148 



THE POPULAR SGIEXCE MONTHLY 



symptoms and results, being mild, the patient having but little pain 

 and nausea, and scarcely any fever, and further, in the latter mentioned 

 cases, the patients lost no time from their work. 



We made the statement that this latter epidemic of dysentery was 

 due to fly infection. I think we speak advisedly upon this point, and 

 can perhaps convince you that the spread of dysentery can be laid at 



AUSTRIAN'S. 



the door of the house fly in addition to other serious charges. Dysentery 

 is rather a broad term, covering a number of very closely allied intes- 

 tinal disorders, all presenting, however, the same general symptoms. 

 We are told by physicians that there is no one specific germ of dysentery, 

 and that it is apparently caused by an excess in the alimentary canal of 

 a number of germs — Bacillus coli is one — found in manure and filth, 

 germs normally existing in comparatively small numbers in a healthy 

 individual. Now, about two years ago, almost all the inmates of a 

 certain institution in Minnesota suddenly developed symptoms of intes- 

 tinal disorder, which could be likened to dysentery. This was in the 

 cold season, when no flies were present. The trouble was traced unmis- 

 takably to drinking water, which was contaminated by the stoppage of 

 the sewer from the institution, causing sewage to back up and enter the 

 well. These conditions, I am happy to say, have been rectified long 



