34 LOSS THROUGH INSECTS THAT CARRY DISEASE. 



with such an expense for competent service, or perhaps with a slightly 

 added expense, the typhoid fly could be largely eliminated as an ele- 

 ment in the transfer of disease in the District of Columbia, and the 

 difficulty which the authorities have had in locating the cause of a 

 very considerable proportion of the cases of typhoid in the District 

 for the past two or three years indicates plainly to the mind of the 

 writer that the typhoid fly is a much more important element than 

 has been supposed. It is a comforting although comparatively insig- 

 nificant fact and a matter of common observation that in certain 

 sections of the city the typhoid fly has been much less numerous dur- 

 ing the past summer than in previous years. The writer is inclined 

 to attribute this to the gradual disappearance of horse stables in 

 such sections, brought about by the rapidly increasing use of motor 

 vehicles. 



A significant paragraph in Mr. Newstead's Liverpool report, re- 

 ferred to above, contains the following words : " The most strenuous 

 efforts should be made to prevent children defecating in the courts 

 and passages ; or that the parents should be compelled to remove such 

 matter immediately ; and that defecation in stable middens should be 

 strictly forbidden. The danger lies in the overwhelming attraction 

 which such fecal matter has for house flies, which later may come into 

 direct contact with man or his foodstuffs. They may, as Veeder puts 

 it, ' In a very few minutes * * * load themselves with dejections 

 from a typhoid or dysenteric patient, not as yet sick enough to be in 

 hospital or under observation, and carry the poison so taken up into 

 the very midst of the food and water ready for use at the next meal. 

 There is no long, roundabout process involved.' '" 



The writer has already referred to this general subject in his re- 

 marks on the depositing of excrement in the open within town or city 

 limits, but Newstead's specific reference to children reminds one that 

 in the tenement districts of the older great cities of England and other 

 parts of Europe there occur opportunities for transfer of disease 

 which, while probably less numerous in the newer cities of the United 

 States, nevertheless must still exist and be a constant danger. 



We have thus shown that the typhoid or house fly is a general and 

 common carrier of jDathogenic bacteria. It may carry typhoid fever, 

 Asiatic cholera, dysentery, cholera morbus, and other intestinal dis- 

 eases; it may carry the bacilli of tuberculosis and certain eye diseases; 

 it is everywhere present, and it is disposed of with comparative ease. 

 It is the duty of every individual to guard so far as possible against 

 the occurrence of flies upon his premises. It is the duty of every com- 

 munity, through its board of health, to spend money in the warfare 

 against this enemy of mankind. This duty is as pronounced as though 

 the community were attacked by bands of ravenous wolves. 



