KILL THAT FLY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 8 November 1912, Page 2

KILL THAT FLY

There is a case on record in which a fly that had walked over a cholera patient was dropped into -a pitcher of perfectly pure milk; one drop of that milk bacterioscopically examined shortly afterwards contained hundreds of cholera bacilli.

Flies infest sick rooms. They persistently settle on persons suffering from deadly diseases. In a report issued by Dr Tooth and Dr Calverly in 1901, writing of typhoid in camps, during the South African war, it is stated that the soldiers suffering from enteric fever could be distinguished by the black mass of flies hovering about them. A nenteric fever patient-could not put out his tongue for the doctor to see without a fly "settling upon it. "It is impossible not to regard them as important factors in the dissemination of enteric fever, is the conclusion arrived at. The fles buzzing about your baby's head may settle on his lips -and leave there a trail of tuberculosis germs to ho breathed into his system. In this connection it may be mentioned that The Fiiisbury Public Health Committee issiu to poor mothers a milk cover of butter muslin with weighted corners, and also a larger cloth designed to protect the baby's cradle : from fles.' Their example deserves to be.widely followed. The chief danger comes from the K erm s within the- fly's system. The fly has a habit of softening hard food, like sugar, bv ejecting a fluid from its proboscis. This is but one of the several ways in which it mav infect food. Germs h'.rne on the hairs' of the legs cannot livo. so long as those swallowed, which may endure for afortnigt. The most dangerous germs are those which cause- summer cholera, which at tacks sturdv as well as weakly infauis ir. hot- weather, and in the slums of-cities More than 16C0 infants died of it in on" week, last August in London. In wei summers, when* flies arc- not prevalent, it is found that the disease dies down, and it is checked by cold, which also checks and kills the flies.

HOW TO GUARD AGAINST THE

FLY.

Supposing we could live- in a decent, clean house, with fly-protected larders and kitchens, and with a guarantee that there were no rubbish within a mik-. wc should have little trouble from the flies. But most'of us live in villages or towns, and there is no guarantee as to the cleanliness of neighbours. Still, much can be done to keen- flies out of a clean where no tempting- food is. exposed, and no refuse is allowed to accumulate. To protect, yourself against first look to vour food. Is your larder a good old-fashioned roomy place, facing north always cool and well ventilated? Yov seldom find such a larder in a mederr house. Make one if possible ; -at leasi keep your larder scrupulously clean, sweet! and well aired, and screen ever\ particle of food from the flies. TJsr gauze-covered safes. Screen the windowwit h wire screens, and -add a screen door The houses of working men are oft*>r destitute of any proper place for food -

