My subject this evening is “Food and Flies.” Within the last few years we have only begun to recognize the vast importance that pertains to hygiene and sanitation. We are beginning to realize that there are natural causes for sickness and disease and death, and are beginning to better understand some of these causes. Many little things, simple things, perhaps, that have been greatly neglected in the past, are found to play an important part in the health of mankind.GCB May 24, 1909, page 137.11

We find that one of the fundamental laws of health is a matter so simple that it is often overlooked. Were we to fully obey this one law, I believe we should take a great advance step. In three words this great physical law is set forth in the Scriptures, in 1 Timothy 5:22: “Keep thyself pure;” or, stated in another way: “Keep thyself clean.”GCB May 24, 1909, page 137.12

I hold that this command pertains to physical affairs as well as to moral. It means to be pure morally and physically; to be clean morally and physically. It means, summing it up in a few words, to breathe pure air, to drink pure water, to eat pure food, and to keep the body and the home and the premises and everything that you possess, pure and clean.GCB May 24, 1909, page 137.13

I dare say you have all heard of the role that the mosquito plays in the distribution of disease. In recent years we have ascertained beyond question that two of the great diseases to which mankind is subject are conveyed to humanity solely through the agency of the mosquito.GCB May 24, 1909, page 137.14

You have also read, no doubt, of the part that fleas play in acting as the middleman between the rat and the human being in distributing bubonic plague. We know that the rat is very susceptible to this awful scourge. A few years ago it was demonstrated that the way the germs of this disease reach man is through the bite of the common flea.GCB May 24, 1909, page 137.15

Some of you have heard of the tsetse fly, in Africa, which infects men and women with the awful disease known as the sleeping sickness. But it is not so well known that we have right among us, particularly in the warm season, an insect guilty of distributing not only one or two or three or even four diseases, but of distributing a score or more, all of them more or less fatal. I refer to the common housefly.GCB May 24, 1909, page 137.16

We have often looked upon the fly as a sort of innocent nuisance, and have not realized in any measure the great harm that this pest is capable of doing, and is doing, from day to day. I shall attempt to show that the fly is to be looked upon no longer merely as a nuisance, but as a positive danger.GCB May 24, 1909, page 137.17

If we had given more heed to the Scripture, we should have known, long ago, that the fly is a direct agency of death. If you turn to Ecclesiastes 10:1 [see margin], you will find these insects are referred to as “flies of death;” and that is the best description we can give them.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.1

Let us for a moment study the anatomy of the housefly, or, rather, let us look by the aid of a microscope at the feet of this ubiquitous insect. I wish I could present the magnified foot of a fly on the screen, as I saw it some months ago in London; but I will try to describe it.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.2

Each foot—and you will remember that the fly has several—ends in a pad, and this pad is covered with innumerable hairs, and the end of each hair is a little hollow sucker, for the purpose of drawing up matter. When the fly goes about over moist matter, that moist matter sticks to this hair-covered pad. It has been demonstrated that a single fly can carry one hundred thousand living germs in one trip from the manure heap or the privy to the kitchen or the dining-room table. When you think of this, you will begin to realize that this insect is a real scourge in the distribution of disease.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.3

You have all known for many years that such diseases as consumption and diphtheria are spread by germs. In other words, we call them “germ diseases.” But do you know that there are many other disorders that lead directly to germs? I will mention only one, and that is the common diarrhea in infants and children and older people that prevails in temperate climates in the hot season. It has been shown that this disorder—and I might also add dysentery—is due to disease-producing germs; and if those germs can be excluded, you can keep free from the disease.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.4

Let us briefly consider the habits and breeding-places of the common housefly. Has the common housefly nice, clean, sweet habits? Is it a clean insect?—No! Emphatically no! The pig, always a scavenger, finds it difficult to compete with the fly in filthiness, and is infinitely less dangerous as far as health is concerned, because we do not admit the pig into our larder and into our homes. But, unfortunately, we have been admitting the common housefly, thinking it a harmless creature.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.5

Flies mean filth; flies thrive in filth; flies can not exist without filth. You will find that when a fly seeks an appropriate place for depositing its eggs, it looks for some kind of organic filth, in order to have a proper nest for its eggs.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.6

The fly is one of the greatest agents of corruption known to man, particularly in the way of corrupting the food that we eat. It is interesting to note, in Exodus 8:24, the following statement concerning flies: “The land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.” That is a most apt way of putting the matter. Flies are agents of corruption; they hasten the spoiling of milk and of all other foods. They carry the germs from their breeding-places, which are refuse heaps, manure piles, and other deposits of filth, to the larder, where the food is kept, and by simply walking over the food contaminate a large amount of it; then the food spoils quickly, and becomes a danger to health and life.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.7

