The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-07-28
Civic League Pointers
BY the civic League Of Pensacola.

It can encourage members to make OBJ
serVations about work that has been
done and suggestions about work to be
done. 1t can assist with the vast num-
Der of ideas that occur to smart wom-
en- from time to time. OF course we
do not want this work to interfere with
the regular business of your club but
feel that a little enthusiasm devoted to
it, on the side, will prove not only in
teresting to you but beneficial to the
entire city.
War on the Fly.
These sultry days which drive peo-
pie to the out door life" and the diff
ferent modes of out door living we
would sound a note of warning con-
corning the much talked of and ever
present fly. Certainly there is a great
war being waged against the f1y-ty-
phoid fy-as 1t is called. The war is
being stirred up and urged on by diff
ferent civic associations over the whole
continent. In certain sections the
country has been flooded with posters,
circulars or booklets, which are simple
and to the point. When a person has
read these forceful truths concerning
the common house fly, once looked on
as almost harmless Inconvenience, q
deep disgust for the buzzing things is
born, and almost Of a surety another
soldier is drafted for the anti-fiy army
So much in earnest are these fly ex-
terminators that the generals in the
movement have pressed into their ser
vice the moving picture film as a
weapon against the pest and a method
of popular instruction. These films
showing the life and habits Of the fly
have been shown in many citics and
towns Of the United States, Pensa-
colians should be familiar with its
death dealing formation and habits
through the films shown at picture
shows and lectures 9iven from time to
time. We ourselves are greatly to
blame in this matter, for the fly could
not exist if everything were kept per-
fectly clean and sanitary. Flies can
discern an unclean odor for miles. II
attracts them, while the clean smells,
which they dislike, repels them. The
moral is to keep our homes and prem
ises absolutely clean.
It is a common sight to see the fly
industriously wiping his feet on the
food we are expected to eat. He is
getting rid of disease germs, leaving
them for us to swallow. This habit
of his does more to spread typhoid
fever and cholera infantum than any
other cause. We cannot get typhoid
fever unless we swallow the germs of
typhoid, and we do not swallow these
germs unless they get on the food we
on the glasses or cups from which we
drink. No doubt you have noticed
that these intestinal diseases are more
frequent whenever and wherever flies
are most abundant. There is special
danger when flies drop into milk. This
is an ideal place for germ development,
and a few germs washed from the body
Of one fly may develop into millions
within a few hours and the person
who drinks such milk win receive large
doses Of bacilH which may cause Sc
rious sickness.
Do not suppose that the fly has a
limited circle of flight. A SMALLPOX
hospital is about to be erected on Por-
ter's Island, near Ottawa, Canada.
Experiments have been made to dis
cover whether flies could carry fnfec-
ton from the hospital to the homes
across the river. Flies We're bred from
collected larvae and put in a balloon
wire cage and sprayed with a solution
of rosaic acid in ten per cent alcohol.
The flies were then liberated and tan
gIefoot papers were distributed on both
sides of the river. After one or two