(146) 



STEUCT [IRE, DEVELOPMENT, AND BIONOMICS OF HOUSE-FLY. 387 



experienced the effects of flies, were even better than, these. 

 He said (Deut., Ch. xxiii, v. 12-13) : "Thou shalt have a 

 place also without the carnp whither thou shalt go forth 

 abroad; and thou shalt have a paddle [or f shovel^] among 

 thy weapons; and it shall be, when thousittest down abroad, 

 thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that 

 which corneth from thee." 



Sternberg is of the opinion that typhoid fever and camp 

 diarrhoea are frequently communicated to soldiers through 

 the agency of flies, "which swarm about fascal matter and 

 filth of all kinds deposited upon the ground or in shallow pits, 

 and directly convey infectious material attached to their feet 

 or contained in their excreta to the food which is exposed 

 while being prepared in the common kitchen, or while being 

 served in the mess-tent." 



Yeeder (1898), in referring to the conditions existing in the 

 camps of the Spanish-American war, says that in the latrine 

 trenches he saw " faecal matter fresh from the bowel and in 

 its most dangerous condition, covered with myriads of flies, 

 and at a short distance there was a tent, equally open to the 

 air, for dining and cooking. To say that the flies were busy 

 travelling back and from between these two places is putting 

 it mildly." Further, he says, " There is no doubt that air 

 and sunlight kill infection, if given time, but their very access 

 gives opportunity for the flies to do serious mischief as con- 

 veyers of fresh infection wherever they put their feet. In a 

 very few minutes they may load themselves with the dejec- 

 tions from a typhoid or dysenteric patient, not as yet sick 

 enough to be in hospital or under observation, and carry the 

 poison so taken up into the very midst of the food and 'water 

 ready for use at the next meal. There is no long and round- 

 about process involved. It is very plain and direct. Yet when 

 the thousands of lives are at stake in this way the danger 

 passes unnoticed, and the consequences are disastrous and 

 seem mysterious until attention is directed to the point; then 

 it becomes simple enough in all conscience." 



The Commission which investigated the outbreaks of 