I have here a list of the breeding-places of flies, which I copied from an English journal, The Medical Officer of Health, published in London: “Refuse heaps of all kinds, manure heaps, stables, slaughter-houses, butcher shops, refuse receptacles, pail closets, privies, bone works, ash pits, garbage deposits, sewage pools,” etc. That is only a part of the list. I might also mention the restaurant kitchens in our large cities, as well as those in the towns and villages; also the private kitchens which are not kept clean; milk shops, dairies, and confectioners’ shops, as well as numerous other places.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.8

At the head of the list of diseases that have been proved to be spread by flies is diarrhea. In New York City alone diarrhea carries away about seven thousand infants in a single year, and there is every evidence to show that this terrible scourge is due largely to the agency of the common housefly. Then comes typhoid fever, the scourge of some of our large cities in the summer, and a disease that is preventable by cleanliness. I once heard a man say that somebody ought to be hung every time a man dies of typhoid fever. Diphtheria, one of the most fatal of the diseases that attack children, is carried by the fly, as are also scarlet fever, measles, smallpox, and whooping-cough. Cholera, anthrax, and tuberculosis; dysentery, glanders, and erysipelas; ophthalmia, swine fever, ringworm, eczema, and other infectious diseases are also more or less spread by this pest.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.9

In closing, let us consider methods of prevention, which, after all, is the essential thing. I believe that we can and ought to do away with flies. But extermination is difficult because the fly is so prolific. Keller estimates that a single fly produces in a single summer season two million flies, and that is a very modest estimate. Another scientist believes that a single fly may produce in a single summer twenty million flies. Meigen, another scientist, goes farther, and estimates that a single fly may become responsible in one summer for over five hundred million flies. And I believe this to be more nearly correct. But suppose we accept the lower estimate,—two million flies. Then think of the enormous multiplication of these pests.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.10

What we ought to do is to attempt not only to destroy them, which is a good thing, but also to prevent, as far as possible, their development. How can we do that? It is possible that with our best efforts we can not absolutely exterminate flies, but we can go a long way toward it, if we give heed to some simple, inexpensive measures. Summing it up in a word, the secret is in keeping yourself and your house and your premises, including your stables and your out-houses, clean and sweet and keeping them clean and sweet all the time. Just so long as there is suitable material for the development and multiplication of flies, just so long they will multiply by the million. But they must have filth for their multiplication. The presence of the fly wherever there is filth is proof of this. The only permissible convenience in towns ought to be the water-closet. And in towns and villages and cities everywhere, the greatest heed must be paid to refuse of every kind, whether from the kitchen or stable, or even the sweepings from the floor. It must be kept in covered receptacles, tightly covered and frequently emptied, and the receptacles should often be thoroughly cleaned out and disinfected. If this one suggestion were followed, it would go far toward the extermination of the common housefly.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.11

Secondly, all stables and barns and outhouses should be kept as far as possible from the dwelling-house. The manure from the stables should be spread on the land as fast as possible. I think it would be an excellent thing if our cities were obliged to do as they are compelled by law to do in London. Manure can be kept only forty-eight hours on any premises; then it must be kept in water-tight tanks with closed covers. That is the sanitary law in London to-day, and it is a very good measure. In fact, all offensive matter,—garbage, kitchen and house refuse of whatever kind, decaying vegetables, etc.,—ought to be kept in closed tanks or receptacles, and taken away from the premises as soon as possible. Really, the cure lies in the destruction of the breeding-places, and that means the free use of disinfectants, for the purpose of destroying the ova of the insects everywhere.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.12

So much for the breeding-places, where the flies multiply. What about our homes? Why not use screens more commonly than in the past, and look upon it as a disgrace to have a fly in the room? That may seem a small thing; but it has been proved that a single mosquito is able to convey the infection of malaria or yellow fever. And I do not hesitate to say that a single fly is able to carry the infection of disease, and lay some one on a bed of illness, from which he may never rise. I would recommend, then, screens for the doors and windows, and every possible protection by means of which we can keep flies away from our dwelling-houses,—keep them away from the kitchen, away from the dining table, and away from the larder. Let us have, if you please, as far as possible, fly-proof houses, using screens on every window and at every door. The screens can be removed in autumn, and put up again in the spring. A little money spent in this way, combined with untiring vigilance, and with the co-operation of your neighbors, will accomplish vast results in lessening sickness, disease, physical suffering, and untimely death.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.13

In closing, let me ask you to remember that flies mean filth, filth means disease, and disease means death.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.14

Between 2 and 3 P. M. each day, the tract society secretaries are meeting for counsel together over their work. D. W. Reavis, missionary secretary of the Publishing Department, is acting as chairman, and A. N. Anderson as secretary of the council.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.15

The presidents of union and local conferences, and the conference secretaries and treasurers, have been meeting at the early morning hour for the discussion of topics relating to the work. These informal meetings we are unable to report.GCB May 24, 1909, page 138.16

SABBATH SOCIAL MEETING

May 25, 1909 - NO. 10