Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1899 — The Tsetse-Fly. [ARTICLE]

The Tsetse-Fly.

It used to be believed that the tsetsefly disease, that plague of African travel, was due to a poison natural to the tsetse-fly, as the acrid secretions of ants or hornets are natural to those insects. A group of English bacterio!oglstsj have been investigating the disease, and it is now known that the tsetse-fly Is the mere bearer of the disease. The fly itself is the prey of a minute organism, and when ft sucks the blood of an ox, some of those parasites enter the wound and multiply incredibly in the blood vessels. Specimens of the blood of affected animals have been shown tinder high magnification, and the tiny, eel-like parasites, not larger than blood-cOrpuscles, nra seen in countless numbers. Under another microscope a drop of fresh blood was shown with the parasites actually alive and wriggling in disgusting activity. For comparison there we. e shown, alive and dead, similar parasites infesting the blood of sewer rats la thiscountry. Unfortunately these .par#; sites appear not to affect the health of the pats. The exhibition was a striking demonstration of the . modern knowledge of diseases; most of VtieSe are now seen to be phases of tile struggle for existence between* Small organisms like microbes aafi large organisms like man and tpe other vertebrates. Aad the victory is not always .Avttb-the strong. -!>.v