The house fly : Musca domestica, Linnæus a study of its structure, development, bionomics and economy / by C. Gordon Hewitt.

  • Hewitt, C. Gordon (Charles Gordon), 1885-1920.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The house fly : Musca domestica, Linnæus a study of its structure, development, bionomics and economy / by C. Gordon Hewitt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the animal whicli not only constantly dines with us, tests the wholesomeness of our food and of the food of our children, but also regales its palate with the juices of the excremental products of various animals, including man. Constant in its attendance upon us in our sleep—which is often disturbed—and when awake, we are apt to lo.se sight of that side of the fly’s life, of its double life, which is passed out of doors, most frequently in search of a place to deposit its eggs, which is equivalent to saying in search of excrement or decaying vegetable substances. It has been tried and found guilty in spite of the questionings of those who maintain the doctrine that ever}' creature performs some useful purpose. Undoubtedly the fly does, for where there is an abundance of filth, there will the flies gather together, there will they multiply and increase. Its function to-day is nothing more or less than a danger signal to indicate insanitary conditions and the presence in the neighbourhood of decaying or excremental substances. Abolish these and the breeding places of the flies will be eradicated; maintain them and this potential disease carrier will be retained within our houses. The importance of the house-fly as a disease carrier is considered at length in the third part of this monograph and in Appendix A., and I have considered briefly the preventive and remedial measures in Appendix C. It will never become a rare insect, and the vision of my friend Sir James Crichton Browne of the aged person showing the wondering child the only specimen existing of the house-fly in the British Museum will, unfortunately, never be realised; but there is no reason why, hy the adoption of such sanitary measures as the breeding habits of the insect have indicated to be necessary, it should not be considerably decreased in numbers and rendered impotent as a disease carrier. We need sucli determination and zeal on the part of public bodies as that disjdayed by the Aew \ork