Review of JJciirus, 1'0,'I3. 



LEADING ARTICLES. 



rei 



THE DEADLY HOUSE FLY. 



American doctors and health officers 

 have demonstrated how the mosquito 

 {Stegomyia fasciata), the carrier of yel- 

 low fever, can be exterminated. They 

 have made Havana a healthy spot — 

 in Spanish hands it was a cesspool of 

 disease. They have cleansed other 

 towns m Cuba, and they have banished 

 yellow fever from the Isthmus of 

 Panama. To fight the mosquito seemed 

 as hopeless a task as that of Sisyphus, 

 but it has been successfully done. The 

 Americans are now engaged in a sys- 

 tematic campaign against the fiy. As 

 usual, the Agricultural Department in 

 Washington, that consistent helper of 

 the farmer, is well to the fore in the 

 fight. It gives in its bulletins explicit 

 instructions as to the best method of 

 exterminating what is now recognised 

 by scientists as one of the most harmful 

 disseminators of disease and death. 



A TERRIBLE INDICTMENT. 



Writing m that excellent monthly, 



Good Housekeeping, the director of the 



Department of Bacteriology in New 



York. Dr. Herbert D. Pease, gives an 



account of the filthy habits of the house 



fly, and tells of the campaign for its 



extermination. 



Would it astonisli vou. would it shock you, 

 to be told that thousands of children are 

 slain by flies each year!'' Would you be 

 surprised to learn that in one city of the 

 United Stai;<^s over seven thousand persons 

 lost their lives from intestinal diseases be- 

 lieved by certain scientists to be traceable to 

 the " harmless insect " that is now buzzinji 

 on your window pane or against your screen 

 doorP Suppose it were solemnly stated by 

 scientists of international repute that an- 

 terior poliomyelitis, or infant paralysis, of 

 which one hospital in New York alone re- 

 ceived and treated hundreds of cases in one 

 recent .summer, can be carried by one of the 

 kinds of flies vou pass by as of " no parti- 

 cular importance." What would you say 

 then? And it is true, every word ot it! 

 Walk into your kitchen and observe tlie 

 number of flies there. Are there a hundred? 

 A thousand? You had better find a cx^nllas- 

 ration as vou open the door, for its possibili- 

 ties of disaster are not miicli <2;reat<>r. 



SPREADING DISEASE AND DEATH. 



It is estimated that one fly can carry 



about a million and a quarter bacteria 



about with her. She prefers to lay her 



ec^es in filth, her progeny, from the iw 



to the I 50 she lays at a time, require it 

 for sustenance. As soon as the eggs are 

 deposited, the fly goes off to feed on the 

 unprotected milk-pail airing in the sun, 

 the kitchen, where delectable goods are 

 being yorepared, and liberally distributes 

 the filth she has gathered from the 

 reeking heaps whence she has just come. 

 She is very, very liberal with those mil- 

 lion odd bacteria she carries around with 

 her. They reach the bread, the milk, the 

 food upon the table, or in the pantry. 

 The germs of the disease Limberneck, 

 for instance, a form of paralysis found 

 in fowls, hogs, and other animals, im- 

 pregnate the larvae in the nursery she 

 has left, and the germs are in turn dis- 

 tributed by these hatching flies when 

 they reach maturity. Dr. Pease men- 

 tions many other dangers from the fly's 

 horrible preference for the unclean, and 

 stales that cleanliness is imperative if 

 the battle against the microbe-carrying 

 pest is to be won. 



A FLY MULTIPLICATION TABLE. 



The enormous fecundity of the fly 

 is almost incredible. From one to 1500 

 million in five months ! 



May 1, one fly hatches one maggot, which 

 becomes a female fly: May 25. the female 

 fly lays 120 eggs; June 5, 120 adult flies is- 

 sue, of which 60 are females; June 19, the 

 60 females flies lay 7200 eggs: July 1, 7200 

 flies are hatched, of which 3(/O0 are females; 

 Julv 14, 360O female flies lav 432.000 eggs: 

 July 25, 432,000 flies issue, of wliich 216. (XIO 

 are females: August 14, 216, (iOO femalo flies 

 lay 25,920,0m eggs; August 24, 25,920,000 

 flies issue, of which 12,96(),(;(>0 are females: 

 September 18, 12,960,000 flies lay l,555.2lX).- 

 000 eggs, Avhich on. October 4 bring forth 

 1.555,200,000 flies. 



THE IDEAL TRAP 

 How should the fly be trapped? the 

 anxious housewife may well ask, after 

 reading Dr. Pease's article. lie gives the 

 following description of the best fly- 

 trap yet made. 



Make a box 4 x 2 x l.J feet. Make the 

 two sides of the box of eighteen-nuvsli wire 

 screen ; make the top, bottom and ends of 

 the box of any wood, i)referably wiiite pine: 

 through the Ivottom of the box cut three 

 round lioles about six incluvs in tliameter: 

 over tbeso holes fasten thr(>e cones of the 

 same wire that comi)oses the sides of the 

 box: the opening in the little end of the 

 conevs should W about three-fourths of an 

 inch in dianiet<>i-: through eith(>r the top or 



