THE AUTOMOBILE AND PUBLIC HEALTH 287 



make a pile covering an acre of ground 175 feet high. If every pound of ma- 

 nure exposed furnished a breeding place for 100 flies, then we should have, as 

 a result of this large pile of manure 16,400,000,000 flies. We can no longer 

 rely upon the slogan "Swat the fly," and we must get rid of the fly by starving 

 it. We must clean up, so that there is nothing upon which the fly may feed; no 

 decaying material in which to lay its eggs. ' ' Starve the fly, ' ' must be the 

 slogan. It is almost enough to make one give up hope and conclude that the 

 automobile is the only solution. 



The campaign against flies is based on study of the life history of the 

 fly. These studies have demonstrated that manure is one of the com- 

 monest places for fly breeding. A comprehensive book on this subject 

 has been published by Edward H. Boss, entitled : " The Eeduction of 

 Domestic Flies." Some of the following statements are taken from 

 this book. 



The house fly breeds in all sorts of filth, but stable manure is the common- 

 est lair for the insect. The female fly likes to lay her eggs here and in horse 

 dung the fly maggot or grub lives for five days and then becomes the chrysalis 

 or nymph. After about five days more the fully developed insect emerges to 

 become a nuisance and do its deadly work. Fly reduction is a beneficial meas- 

 ure because it brings about a saving of life; reduces sickness, sorrow and 

 misery; results in riddance of a pest and facilitates sanitary inspection. It has 

 been estimated that one fly can produce in one month 506,250,000 offspring. 

 Supposing only one half of these survive the larval stages, we have the enor- 

 mous total of 250,000,000 increase per month. 



The author of this book also states that " In the West End of London 

 the stables and mews have become garages and there are only a few 

 flies, where formerly thousands pestered, ..." The disappearance is 

 due, in part at least, to the removal of the horse manure and with it the 

 favorite breeding places for flies. The campaign against flies, therefore, 

 consists largely in prompt disposition of horse manure. That the most 

 efficient method of disposition is the removal of the horse is obvious and 

 with the advent of horseless vehicles the horse becomes superfluous. 

 Considerable success has already crowned efforts in caring for the excre- 

 ments of horses and the banishing of horses from our streets will facili- 

 tate this work. With the consequent reduction of flies we shall rid our- 

 selves of a disgusting pest and aid in the preservation of life, health and 

 happiness. 



Evidence of the role played by flies in carrying infection is not want- 

 ing. In the Spanish-American war much of the typhoid fever was 

 ascribed to the presence of flies. They were so common that, when 

 cooked food had cooled sufficiently, it was covered with flies. When eat- 

 ing the men had to keep the flies away with one hand. Fecal matter in 

 the pits was covered with lime and the white specks from the feet of 

 flies could be traced on food. Virulent tubercle bacilli, the germs of 

 typhoid fever, of bubonic plague, of anthrax and of Asiatic cholera have 

 been found on the feet or in the intestinal canal of flies. Infection of 



