The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-05-05
THE MOST DANGEROUS
 ANIMAL ON EARTH'
How the Fly Transmits Typhoid - He Lives on Filth Only-The Way to Fight Him.
Edward Hatch. Jr.)


 (Mr Hatch is chairman of the Ely Civic Association which is chiefly re- sponsible for the national campaign against the fly which is now being carried on. His committee has issued many tracts against the fly, incIud- ing the pamphlet, f'"The House-Fly at the Bar and the leaflet. Beware of the Dangerous House-Fly'' which also gives Rules for Dealing With the Fly Nuisance" These are sent all over the country to individuals and organi- zations who wish to aid in the work of fly extermination by starting local campaigns of educatiOn.)
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 'aThe 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 the dawn of history. He lives only where man has made his home. Though the sacred writers had some appreciation of the pestiferouS nature of the fly, it is only comparatively recently that we have learned that he deserves the title of "the most dan gerous animal on earth.''
 pr. Daniel D. Jackson, finding that flies, attracted by floating sewerage in the slips, swarmed along the water front, set a large number of traps at different points on the north and east river shores in New York city, The captfves were found to carry innu- merable fecal bacilli on their legs and bodies. One which was caught in South street had more than 1250OO on him. By means of a map which in aof fn1 to ~r testinal diseases by black dots, he proved that the increase in the num- Der of these diseases was in direct proportion to the number of flies. The vast majority of the eases were in the parts of the city nearest the polluted water front.
 A thorough going reform of the sanitary conditions in the district af- fected, including the adoption of some system of sewerage disposal would, Dr. Jackson stated in the report of his investigation, reduce the yearly deaths of typhoid very considerably and the diarrhoeal deaths from 70Of to 2,0o0, 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 50,O00 annually. As the result of investigations carried on in various parts of the world con- f1rmatory testimony by many authori- ties is available so that the transmits sion of disease by the fly is no longer a mere theory. but Is a truth that has been scientifically established. In fact a little more than a year ago pr. l.. O. Howard of the United States Department of Agriculture proposed the name of typhoid fly as a Sub- stitute for that of house fly.
 The earliest convincing evidence of the dissemination of the typhoid bacillus by the house fly was furnish ed by doctors who investigated camp conditions during the Spanish-Ameri- can war. It was found that officers whose mess tents were protected by screens suffered approximately less from typhoid fever than did those whose tents were not so guarded, and the fever gradually disappeared in the fall of 1898 with the approach of cold weather and the consequent disabling of the fly. Nothing was more notice able" says Dr. Dunne. than the fall in the admissions from typhoid fever I-oincidant with the killing off of tha