14 



in the summer of 1898 it was so spread to a shocking extent has been 

 demonstrated by the army typhoid fever commission. And the rem- 

 edy is plain. It consists of two courses of procedure: (1) Proper 

 care of excreta; (2) the destruction of flies. 



Measures to be taken to prevent typhoid fever.— On many farms 

 where intelligent jDeople live the old-fashioned box privy has been 



done away with, and there 

 has been substituted for it 

 some form of earth closet. 

 Where a good earth closet 

 is in operation, and the 

 inhabitants of a farm ap- 

 preciate the importance 

 of using no other, and 

 where in case of illness 

 the excreta of patients are 

 promptly disinfected, flies 

 breeding in the neighbor- 

 hood will have practically 

 no opportunity to become 

 contaminated with typhoid 

 germs, except in the un- 

 likely event (which futura 

 investigation may possibly 

 show) that other animals 

 than man are subject to 

 this disease. The proper 

 maintenance of an earth 

 closet will add somewhat 

 to the work of a farm, but 

 this extra work will pay 

 in the long run. While it 

 is true that a box inclosure, 

 if its contents are covered 

 with lime every three or 

 four days, will answer the 

 purpose, a much better 

 plan would be to use a 

 Greatly large metal vessel, the sur- 

 face of the contents being 

 covered with earth after each operation, and which may be removed, 

 emptied, and replaced daily. Care should, of course, be taken to 

 empty the contents of the vessel in a pit constructed in some well- 

 chosen spot, from which the drainage would not be dangerous. 



155 



-Full-grown larva of Anopheles, 

 enlarged (author's illustration). 