it may be found on a shelf over the door, or sharing; a stuffy cupboard with coal arid all. sorts of rubbish. Landlords should be forced to provide proper larders, and it is a good plan to fit these) with windows of blue glass. It has been found that flies dislike this colour—and materially diminish in numbers where it is used. Next, look to your -kitchens and scul- : ' ler.ies. The flies must be kept out; if, I in spite of all precautions, they will come \ in,- they must pay the deatdi .-penalty. Before windows are opened, put up mos-quito-netting, which, will let in the air, but no (insects. Never allow any kind of food not immediately required for cooking or serving, to be exposed; to flies' attacks. Let no remains lie abotit anywhere on the premises, but let all the waste product of- the-kitchen be destroyed, or buried, or incarcerated in a metal dustbin with, a close-fitting lid. You cannot safely eat food served in a dining room swarming with flies. Therefore, leave no food which attracts flies on sideboards or tables,, and in summer screen all open windows, or kill the flies as they enter. Look well to your dustbin. If there were no refuse, the eggs of the fly could never be thatched. Empty your dustbin daily if possible, never let it overflow, and keep the flies .away by covering the refuse.- Burn.all vegetable matter and moist rubbish. Scrupulous cleanliness " everywhere about the house'and grounds, and in all naturally dirty places —sculleries, cow stalls, stables, dog-kennels, pigsties, -and every spot where flies congregate ; this is the golden law-of-protection.against the fly plague; • 'But is.is not enough that your own home, your, own yard should be clean ; others mflsT-be forced to follow your example. Your neighbourhood, the city in which you live, must- be clean. Extensive experiments .were made in. 1910 by Dr Monckton Copeman and Mes&rs F. M. Howlett and Gordon Merriman, and recorded in a report made to the -Local Government Board. They were carried out in a small village, .-Ppstwick, m Norfolk. . Several hundred flies at a time were caught in a. net, and were market, by beinb placed in a paper bag containing finely powdered coloured chalk. After liberation they were "recovered ' from human habitations at various periods within forty-eight hours, and at distances ranging from-300 to 1700 yards from the point'of liberation. It was thus established that -fliesi captured m ■the village- had Trade their way thither from a refuse deposit situated over half a-mils from the village church —.notwithstanding the fact that a n'wev and a hill of moderate.elevation intervened. Flies, too, are carried miles on horses, on waggons, and in trains. The garbage heap two miles away may 'be as harmful to yon as though "it were in you V' own garden. Once this important (fact is realised, no self-respecting woman will allow flies -in. her hous6 any more than sbe would dream of tolerating other vermin. Fowls ■ ini the stables and- about the cow stalls and in. the farmyard may do a great work for-you j they are death to the fly's grubs. You will" often see them scratching for the' grubs. Half-a-dozen fowls to each horse will do very much to counteract the inevitable danger where horses aire kept. To 'kilt flies after all (precautions; against them have been taken, we must J call in the doctor. An eminent specialist (theGresham Professor Physic) has kindly given me permission .to ".publish the following prescription : To kill Hies in a room, prepare a solu 'tion of 15 parts of commercial formok 20 pants.milk, and 65 parts water, to. be iplaced in saucers. Also, heat a shovel, a rid. pour 20 drops of carbolic acid'on it." The vapour kills the flies. The following method is recommended by the ; Medical Officer of Health -for' Islington,,'\yho has acted with commendable emer.gy'in his campaign against flies: Place a piece of bread on a. plate and pour over it a mixture containing two teasponfuls, of formalin, a- half-pint of Tiilk, a half-pin", of water, and a tea--poonful of sugar. The bread attracts the fly, and affords a place on which to alight iiid fee<l. To kill the larvae in stable manure ot ashpit refuse, sprinkle it witih chloride | if lime two or three times a week, -or use a solution of crude carbolic —a te«iI spoonful .to a pin|l of-water. For dustbins or rubbish heaps, a lit.le common kerosene mixed, with crude carbolic.acid- (one-ounce acid to one quart kerosene) keeps 'flies off such places as dustbins and: rubbish heaps, and kills the eggs'and,..grubs." Sprinkle all window ledges with onf if the well-known (powders—the flies will oowder-their feet with.it; they, will then ■'>e unable to-stick to the glass, slipping' , again -and again into the powder until they "die. . ■ • '• • ; A weak solution of formaldehyde, 2 ■rjer ' cent., sweetened with sugar and coloured .wilih milk, poisons the flies that drink:-it', either immediately, or so that 'hey die close to the.fatal cup, and may •be swept : away; this also destroys the j disease,>ger.ms within- the fly.- The drug must tick 'be stale, and as it quickly evaporates .there must be a fresh solu- ' tion every day. - A form of fly-trap that, has been tried with success in shop and restaurant kitchens consists of a trough of • tin (threequarters of an inch wide and of the'same depth, and as long as the "width of the, window. Place this close against the window on the inside, and keep it half filled with paraffin; the >fnines will overpower . ithe flies as they approach the window, and, they will drop into th" tank. ' Fly-traps fly-papers may be set about likely places.' The object of the present article is, to expose the>fly, and, secondly, to insure thait something is-dpne in the matter of exterminating it. ' We shall not 'rest satisfied Until proper steps'are taken: in this • direction.- Sanitary authorites, health associations, all kinds of public bodies, and. private individuals should combine to.exert their utmost endeavours !n the common interest. A continuous campaign of education through public lectures; posters, and exhibitions of moving pictures and lantern slides is called for. Official departments should, through their publications, bring the menace, of

the house-fly home :to millions, and sanitary anti-fly measures must be enforced. If there 'be no breeding-places there will be no flies. 'Health committees all over ithe country must insist on cleanliness. They must insure the liberal use .of screens and.disinfectants in all places whei'e flies may breed or congregate.., ■ Householders must be compelled to burn; all waste vegetable and other organic < matter. The contents of dustbins and .ashpits must be collected at intervals of ) a week. The institution-of a daily col- ' lection of house refuse is very desirable. The tipping of any organic matter on waste land in residential neighbourhoods; must bn strictly prohibited. The conveyance of manure in open carts —which ' takes place daily in ithe streets of Lou- ' don— must, be" rigorously forbidden. Sewage systems must be so arranged that '.' the sewage is net exposed to the open air. Scrupulous cleanliness must b§ in- ' forced in kitchens, bakehouses, and all places where food .is kept or eaten.