28 BACTERIA IN DAILY LIFE 



The general public, however, is hardly yet fully 

 alive to the capacity for mischief possessed and 

 exercised by the common house-fly. True, it is 

 universally execrated and regarded as a tiresome 

 attendant upon the summer months, but it is not 

 usually considered in any more serious light. That 

 however, the comparative indulgence with which 

 this homely insect pest has been treated is de- 

 cidedly misplaced and fraught with danger to 

 health, the researches of numerous scientists have 

 now conclusively proved. 



As long ago as the year 1888 Professor Celli 

 showed that the germs of consumption, anthrax, 

 and typhoid fever could pass through the digestive 

 organs of flies and reappear in the excreta of the 

 latter not only alive but in full possession of their 

 disease-producing powers. Dr. Sawtschenko made 

 similar experiments with cholera germs. Healthy 

 flies were placed under glass shades and fed with 

 broth in which these micro-organisms were growing, 

 and the latter were not only subsequently recovered 

 from the digestive organs of the flies but also from 

 their excreta in a living and virulent condition. 



This is, however, not the only means whereby 

 these insects can distribute deadly and other 

 microbes, for it has been shown that in crawling 

 over substances containing bacteria these may 

 become attached to the feet of flies, and are in 



