24 MORE MINOR HORRORS 



centage results, are, I think, of some value, in that 

 they prove the following facts : — 



The common cockroach is able by contamina- 

 tion with its faeces (1) to bring about the souring 

 of milk; (2) to infect food and milk with intestinal 

 bacilli; (3) to transmit the tubercle bacillus; (4) to 

 disseminate pathogenic staphylococci ; (5) to transmit 

 from place to place destructive moulds. 



These facts, taken in conjunction with the life- 

 habits of the insect, lead to the conclusion that 

 the cockroach is able to and may possibly play a 

 small part in the dissemination of tuberculosis, 

 and in the transmission of pyogenic organisms ; 

 that the insect is in all probability an active agent 

 in the souring of milk kept in kitchens and larders ; 

 and that it is undoubtedly a very important factor 

 in the distribution of moulds to food and to numerous 

 other articles, especially when they are kept in 

 dark cupboards and cellars where cockroaches abound. 

 The distribution and numbers of the cockroach are 

 rapidly increasing, and unless preventive measures 

 are adopted the insect is likely in the course of time 

 to become a very troublesome and possibly a very 

 dangerous domestic pest.^ 



1 British Medical Journal, 1911, ii. 1531. 



