The Bulletin. 31 



LECTURES DELIVERED AT WOMEN'S INSTITUTES. 



SAMTATIOJf. 



MISS MINNIE L, JAMISON. 



What I shall say to you shall be in the rntiire of an appeal to you to co-operate 

 witli every agency which lias for its purpose the uplift of farm life and the better- 

 ment of farm homes. Among other things, I want to call your attention to better 

 sanitary iuibits in all of our homes, especially in the homes of a great many 

 people — both white and coioied — wlio are less fortunate than you are. The work 

 of u|)!ifting tliis class shouhl naturally fall >ipon us — the women of the State — 

 because we are the home-makers, and upon the lionu>-mal<ers lests the healtli of 

 the people. The call is coming to us from every quarter for better sanitation. 

 Ministers are giving one Suiulay each j'ear to the subject at the request of the 

 State Board of Health. Teachers are being nuule to feel their responsibility in 

 matters of health as never before. In some of the counties of the State they are 

 now organizing sanitation clubs. Newspapers and magazines are crying out 

 against certain unsanitary conditions. County boards are co-operating with the 

 State Board of Health to enforce laws for better pulilic sanitation. All this is 

 good, but it is making only the outside of the jjlatler clean. The root of the whole 

 matter rests with us. Shall we heed the call and begin at once to correct our 

 own mistakes and the mistakes of our neighbor, who does not know? The negro 

 is in our midst. Any help along the line of sanitary habits given to the negro 

 will react upon our own children. It is not strange that he is ignorant, he 

 came from Africa only a short while ago, and with him came some of the dis-' 

 eases we are now fighting. Nearly all of our germ diseases, especially consump- 

 tion and smallpox, he scatters broadcast because of his hu'k of sanitary knowl- 

 edge. We aie the people to teach him. Shall we, like the priest and Levite, pass 

 by on the other side, or shall we do the work of the good Samaritan? 



DANGERS IN THE HOME. 



There is dust everywhere; on these dust particles are tiny plants, or bacteria — 

 so small that 000,000,000 can occiipy the space of a grain of sugar, or millions 

 can float in a drop of water. There are two kinds — the useful and the disease 

 germ. 



The useful bacteria aid us in giving flavor to butter and cheese, in changing 

 cider to vinegar, in changing the juice of a plant to indigo. They also enrich the 

 soil and as scavengers they purify the air we breathe. They also spoil our food 

 unless we know their habits of life. For exam])Ie: when we can our fruit and 

 vegetables, we know that unless we have everything clean and kill all of these 

 bacteria by heat and seal the jars air tight, our fruit and vegetables will ferment. 

 We know that two things are necessary — cleanliness and sterilization. The home 

 of the useful bacteria is in the soil. The disease germs multiply only in the 

 human body and that of some of the lower aniinals (with one or two exceptions). 

 They lire under various conditions — in dark rooms, etc., and they may be dried 

 and blown about from |)lace to place, but cleanliness and sunshine kills them all. 

 The home-maker shouhl know how these agents of death gain access to the body 

 and what a fortress the body is against their attack when properly cared for. 

 Disease germs can not live in open sunlight and dry air — hence the necessity for 

 flooding our homes, schoolhouses, and churches with sunshine and fresh air. 



GERMS CARRIED BY DUST. 



Scientists tell us that the germs of diphtheria, pneumonia, catarrh, scarlet 

 fever, measles and smallpox are found in the dust; but by far the most common 



