The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-01

10 deposit the deadly germs they hay,
gathered together
Every enlightened city spends mil
hons of dollars for sewers. Yet per-
hitting the house fly to have access. 70
the sewage either in garbage cans or
wagons or at the sewer outlets or upon
the shores of the watercourse in VII cb
the oi1al is deposited. defeats the very
purpose for which the millions are ex-
pended.
Modern knowledge has taught to ali
the priceless value Of pure water
Where it cannot be obtained otherwise
wisdom demands the establishment Of
costly filtration plants.
Causes of Typhoid.
But there are three causes. not one
OF the $4,000 cases of typhoid fever in
the United States every year. more
than 10 per cent of which prove fatal.
Inc fever s spread through three
routes-water, milk and flies. Water is
responsible for the greater number of
cases, out last years investfga tons in
New York City showed that there were
800 deaths from typhoid and 1000 deaths
from other intestinal diseases that were
tIaceable directly to diseases spread
through the agency of flies
And other diseases. the spread OF
IA . EAE A1A Sctf 10 the same insect
enemy of man. are Asiatic cholera
dysentery and tuberculosis.
Inc latest belief Of science is that il
Is not the heat that causes the awful
summer mortality among infants and
children. II is the fly. and the criminal
carelessness of man in failing to pre-
vent the fiy's nth.
In considering the fly il must be
greatly differentiated from the mosqui-
10. The mosquito is deadly dangerous
because IL not only carries disease, but
breeds DEMONSTRATING germs. The
bacilli Of malaria and OF yellow fever
are bred in the body of the MOSQUITO.
and il injects them into the punctures
It cuts into the skins Of men
The hy's sting s less severe than
that OF the mosquito, and L does not
breed the parasites Of disease i'm it,
body but it is stlI the more dangerous
pest The 1y's mode OF incubation is
generally by depOsiting the germs it
carries both inside and on the surface
of its body upon the food that man
eats.
Bred in the filth OF barnyards and
city dumps. the house fly lives up 10
its greatest possibilities as dissem-
inator of filth and disease. Every hy
is estimated to possess 1900 very mi
mute foot hairs that exude a Shiny
fluid On those hairy legs it can carry
100000 bacteria that il hasteus to de-
post upon the food Of some family.
These bacteria may live for two
weeks. and so can be carried long dis
tances on the fiy's legs: or. as they are
indigestible. they can be carried in the
alimentary canal Of the fly and spread
the contagion many miles from the
original source. q fact that a Chicago
woman has esta blished after careful
work in her laboratory.
Distributor of tuberculosis.
For example. a house fly will carry
and distribute mechanically the tuber-
culOsis bacillus in its most virulent
form. The house fly viii eat these
bacili in enormous number. but il will
not digest them. They viii pass
through its intestinal tract and emerge
as fully alive, as vrulent, as deadly as
before
Therefore. We do not speak in any
spirit Of exsggeration when we say that
there should be striving to cleanse
every home of flies as Il each of the
seemingly innocent insects were scor-
pion. For twelve generations Of de-
scendants. each a poison bearer. is the
seasons progeny of every female fly.
Most physicians thought it fanciful
theory when. IN 1871. LIT. Joseph LelQy-
the noted Philadelphia scientist, an
nOunced il as his belief that hospital
gangrene. which destroyed so many
lives in the civil war. was distributed
mainly by flies.
Now all scientists know that he was
right. and within five years there has
come into being a war OF extermina-
ton OF noxious pests. in which the ma
tional department Of agriculture and
the health authorities of many states
and cities are enlisted.
DR.. Q. /. Howard chief of the ento-
biological bureau of the department of
agriculture, is in charge of the work,
and. assisted by the marine hospital
service of the treasury department, al
ready has effected in Washington the
necessary screening of manure beds.
In addition to the screens, expert
ments have been made in the matter Of
determination of the larvae by the
treatment of the manure beds with
kerosene. chloride of lime and other
chemicals.
The Indiana state board of health was
among the first to begin a vigorous
campaign against the fly. distributing
educational literature and encouraging
a wider knowledge of the danger lying
in the tolerance of these pests.
Both Chicago and Detroit are engaged
in educational campaigns on large
scale. and a splendid work Of investiga-
ton and prevention is being conducted