of the fly, that
the female lays an average of
120 eggs during her life, and
that in favorable localities there
are twelve generations of them
in single season. One writer
has figured from this that the
progeny of a single pair of flies
which survived the winter would
amount to several sextillions.
But when it is remembered that
one-sextillion is one thousand
million trillion, it will appear
that he has overshot the mark.
If every egg hatched, and every
female fly lived to lay 12O eggs,
the result would be just about
what was estimated. But, fgur-
ing that only fifty females would
hatch from the egg Of each fly,
the result would still reach the
inconceivable total of 488 quin-
tillion flies.
How impossible it is that even
such figures obtain is shown
when one comes to figure up the
bulk that such a number of flies
would make. More than a hun
dred flies cannot be contained in
a cubic inch of space, yet piled
that closely 488 quintillion flies
would cover 10000 square miles
of territory one foot thick, ano
the progeny of 3O2 pairs of flies
would cover every acre of United
States territory one foot thick,
But if each female fly brought
forth only ten other female flies
the total progeny Of a pair Of flies
starting at the beginning of the
season would be over twenty-si1
trillion. Even with ten female
flies to each generation, the re
sultant bulk produced by sin
gle pair starting in at the begin
ming of the season would fill Isl
million cubic feet of space, tn,
equivalent of the excavations a
Panama for the best month an(
a half ever put in by the cana
; diggers.
. Seven different varieties O
: , flies are found in dwelling house
. ranging from the one which re
joices in the scientific name O
. Musca Domestica to the plai
Bluebottle. Musca Domestic
stands at the top of the list, a
ninety-eight out Of every hur
4 dred flies belong to his family
- - 1t is upon him that DR.. Howar
would forever affix the name "ty
q phoid fly" Men read with hol
n n ror Of the ravages Of the tiger
I; of India, and of the long list {
q men and women who fall victim
i to the cobra's deadly bite. The
. sympthize with the races of me
h h who have not been released frol
4 4 the thralldom Of the mosquito
" And yet conservative scientis
y y declare that Musca Domestica
a a a more deadly enemy of mankin
~ than mosquitoes, and lions an
II tigers and snakes combined. Y,
~ ~ for generations he has been a
" lowed to dwell in mans oW
~ ~ home, and when we have screel
+ + ed him out it has been becaus
h he was troublesome, and not b
= + cause he was dangerous. tt
;. 70 microscope was the agency tn
~ revealed his true character.
That cleanliness is next to go
N illness was never better exemp
a+ H fed than in the case of the fl
X He must be born in filth. If tt
70 female cannot find manure
at which to deposit her eggs, 81
70 70 singles out the next filthie
" w place she can find. Old ra
;s i; form a favorable substitute t
Ie the stable. Waste paper cons
~ tutes another incubator. But
20 20 is always necessary that the eg
90 be laid in filth Of some charactt
o. o.: 1t is believed by the authoriti
as on the subject that if appro
NJ NJ mate cleanliness reigned evel
es where, the fly pest would diss
no pear. This is proved by expe
,e e ence. In the mountains of V
ed ginia there is a little summer
Of sort around which are built so
in thirty cottagers. 1t is a desert
I1v village from September to Jul
,ed m not a soul living there duri
70, 70 those months. When the Gotta