1382 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



injurious germs if they should gain entrance, the greater is the danger of 

 disease. 



There is reason to hope that at no very distant day the spread of infec- 

 tious diseases may be controlled, since it is generally known that there 

 are specific living diseaee germs that pass from a patient to another person. 

 If a person becomes infected with disease germs it is quite possible for 

 him to pass on these germs to others through careless habits. Cases of 

 sickness cared for at home — and this covers a large percentage of cases — 

 make it necessary for the housekeeper to safeguard members of her family, 

 as well as other persons, by a knowledge of bacteriology and a strenuous 

 care to prevent infection. In the hospital such safeguarding is much more 

 easily managed. Hospital methods, however, may extend to the home. 



PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES OF BACTERIOLOGY 



Thoughtfulness, together with a knowledge of the results of bad habits, 

 brings many things to our notice to which we may have previously closed 

 our eyes. We are prone to object to dirt without stopping to consider 

 whether it is harmful dirt. Our housekeeping sensitiveness worries us 

 if a neighbor calls and sees dust on the table. This dust may be less 

 harmful, however, than a spoon dipped into the food that the cook is pre- 

 paring for a meal, and then placed again in the food without being washed. 

 • Kissing. — Kissing is a custom as old, probably, as the history of human 

 beings, and no doubt to be continued but to be indulged in only when 

 persons are in a healthy condition. Mothers are able to control the 

 custom of kissing babies for a short period; they may lay a ban on the 

 kissing of their infants by the admiring public. They should even control 

 their own desire to kiss their children when affected with tuberculosis or 

 suffering from tonsilitis or other inflammatory condition of the mouth or 

 throat. 



" If a body meet a body 

 Coming through the rye, 

 Can't a body kiss a body 

 For fear of bacilli?" 



Care of finger nails. — We may wash our hands thoroughly, but under- 

 neath the nails may be dirt, difficult to reach, which is a retreat for germs. 

 Clean finger nails are always an asset, but in the handling of food they 

 are essential to safety. 



Coughing and sneezing. — For coughing and sneezing "in the open" 

 there is no excuse. A handkerchief should be within easy reach to catch 

 the offending spray from the mouth and nostrils. The truth of this state- 

 ment is an argument for a pocket in a woman's dress, in which to keep the 

 handkerchief. 



