The Fly, a Dangerous Pest
By D. H. Kress
DURING the civil war, four men died of germ diseases to every one who was killed by bullets. During the first five months of the Spanish-American war, there were 158,000 admissions to the hospitals, and thirteen men died of fever and other diseases to every one killed in battle. A few years ago, conditions were such at Panama that when a man from the8North went there to work, he was given an affectionate farewell by friends and relatives. They never expected his return; death was almost certain. During the middle ages, whole nations were stricken with epidemics of disease; and sometimes half the population of an empire was laid low. Cholera, yellow fever, the bubonic plague, smallpox, and other messengers of death waged a relentless warfare upon the race. To-day such a condition is possible only where ignorance and superstition reign. Unable at that time to discover the causes of these epidemics, the people resorted to fasting and prayer. Their prayers have been heard. These epidemics have been stayed—not miraculously, but through an increase of knowledge. The bubonic plague, it has been discovered, is due to a germ which is spread through the medium of the flea, often using the rat as a vehicle. The relentless warfare against the rat has aided in suppressing this epidemic. Yellow fever has been found to be communicated by means of the mosquito. By wiping out the mosquito, yellow fever has been practically eliminated. The mosquito and the flea are by no means the most deadly enemies of man. The ordinary house-fly is probably responsible for a greater number of deaths than even the mosquito. The deaths during the civil and Spanish-American wars were probably chiefly due to the fly. Indirectly, it is responsible for most of the deaths of infants, and for many of those of adults. During the summer months, especially, thousands of little innocents fall victims to diseases spread by the fly. For its size, the fly is probably the dirtiest creature that exists. It is bred in filth, it lives in filth, and it feeds on filth; in fact, it can not exist without filth. Wherever filth is, there the fly is found. Where filth is not, the fly is seldom seen. The fly comes from the barn-yard, from the cesspool, or from a feast on tubercular sputum, and unceremoniously enters our homes, without even wiping its feet. Other visitors enter the sitting-room or the parlor, but the fly prefers to remain in the kitchen, the pantry, or the dining-room. While there, it may plunge into a dish of milk, or alight on the butter or other foods. It carries anywhere from fifty thousand to fifty million bacteria on its legs and back; and by alighting on these foods, it plants in them the germs of disease. Under favorable conditions, these germs multiply with almost unbelievable rapidity. In a few hours the milk visited by a fly may contain millions of bacteria. Often when it is fed to young children, they sicken and die. Their parents wonder why. Lack of knowledge is the cause of death. A few seeds of tuberculosis or typhoid planted on a piece of meat, in the milk-pail, or in other suitable soil, in a few short hours produce an enormous crop of their kind. The food is then served to the family. Is it surprising that one fourth of our young men and women die of tuberculosis, and that typhoid fever, diphtheria, and other germ diseases so mysteriously enter our homes? The fly is undoubtedly the chief agency through which germs of disease are conveyed from places of filth to man, and from man to man. How to Get Rid of the Fly
To keep the fly out of the house, it is merely necessary to screen the windows and doors, and to make a liberal use of fly-paper and fly-traps. But it is possible for a fly to carry infectious diseases from one person to another outside the house. Epidemics of sore eyes are frequently due to the fly. It seems to have a special preference for this delicate member, and may carry infection from one child to many others. Even syphilis may be conveyed from man to man in this way. Our aim should be not merely to shut flies out of our homes, but to get rid of them. That this can not be accomplished by the ordinary means we have thus far employed, is evident. At Panama they could not get rid of the mosquito by the means they had employed up to six or seven years ago. Formerly, while they were killing a dozen mosquitoes, they were at the same time cultivating a million in breeding-beds to take their place. For every mosquito killed in this manner a dozen attended the funeral. At Panama and in Cuba they got rid of mosquitoes by getting rid of their breeding-places. Mosquitoes need warm, stagnant water, in which there is dead organic matter, for the purpose of propagation. By drainage and a liberal supply of kerosene-oil the mosquito was virtually eliminated, and with it yellow fever and malaria. Flies may be gotten rid of just as easily. It is not so difficult a problem, in fact, to get rid of them as it was to get rid of mosquitoes. Flies are cultivated chiefly in manure heaps, around stables, in garbage-cans, and in outhouses. A proper disposal of manure and garbage will go a long way toward getting rid of flies. Clean premises and proper sanitary conditions will practically eliminate them. Garbage-cans should be kept covered or screened, to prevent breeding. So long as the kitchen is kept scrupulously clean, or cleaner than the outside, the fly will naturally prefer to remain on the outside. But when meats are cooked, and animal fats are freely used in frying foods, the fly is attracted to the kitchen and dining-room. Those who during the summer months subsist chiefly upon grains, breads, fruits, and nuts, and who eat their foods in as natural a state as possible, will find it less difficult to keep flies on the outside of their dwellings than those who spend much time cooking in the kitchen. No doubt flies have a mission in the world, so long as filth exists. They feed upon the bacteria which are bred in the organic impurities contained in filth. Nature has wisely arranged that the same conditions which favor the cultivation of germs, should encourage the cultivation of flies to consume them. There is no doubt that without the fly, germs would multiply more rapidly. The difficulty is they roam about too much. This is what makes them a pest. By improved methods of sanitation we get rid of both the germs of disease and the fly which conveys them. Cleanliness affords the only permanent protection from both. After giving to the children of Israel the best sanitary code of laws ever given to man, God declared through Moses that if they would keep all his statutes, he would “put none of these diseases” upon them which he had “brought upon the Egyptians.” This promise we may claim.