CARRIAGE OF DISEASE 
121 
after it had been left undisturbed for a short time, a 
buzzing swarm of flies would suddenly arise from it 
with a noise faintly suggestive of the bursting of a 
percussion shrapnel shell. The latrine was certainly 
not more than one hundred yards from the nearest 
tents, if so much, and, at meal times, men’s mess tins, 
etc., were always invaded by flies. A tin of jam in¬ 
cautiously left open for a few minutes became a seeth¬ 
ing mass of flies (chiefly Pycnosoma chloropyga 
Wied.), completely covering the contents.’ 
“F. Smith (1903, p. 331) refers to his experience in 
the South African War in seeing flies go from bed- 
pans to milk, etc., and discusses in detail methods of 
sewage disposal in warm countries.” 
Still later observations of a similar character have 
been made, not in war times but in times of peace, at 
army stations and encampments during practice maneu¬ 
vers. A report by Maj. C. F. Wanhill on typhoid con¬ 
ditions in Bermuda, for example, shows that from 1893 
to 1902 Bermuda had the highest enteric fever rate 
among the troops of any command occupied by British 
troops. Major Wanhill was placed in charge in 1904, 
and in two years almost wiped the disease out. He 
considered that carriage of the germs by flies was the 
most important mode of transfer. 
With regard to the British army stations in India, 
the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps for the 
past six years has contained many suggestive and im¬ 
portant articles written by different members of the 
Royal Army Medical Corps which emphasize to a strik- 
