96 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



covered or otlier sanitary furniture, or rattan seats, Tvould be a 

 great improvement. 



In the stage building we often find four or five actors placed 

 in one small, overheated, unventilated dressing room, located in 

 the basement of the building, without outside windows, and fitted 

 with three or four gas jets, for actors require a good light in 

 " making up." More attention should be paid to the comfort and 

 health of the players, more space and a better location should be 

 given to their rooms. Every dressing room should have a window 

 to the outer air, also a special ventilating flue. Properly trapped 

 wash basins should be fitted up in each room. In the dressing rooms 

 and in the corridors and stairs leading from them to the stage all 

 draughts must be avoided, as the performers often become over- 

 heated from the excitement of the acting, and dancers in particular 

 leave the heated stage bathed in perspiration. Sanitation, venti- 

 lation, and cleanliness are quite as necessary for this part of the 

 stage building as for the auditorium and foyers. 



It will suffice to mention that defects in the drainage and sew- 

 erage of a theater building must be avoided. The well-known 

 requirements of house drainage should be observed in theaters 

 as much as in other public buildings.* 



The removal of ashes, litter, sweepings, oily waste, and other 

 refuse should be attended to with promptness and regularity. It 

 is only by constant attention to properly carried out cleaning 

 methods that such a building for the public can be kept in a proper 

 sanitary condition. Floating air impurities, like dust and dirt, can 

 not be removed or rendered innocuous by the most perfect ven- 

 tilating scheme. Mingled with the dust floating in the auditorium 

 or lodging in the stage scenery are numbers of bacteria or germs. 

 Among the pathogenic germs will be those of tuberculosis, con- 

 tained in the sputum discharged in coughing or expectorating. 

 When this dries on the carpeted floor, the germs become readily 

 detached, are inhaled by the playgoers, and thus become a pro- 

 lific source of danger. It is for this reason principally that the 

 processes of cleaning, sweeping, and dusting should in a theater be 

 under intelligent management. 



To guard against the ever-present danger of infection by germs, 

 the sanitary floor coverings recommended should be wiped every 

 day with a moist rag or cloth. Carpeted floors should be covered 

 with moist tea leaves or sawdust before sweeping to prevent the 

 usual dust-raising. The common use of the feather duster is to 



* The reader will find the subject discussed and illustrated in the author's work, Sani- 

 tary Engineering of Buildings, vol. i, 1899. 



