THE TYPHOID FLY 



i47 



Among other circumstances favorable for an epidemic at Hibbing, 

 we must not forget to mention the fact that the city sewer, receiving 

 the refuse from this town of about 12,000 or more people, empties into 

 an open creek not more than half a mile from the city. This creek is 

 crossed by two or more bridges, over which delivery wagons pass many 

 times a day to outlying towns. We stopped our carriage at one of 

 these bridges, and watched the slowly moving filth for a short time, 

 noting, upon driving to town, that we brought from that locality many 

 flies upon the vehicle we occupied. Multiply this incident by a hun- 

 dred and you have an idea of the many daily opportunities presented 

 to flies for reaching the various towns in the vicinity. 



This siege of typhoid had been preceded by one of dysentery earlier 

 in the season, but this first appearance of dysentery was directly trace- 

 able to the water, for at that time the sterilizing plant had not been 

 installed, and men had been working for some time in the shaft from 

 which Hibbing got its water supply. I was told by a local physician 

 that they could predict, in that town, an epidemic of typhoid after one 

 of dysentery — dysentery appearing to make the system especially sus- 

 ceptible to the former disease. In this town alone, about the middle 

 of May, there were nearly or quite 2,000 cases of dysentery, which 

 ceased at once upon the purification of the water; and there was con- 

 siderable dysentery present at the time of our vist, without question 

 due to fly infection. It differed from the water-caused dysentery in 



A Mixers' Boarding House in Town. In the summer time mosquito netting is 

 thrown over the table, confining large numbers of flies which crawl over the ex- 

 posed food. 



