Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



53 



rilAT FERTILE AND FATAL FLY. 



To the Hebrew belief that called the Prince of 

 Darkness rk'clzebub, or " the Lord of Flies," the editor 

 uf Pearson's Magazine seems to be an entire convert. 

 Under the heading " Kill that Fly ! " in the July 

 number he makes an onslaught on this humble but 

 dangerous denizen of the air. This is his account of the 

 tly:- 



A female liouse-fly no sooner appears in the world than a 

 great desire takes possession of her— a desire to lay her ei;gs. 

 It is the object of her life. She has three occupations— feeding, 

 cleaning herself, and egg-laying. Her life is a short one, and 

 she is allowed about five weeks only in which to fulhl her 

 destiny. 



THREE Mil-HON DESCENDANTS IN A SUMMER. 

 With her ovipositor, a long telescopic instrument, the female 

 fly lays her eggs in a heap of stable manure, usually in fissures 

 on the surface ; this is the favourite place, but any old rubbish 

 heap, any warm, moist garbage she finds will serve her purpose. 

 She lays at a time from loo to 150 eggs. If she be a success- 

 ful fly in the battle of life— if you do not kill her— she will lay 

 at least five or six batches before the summer is out. She will 

 rapidly become a grandmother, a great-grandmother, a great- 

 great-grandmother, so quickly do her eggs hatch, and her 

 daughters mature, to lay eggs in turn. Before the summer is 

 out she may have two million or three million descendants— an 

 uncountable progeny. 



FROM EGG TO MATURITY. 

 Within twenty-four hours after an egg is laid— perhaps in 

 eight hours, if it be laid in a warm place — the grub appears, to 

 exist as a grub for about a week. It begins to feed on the 

 refuse amid which it has been hatched. As it feeds it grows, 

 but will never exceed three-quarters of an inch in length ; it 

 changes its skin, and presently the desire for food leaves it. It 

 turns white, contracts, and is transformed into a chrysalis of 

 brownish hue. In three days there is yet another change ; the 

 pupa case cracks, and the perfect insect comes out into the world 

 ready to embark on its sinister career. 



The life history 10 this point may be complete in eight days, 

 if the eggs and larva be developed in favourable surroundings. 

 And so the fly comes to us— wonderful, beautiful, but bearing 

 on its wings and among the hairs of its legs, and inside its little 

 iKHly, the germs of disease and death. 



6,600,000 GERMS ON A SINGLE FLY. 

 Six million six hundred thousand germs have lieen found on a 

 single fly. An examination of four hundred and fourteen flies 

 resulted in an average of one million two hundred and twenty- 

 two thousand five hundred and seventy germs each. In one 

 case a fly was allowe<l to walk about in a culture of typhoid 

 germs and then transferred to a gelatine plate. In the trail left 

 by that fly there were thirty thousand bacteria— and a few will 

 cause death. 



Messages arc received applauding the crusade 

 against flies from Mr. John Hums and a number of 

 leading medical men. 



Turning the Boy Scouts to \V<jrk. 



In the World's W'ork F. P. Stockbridge tells how 

 the Boy Scouts of Weir, Kansas, and of other towns 

 were set to work in the destruction of flies : — 



The boys divided the city into districts and themselves into 

 squads, each covering a district. Then upon a given ilay, after 

 wide publicity through the local papers, they set about cleaning 

 up the town. 



The city authorities hail given them permission to haul away 

 »he rubbish and garbage. They went at it systematically. 



There was the rake brigade, the gunny sack brigade, and the 

 hauling brigade, with a corps of othcers to see that things worked 

 smootiily. Their preliminary " scouting " had shown them just 

 where to go^and they cleaned the town. 



They also constructed " swatters," which they dis- 

 tributed, two to every house. They also invented 

 a number of fly-traps. 



THE IRISH HEALTH CRUSADE. 



In the Quiver for June Alice Stronach tells what 

 women are doing for Ireland, as a result of the move- 

 ment initiated by the Countess of Aberdeen in founding 

 the Women's National Health Association. To-day the 

 women crusaders number 17,500. 

 babies' clubs. 



Their activity is shown in the pure and pasteurised 

 milk depots, and in babies' clubs, to which, on payment 

 of a penny a week, mothers bring their babies, for a 

 cup of tea and friendly talk with the lady in charge, or 

 with nurse or doctor. The baby is weekly inspected 

 and weighed, and advice given to its mother. Disused 

 coastguard cottages have been turned into a pre- 

 ventorium, where the health of house-mother, factory 

 girl, or delicate child is restored. 



EFFECT IN THE WILDS. 



Two great enemies of Ireland are infant mortality 

 and tuberculosis, and against both Lady Aberdeen has 

 carried on a victorious campaign. Already both death- 

 rates have begun to diminish : — 



If you re-visit some village in the wilds of Donegal or Con- 

 nemara, that you knew a few years ago, you will probably 

 notice changes. Houses and cabins are cleaner and better kept, 

 windows arc made to open, the manure heap is less evident to 

 eyes and nose, the porridge-pot disputes the monopoly of the 

 hob with the little black " taypot," and the miller has a tale to 

 tell of busier meal mills. If you comment on these changes, 

 you will probably learn that the health caravan has passed that 

 way. 



THE HEALTH CARAVAN. 



The health caravan is very popular. In the remoter 

 parts of Ireland the visit of the van is a great event. 

 Men, women, and children will cheerfully tramp miles 

 to see it, and hear those who come in it. It brings with 

 it a doctor who can speak Irish, a gramophone that can 

 deliver a lecture as well as a song, a cookery demon- 

 strator, limelight pictures, and simple printed warnings 

 against dirt and bad air. In Dublin the Association has 

 at work two specially (lualilied tuberculosis nurses, and 

 has also a hospital on the outskirts of Dublin, where 

 patients in the secondary stages of tuberculosis are 

 cared for. 



The mid-June number of the Rnnie de Paris 

 gives the first instalment of an unpublished novel, 

 entitled " Daphnt:-," by Alfred de Vigny. M. F'ernand 

 Gregh, in a prefatory article, shows that the story 

 is of great philosophical as well as historical 

 interest. 



