34 LOSS THROUGH INSECTS THAT CARRY DISEASE. 
with such an expense for competent service, or perhaps with a slightly 
added expense, the typhoid fly could be largely eliminated as an ele- 
ment in the transfer of disease in the District of Columbia, and the 
difficulty which the authorities have had in locating the cause of a 
very considerable proportion of the cases of typhoid in the District 
for the past two or three years indicates plainly to the mind of the 
writer that the typhoid fly is a much more important element than 
has been supposed. It is a comforting although comparatively insig 
nificant fact and a matter of common observation that in certain 
sections of the city the typhoid fly has been much less numerous dur- 
ing the past summer than in previous years. The writer is inclined 
to attribute this to the gradual disappearance of horse stables in 
such sections, brought about by the rapidly increasing use of motor 
vehicles. 
A significant paragraph in Mr. Xewstead's Liverpool report, re- 
ferred to above, contains the following words: " The most strenuous 
efforts should be made to prevent children defecating in the court > 
and passages; or that the parents should be compelled to remove such 
matter immediately; and that defecation in stable middens should be 
strictly forbidden. The danger lies in the overwhelming attraction 
which such fecal matter has for house flies, which later may come into 
direct contact with man or his foodstuffs. They may. as Veeder puts 
it. * In a very few minutes * * * load themselves with dejection- 
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, roundabout process involved.' " 
The writer has already referred to this general subject in his re- 
marks on the depositing of excrement in the open within town or city 
limits, but Xewstead's specific reference to children reminds one that 
in the tenement districts of the older great cities of England and other 
parts of Europe there occur opportunities for transfer of disease 
which, while probably less numerous in the newer cities of the United 
States, nevertheless must still exist and be a constant danger. 
We have thus shown that the typhoid or house fly i- a general and 
common carrier of pathogenic bacteria. It may carry typhoid fever, 
Asiatic cholera, dysentery, cholera morbus, and other intestinal dis- 
eases; it may cany the bacilli of tuberculosis and certain eve diseases; 
it is everywhere present, and it is disposed of with comparative ease. 
It is the duty of every individual to guard so far as possible against 
the occurrence of flies upon his premises. It is the duty of every com- 
munity, through its board of health, to spend money in the warfare 
against this enemy of mankind. This duty i< as pronounced as though 
the community were attacked by band- of ravenous wolves. 
