THE TYPHOID FLY, OR HOUSE FLY, 23 



used by the French for their officers, and Colonel Gorgas thinks it 

 safe to say that more men had died from yellow fever in that build- 

 ing under the French regime than in any other building of the same 

 capacity at present standing. He and Doctor Carter had their wives 

 and children with them, which would formerly have been considered 

 the height of recklessness, but they looked upon themselves, under the 

 now recognized precautions, as being as safe, almost, as thej^ would 

 have been in Philadelphia or Boston. 



Xo figures of the actual cost of the antimosquito work, either in 

 Havana or in the Panama Canal Zone, are accessible to the writer, 

 but it is safe to say that it was not exorbitant, and that it was not 

 beyond the means of any well-to-do community in tropical regions. 



THE TYPHOID FLY, COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE HOUSE FLY. 



The name " typhoid fly " is here proposed as a substitute for the 

 name "house flj'^," now in general use. People have altogether too 

 long considered the house fly as a harmless creature, or, at the most, 

 simplj^ a nuisance. While scientific researches have shown that it is 

 a most dangerous creature from the standpoint of disease, and while 

 popular opinion is rapidly being educated to the same point, the 

 retention of the name house fl}^ is considered inadvisable, as perpetu- 

 ating in some degree the old ideas. Strictly speaking, the term 

 " typhoid fly " is open to some objection, as conveying the erroneous 

 idea that this fly is solely responsible for the spread of typhoid, but 

 considering that the creature is dangerous from every point of view, 

 and that it is an important element in the spread of typhoid, it 

 seems advisable to give it a name which is almost wholly justified and 

 which conveys in itself the idea of serious disease. Another repul- 

 sive name that might be given to it is "manure fly," but recent 

 researches have shown that it is not confined to manure as a breeding 

 place, although perhaps the great majority of these flies are born 

 in horse manure. For the end in view, " typhoid fly " is considered 

 the best name. 



The true connection of the so-called house fly with typhoid fever 

 and the true scientific evidence regarding its role as a carrier of that 

 disease have only recentW been worked out. Celli in 1888 fed flies 

 with pure cultures of the typhoid bacillus, and examined their 

 contents and dejections microscopically and culturally. Inocu- 

 lations of animals were also made, proving that the bacilli which 

 passed through flies were virulent. Dr. George M. Kober, familiar 

 with Celli's researches, in his report on the prevalence of typhoid 

 fever in the District of Columbia, published in 1895, called especial 

 attention to the danger of the contamination of food suj)plies bj' 



