The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30

''The land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies' says the Book of Exodus, referring to the plague of these insects in Egypt. The common house fly has followed mankind since the dawn of history. He lives only where man has made his home. Though the sacred writ CTS had some appreciation of the pestifer- ous nature of the fly, it Is only conpara- lively recently that we have learned that he deserves the title of "the most dan gerous animal on earth"
 Dr. Daniel D. Jackson, finding that flies, attracted by floating sewerage in set large number of traps at different points on the north and east river shores in New York city. The captives were found to carry innumerable fecal bacili on their legs and bodies One which was caught in South street had more than 125,- 900 on him. By means of a map whlcn indicated the cases of typhoid and intes- tinal diseases by black dots. he proved that the increase in the number of these diseases was in direct proportion to the number of flies. The vast majority of the cases were in the parts of the city near est the polluted water front.
 A thorough going reform of the sanitary conditions in the district affected, includ- Ing the adoption of some system of sew craze disposal would Dr. Jackson stated In the report of his investigations, re- duce the yearly deaths of typhoid very considerably, and the diarrheal deaths from 1000 to 2000 If germ-infected flies were not permitted to contaminate the milk supply. It is also estimated that the reform as recommended would reduce the number of cases of illness from these causes about 50000 annually. As the re- suit of investigations carried on in various parts of the world confirmatory testi- mony by many authorities is available so that the transmission of disease by the fly is no longer a mere theory, but is truth that has been scientifically established. In fact, a little more than a year ago Dr. l.. O. Howard of the United States de- pertinent of agriculture proposed the name of typhoid fly as substitute for that of house fly.
 The earliest convincing evidence of the dissemination of the typhoid bacillus by the house fly was furnished by doctors who investigated camp conditions dur ing the Spanish-American war. It was found that officers whose mess tents were protected by. screens suffered proportion ately less from typhoid fever than did those whose tents were not so guarded and the fever gradually disappeared in the fall of 1908 with the approach of cold weather and the consequent disabling of the fly. Nothing was more noticeable" ," says Dr. Dunne, than the fall In the admissions from typhoid fever coincdent with the killing off of the flies at the advent of the cold nights of May and June."
 Dr.. c. N. Kober of Washington has estimated that the decrease in the vital assets of the United States through ty- pnoid fever is more than s350 ,000 an- nually. Although physicians do not agree as to the proportion of responsibility for typhoid which must be credited to flies polluted water and infected milk, most of them agree that flies are the cause of d very important part. The people of this country spend over s1o,oOo.oCO annually for