Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-24

lk4ANz as to that insect. When sci
ence came to look carefully into his
habits Mr.. Fly was found not to be
the inoffensiVe sort of citizen he had
always been regarded. 1t had long been
known that he was bothersome, but he
was found to be a villain of the deep
est dye, killing more people every year
than are killed by all the murderers in
the world. He has been given a new
name since his true character has come
to light, a name which brands him
wherever he goes-the typhoid fly"
DIR. L. o. Howard, the United States
entomologist, has selected that name
for him. He agrees that the term is u
little harsh, as there are other causes
OF typhoid, and says that manure fly
would fit him rather better, since his ia
vorite breeding place is in horse ma
nure. But for public use DR.. Howard
thinks typhoid fly" is the best name.
The evidence against the fly is COM
plete and convincing. Many a muir
derer has gone to the gallows on weak
er. Not long ago Ala flies were caught
in different parts of the country, and
they carried an average of a million
and a quarter germs to the fly. 1t may
be said by the skeptic that the fly Is
so small he cannot carry filth. But If
any one will look at him through q
high-powered microscope the error of
such a conclusion will clearly be seen.
Under the microscope he becomes the
most fuzzy creature alive, hairy from
tip to toe and terribly Indifferent about
keeping clean.
These Ala flies were caught in steril-
lied nets. so that none OF the germs
found could be laid to the account of
the net. Then each fly was placed in
a separate bottle which had been ster-
ilized and filled with known quantity
of sterilized water. The fly was allowed
to swim around until exhausted, and
then a drop of the water was placed
under a microscope and the germs
counted. A careful record of each fly
was kept, and the germs found on each
were found to range from $50 to $780,
000-estimtaed. The next fly that falls
into the readers coffee or his milk may
leave six million germs in the cup!
The house fly is thoroughly omniv-
oroug. He will eat anything that he
comes across, and the more filth there
is the better it suits him. Breeding in
manure by preference, he spends
fair share of his living days in such
surroundings. He flies direct from
the manure heaps to our houses and
onto our food, whenever opportunity
presents itself, and is always laden
with microscopic particles of filth and
disease. Here again has Mr.. Fly been
caught with the goods ON him." as
the police say In the army camp, dur
ing the Spanish American war, it was
found that the flies which swarmed
about the latrines would come directly
to the mess tents. the white lime being
plainly visible on their feet. Iu New
York filth was dyed with red ink and
set in the street. Flies soon showed
up in the house with red on their feet.
The most startling and conclusive
aUidpnnp that has Inc
the fly is that gathered by Daniel d.
Jackson in his investigation of the
| subject of harbor pollution at New
York. With his assistants he went
into the whole question with great
thoroughness and his findings are note
worthy. He found that in the neigh
| borhoodS of sewer outlets the flies
were most numerous and that In those
same neighborhoods typhoid fever and
other intestinal diseases were most
| prevalent. The number of victims of
these diseases rose and fell with the
coming and passing Of the fly tribe.
Daily examinations of captured flies
were carefully washed and completely
cleansed of germs. They were then
released and allowed to swarm over
infected material in the laboratory.
They collected as many germs the
| second and third time as they did
the first. In one instance a hundred
| thousand typhoid fever germs were
| found on one single fly.
In New York there are more than 5000
deaths from typhoid and other intes-
! tinal diseases during the fly season. 1t
| is estimated that were the fly effectu-
ally banished it would result In the
saving of 5000 lives a year in that city
ard the prevention of $4,000 cases OF
sickness. Typhoid fever is estimated by
| experts to cause an annual economic
| loss amounting to $3.50, 1000, 900 in the
United States and fully $25,000,000 in
Canada. 1t Is ais figured that the
American people spend $10,000,0O0 a
year for door and window screens. Not
only is the fly disseminator of ty-
phoid, but he likewise communicates
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
cholera 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
| histor. of the fly that the female lays
an average of 12O eggs during her life
and that in favorable localities there
| are twelve generations of them in a
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 SEX
tillion is one thousand million trillion,
it will appear that he has overshot the
mark. If every egg Matched and every
female fly lived to lay 100 eggs, the
result would be just about what was
estimated. But, figuring that only fifty
females would hatch from the eggs of
| each fly, the result would still reach the
inconceivable total of 4SS quintillion
| flies.
How impossible it is that even such
figures obtain is shown when one comes
to figure up the bulk that such a num-
ber of flies would make. More than a
hundred flies cannot be contained in
a cubic inch of space, yet piled that
closely 4S8 quintillion flies would cover
10,0 900 square miles of territory one foot
thick, and the progeny of S02 pairs of
flies would cover every aGre of United
| States territory one foot thick. But
| If each female fly brought forth only
i ten other female flies, the total progeny
of a pair of flies starting at the he
| ginning of the season would be over
26 900, 900, 100000 Even with ten female
flies in each generation, the resultant
bulk produced by a single pair starting
in at the beginning of the season would
fill $50 million cubic feet of space, the
equivalent of the excavations at Pan
anna for the best month and a half ever
put in by the canal diggers.
1t is thought that the automobile
and motor wagon will ultimately go
far toward solving the fly problem
in the cities. 1t Is reported that in
those neighborhoods where the garage
has taken the place of the livery sta