(145) 



386 C. GORDON HEWITT. 



" (a) Flies swarmed over infected faecal matter in the pits and 

 then visited and fed upon the food prepared for the soldiers 

 in the mess-tents. In some instances where lime had recently 

 been sprinkled over the contents of the pits, flies with their 

 feet whitened with lime were seen walking over the food. 



"b) Officers whose mess-tents were protected by screens 

 suffered proportionately less from typhoid fever than did 

 those whose tents were not so protected. 



" (c) Typhoid fever gradually disappeared in the fall of 

 1898 with the approach of cold weather and the consequent 

 disabling of the fly. 



" It is possible for the fly to carry the typhoid bacillus in 

 two ways. In the first place fascal matter containing the 

 typhoid germs may adhere to the fly and be mechanically 

 transported. In the second place, it is possible that the 

 typhoid bacillus may be carried in the digestive organs of the 

 fly and may be deposited with its excrement. 7 ' 



One of his conclusions was that infected water was not an 

 important factor in the dissemination of typhoid in the 

 national encampments of 1898, since only about one fifth of 

 the soldiers in the national encampments during the summer 

 of that year developed typhoid fever, whereas about 80 per 

 cent, of the total deaths were due to this disease. In the 

 latter connection Sternberg (1899) refers to a report of Dr. 

 Reed upon an epidemic in the Cuban War, in which it was 

 stated that the epidemic was clearly not due to water 

 infection but was transferred from the infected stools of the 

 patients to the food by means of flies, the conditions being 

 especially favourable for this means of dissemination. Stern- 

 berg,, as Surgeon-General of the U.S. Army, issued the follow- 

 ing instructions 1 : " Sinks should be dug before a camp is 

 occupied or as soon after as practicable. The surface of the 

 faocal matter should be covered with fresh earth or quicklime 

 or ashes three times a day/ 7 I think that the instructions 

 of that ancient leader of men, Moses, who probably had 



1 ' Circular No. 1 of the Surgeon- General of the U.S. Army/ April, 



1898. 



