FLY AND MILK JUG

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18185, 23 September 1924, Page 7

FLY AND MILK JUG

AN ORGY OF FILTH. SUMMER K COMINGS-BEWARE ! A striking article ia-the Melbourne "Age" is worth reproducing in view of the approach of a probably hot summer. It reveals the indescribable filth which' the house fly carries with him. and the complacency with which house room is afforded this enemy of man.

If no attempts were made at sanitaI tion (says the writer) the question bcI tween man and fly might be one of . survival," and .in . these days of-cen-centralisation it would-be fairly safe to back the .staying power of the lly. But, since hygiene is practised more or less spasmodically among us, the question becomes more one of guilt. The fly is a carrier of disease. "Who is fundamentally guilty of the offence — man or fly? Though widely- separated from an evolutionary point of view, these two orders of creation are very closely associated. The house fly finds man distinctly attractive. It- follows him all over the world. It likes his dwellings, his food, his person. It has a special love for the insanitary conditions he sometimes creates. We shudder at the idea of body lico or .fleas, which. are held to be accusations in themselves, but tolerate, and even encourage, .the presence of that other and far more dangerous indictment, the filth-loving, fertile fly. A writer on the subject recently said: "Scientifically and prac-tically-the fly is a new 'species' of an old 'genus,' established by a-long course of breeding in man-made environments." How is the human defendant going to answer this cleat and concise accusation of guilt? When the female house fly wishes to lay her eggs she seeks moist filth, such as stable refuse, carrion, garbage, and all kinds of fermenting vegetable matter. When the headless, footless maggot emerges it converts the surrounding filth into a liquid, which it greedily imbibes. After the larva! has become a pupa, and a marvellous transformation has taken place inside- the ease, the head of the perfect insect increases in size, bursts the case open, and a full-sized fly emerged. All that is necessary now completely to fit the insect for its nefarious career is the drying-off and unfolding of its wings, which is accomplished in a very short space of time. Net without beauty, this winged product of a wingless, crawling maggot, the house fly uses its wings to carry it away from its unlovely birthplace, and, if only its character had improved as much as its appearance, we would not have to class it among the enemies of mankind. But, unlike the wasp, which changes at maturity from a carniyora to. a dainty- partaker".of honey, the fly still retains its penchant-for • the -unclean,' though the-fact of its greatly diversified diet list-gives it a 1 splendid chance in the , struggle for •existence,, and makes it a' menace to mankind. .After leaving the slum in which; it was born, the fly seeks nourish.meat of some. kind, and, alighting at. the first meal that offers, begins to -feed. The bill of fare may consist i of excrenientrT-sputum, perhaps, ±rom. the throat or cheat of a ; consumptive—; and ail kinds of putrefying, "matter in which bacteria dangerous to human life love to breed, With its hollow, jointed trunk the fly sucks up filth and germs,and then, using its wings, once more, enters a house and proceeds to piiter from an uncovered milk, jug, sugar basm, jam dish, or any otlier unprotected lood .vessel that comes in its way. -.._-• Alight through its career tlie fly is a drinker, not an eater. .It has a penchant for the sugar basin. How can it swallow a solid like sugar? First of all it pours saliva civer a grain,. regurgitates portions of the, filth it has previous-. iy dined upon, '.and-after it has left niore than a; ♦quid pro the form, of loathsome ■bacteria—it .promenades round the. basin and v attacks anothergrain some distance away. Its conveying feet, its saliva, and its excreta all do their part towards convertting wholesome food into material which under the microscope would make us shudder as we shudder at fly-blown meat. J* ■ •'" . ■ Fly-spected windows and pendent ornaments show both light and dark spots. The light spots are vomits, invisible on fly-contaminated food, but there, nevertheless; the dark are ordinary excreta. A jug of sterilised milk into which a has fallen is probably a menagerie of disease-producing germs, yet.in this "enlightened" age people have been known unconcernedly to fish out the bodies of drowned flies from milk jugs and give the contaminated liquid to a child. If the fly first breeds in filth, then feeds on filth, and finally pollutes our food with a mixture of filths, who is guilty—the fly. which is following its instincts, or the human being who, supposed to possess intelligence and a . sense of the fitness' of thfngs, allows.filth to accumulate, and leaves food unprotected against this two-wingeel insect that delights to promenade as well : as feed. Possessed of no scruples either as to mixing drinks or mixing germs, Musca domestica goes from one human being to another in a most.- democratically unhygienic way.

