CARRIAGE OF DISEASE 



after it had been left undisturbed for a short time, a 

 buzzing swarm of flies would suddenly arise from it 

 with a noise faintly suggestive of the bursting of a 

 percussion shrapnel shell. The latrine was certainly 

 not more than one hundred yards from the nearest 

 tents, if so much, and, at meal times, men's mess tins, 

 etc., were always invaded by flies. A tin of jam in- 

 cautiously left open for a few minutes became a seeth- 

 ing mass of flies (chiefly Pycnosoma chloropyga 

 Wied.), completely covering the contents/ 



"F. Smith (1903, p. 331) refers to his experience in 

 the South African War in seeing flies go from bed- 

 pans to milk, etc., and discusses in detail methods of 

 sewage disposal in warm countries." 



Still later observations of a similar character have 

 been made, not in war times but in times of peace, at 

 army stations and encampments during practice maneu- 

 vers. A report by Maj. C. F. Wanhill on typhoid con- 

 ditions in Bermuda, for example, shows that from 1893 

 to 1902 Bermuda had the highest enteric fever rate 

 among the troops of any command occupied by British 

 troops. Major Wanhill was placed in charge in 1904, 

 and in two years almost wiped the disease out. He 

 considered that carriage of the germs by flies was the 

 most important mode of transfer. 



With regard to the British army stations in India, 

 the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps for the 

 past six years has contained many suggestive and im- 

 portant articles written by different members of the 

 Royal Army Medical Corps which emphasize to a strik- 



