Typhoid Fever and its Relatives 107 



dustries, virulent typhoid bacilli in large 

 numbers. In the Spanish American war there 

 were many victims of gross neglect in sanita- 

 tion in whose destruction red tape and the 

 common house-fly played a conspicuous r61e. 

 We shall consider this nefarious insect more 

 at length in a later chapter. 



Typhoid discharges should always be ren- 

 dered harmless at once by heat or be disin- 

 fected with carbolic acid or some other 

 effective agent, no matter where they are to 

 be finally disposed of, and this should be 

 done whether the doctor does his duty in the 

 matter, or, as is sometimes the case, neglects it. 



So long as the excreta of typhoid patients 

 are not systematically disinfected but are 

 allowed to pass into sewers and cesspools, 

 or are thrown on to the soil whence they 

 pollute watercourses; so long as a high 

 standard of personal cleanliness is not re- 

 quired in those who deal with milk and other 

 food supplies, we must expect that this 

 typhoid fever, which is a disgrace to our 

 boasted civilization, because wholly unneces- 

 sary, will flourish here and there. 