Although the nticroseppe and its revelations belong to modern periods, the fly has been regarded with suspicion almost from time, immemorial. When the Pharaohs graced the throne of Egypt and the people suffered from divers troubles, "the land was corrupted by reason of the swarms of flies," cattle suffered from ' 'a very grievous murrain," and men from "a plague of boils and blains." To-day in certain districts of America where cleanliness is considered to be part of godliness the presence of the house fly is regarded as an indictment. Here is the fly, it is argued; where is the filth ? When the breeding placed is traced, the next step is to find the person responsible for such uncivic hospitality. The result of this persistent'eampaign to protect.people against their own sins is that the fly is gradually being wiped out. Yet iii a city like Melbourne it prospers I and increases summer after summer, banquetting . gaily on shop windows, on fruit carts, in garbage tins, in our houses,' after it has left its ancestral home of accumulated filth. j Councils make anaemic efforts to cope the menace, but it is not a ■ question of some people being clean and others dirty, but of co-operation between councils and people of all ; classes; If Smith. keeps .his premises clean and Joiies his dirtv. in spite of an annual _visit Jrom a "lethargic inspector, the fly-foes" "6l"increasing and multiplying, xmd acting as purveyor of the .germs of diphtheria, typhoid, tuberculosis—cancer even, perhaps. To wipe out this dangerous and annoying pest it is necessary to arouse. thc : civic conscience, as'they have succeeded in doing in some of the .American cities, j "for co-operation is an absolute essen- | tial, whether it be brought about by j legal compulsion or by" conscience. ; Why did Nature., create the fly? Who I can say? But.'doubtless" she. had ".sbine very excellent reason.", "as. she', is ieyer foolish like her hum"ah : children.- The 'insect was in existence before, man caine to keep it company, ' and to create' nurseries for it. It was probably a very useful scavenger when the earth lacked those communities wtf call cities. Before we came to upset the balance of Nature, the fly, lacking all

the insanitary conveniences now made available, was probably not a pest. In spite of our obvious: encouragement Nature' use's many means to discourage, the'fly from overstepping .the bounds of .creation. . : It has' many:.natural "enemies. . Birds, lizards/ frogs, predacious insects-■such as the praying mantis and spiders, feed on it. The fly is parasitic on us,"but ..there are ininute organisms which are parasitic on . him. . Sometimes he is "covered with minute vermin, some of which scientists de'elaro to be true lice, gathered during his triumphal progress through refuse heaps and excreta to the milk jug, in.which he unloads some, if not all, of his exterior parasites. When you see a languid, emaciated, greyish fly, or a dead one. that Looks like a ghost of what he ..once, was, you can guess that the house-fly fungus has done its work. Spring is coming, and, like most living things, flies respond to the call of spring. Soon they will ; be hatching by the millions in filth generously -supplied by human beings, Avhose godliness is questionable in view of the relation which the old proverb declares to exist between godliness and cleanliness. If only that filth could be all cleared away before the warm weather.comes, we would wonder why life was so .peaceful through the summer months, when it is so pleasant to drowse, if it were not for the flies. In temperate regions the house, fly is a much more dangerous pest than the mosquito, and, unlike his cousin, the stable fly,, he never bites. From one point of view it is a pity he does not, because a good sharp nip might rouse some lethargic people to a sense of their duty to.tnemselves and to the community. »*"* that flv" is a good enough motto, hard hough the fly may find the reconcihation of it with the hospitality offered him, "but it might be w*ll>.to oonside* the question of administering a of the swatting to.the real criminal-the human being who provides "toe boarf. and lodging for such a dangerou* Semy of the people. Educat.onal propaganda maybe having some effect but it does not seem to be militant enough to reach the consciences or some citizens, who would be saved the bother of swatting the fly if they prevented him from breeding.