ECONOMIC LOSS THROUGH INSECTS 



743 



for their officers, and Colonel Gorgas 

 thinks it safe to say that more men had 

 died from yellow fever in that building 

 under the French regime than in any 

 other building of the same capacity at 

 present standing. He and Doctor Carter 

 had their wives and children with them, 

 which would formerly have been consid- 

 ered the height of recklessness, but they 

 looked upon themselves, under the now 

 recognized precautions, as being as safe, 

 almost, as they would have been in Phila- 

 j delphia or Boston. 



No figures of the actual cost of the 

 antimosquito work, either in Havana or 

 in the Panama Canal Zone, are accessible 

 to the writer, but it is safe to say that it 

 was not exorbitant, and that it was not 

 beyond the means of any well-to-do com- 

 munity in tropical regions. 



the typhoid ely, commonly known as 

 the; house fly 



The name "typhoid fly" is here pro- 

 posed as a substitute for the name "house 

 fly," now in general use. People have 

 altogether too long considered the house 

 fly as a harmless creature, or, at the most, 

 simply a nuisance. While scientific re- 

 searches have shown that it is a most 

 dangerous creature from the standpoint 

 of disease, and while popular opinion is 

 rapidly being educated to the same point, 

 the retention of the name house fly is 

 considered inadvisable, as perpetuating 

 in some degree the old ideas. Strictly 

 speaking, the term "typhoid fly" is open 

 to some objection, as conveying the er- 

 roneous idea that this fly is solely respon- 

 sible for the spread of typhoid ; but con- 

 sidering that the creature is dangerous 

 from every point of view, and that it is 

 an important element in the spread of 

 typhoid, it seems advisable to give it a 

 name which is almost wholly justified and 

 which conveys in itself the idea of serious 

 disease. Another repulsive name that 

 might be given to it is "manure fly," but 

 recent researches have shown that it is 

 not confined to manure as a breeding 

 place, although perhaps the great major- 

 ity of these flies are born in horse ma- 

 nure. For the end in view, "typhoid 

 fly" is considered the best name. 



In a paper entitled "A Contribution to 

 the Study of the Insect Fauna of Human 

 Excrement (with special reference to the 

 spread of typhoid fever by flies)," pub- 

 lished in the Proceedings of the Wash- 

 ington Academy of Sciences, Volume II, 

 pages 541-604, December 28, 1900, the 

 writer showed that 98.8 per cent of the 

 whole number of insects captured in 

 houses throughout the whole country 

 were Musca domcstica, the typhoid or 

 house fly. He showed further that this 

 fly, while breeding most numerously in 

 horse stables, is also attracted to human 

 excrement and will breed in this sub- 

 stance. It was shown that in towns 

 where the box privy was still in existence 

 the house fly is attracted to the excre- 

 ment, and, further, that it is so attracted 

 in the filthy regions of a city where sani- 

 tary supervision is lax and where in low 

 alleys and corners and in vacant lots ex- 

 crement is deposited by dirty people. He 

 stated that he had seen excrement which 

 had been deposited overnight in an alley- 

 way in South Washington swarming 

 with flies under the bright sunlight of a 

 June morning (temperature 92° F.), and 

 that within 30 feet of these deposits were 

 the open windows and doors of the kitch- 

 ens of two houses kept by poor people, 

 these two houses being only elements in 

 a long row. The following paragraph is 

 quoted from the paper just cited : 



"Now, when we consider the preva- 

 lence of typhoid fever and that virulent 

 typhoid bacilli may occur in the excre- 

 ment of an individual for some time be- 

 fore the disease is recognized in him, and 

 that the same virulent germs may be 

 found in the excrement for a long time 

 after the apparent recovery of a patient, 

 the wonder is not that typhoid is so prev- 

 alent but that it does not prevail to a 

 much greater extent. Box privies should 

 be abolished in every community. The 

 depositing of excrement in the open 

 within town or city limits should be con- 

 sidered a punishable misdemeanor in 

 communities which have not already such 

 regulations, and it should be enforced 

 more rigorously in towns in which it is 

 already a rule. Such offenses are gener- 

 allv committed after dark, and it is often 



