24 SANITARY ENTOMOLOGY 



of action. For instance, if we were merely to go before the inhabitants 

 of a Montana valley suffering from Rocky Mountain spotted fever and 

 say : "We are going to put down this epidemic, you must dip your horses 

 and trap all the rabbits and rodents on your pla-^'^." what kind of an 

 answer would we get? If the Public Health Service had stepped into 

 New Orleans on the announcement of a plague case and ordered every- 

 body to rat-proof their cellars, without further reason, they would have 

 been driven away. 



If a sanitary officer reports to his superior that a certain thing 

 must be done, requiring a considerable outlay of money and the use of 

 a good many men, he must be able to give him a strong, forceful argu- 

 ment to prove that he is right. Army officers, and in fact most executive 

 officers, want brief answers. The subordinate must therefore have his 

 information on the tip of his tongue. 



We have seen by the above discussion that the bites of insects must 

 be avoided. Where disease-carrying insects are present, the greater 

 the concentration of human beings or animals, the greater the necessity of 

 exercising control, whether it be in a municipality, a commercial estab- 

 lishment, an army, a stock yards, or a ranch. It is incumbent upon all 

 men charged with entomological sanitation to learn the bloodsucking 

 fauna about them. Without a knowledge of how mosquitoes, horse flies, 

 bedbugs, lice, stable flies, gnats, and ticks breed, one can scarcely proceed 

 to prevent their breeding and consequently cannot protect men and 

 animals from their attacks. 



One must always prevent insects from coming in contact with wounds. 

 This is especially important in hospitals and during times of epidemics. 

 It is at all times imperative to keep food untouched by anything in the 

 form of insect life. Insects must not be tolerated in dwellings, no 

 matter whether there is evidence against them or not. There is evidence 

 against most of them. 



Domestic animals must likewise be kept as free as possible from 

 insects. Some day we will recognize that stables should be as well 

 proofed against flies as dwellings are now. There are more inducements 

 for flies and other noxious insects around a stable than anywhere else, 

 and the stable is therefore the direct or indirect source of many of our 

 troubles. The measures necessary for holding down insect infestation 

 of stable and bam yards are therefore of primary importance. But to 

 emphasize this importance there must be back of every measure taken or 

 recommended an argument in the form of a proof of danger if the measure 

 is not carried out. 



