556 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



The third shows water coining from sources badly collected, not 

 protected, polluted by men or animals, transmitting typhoid fever, 

 dysentery, or intestinal parasites. 



Finally the fourth shows the processes of secondary contamina- 

 tion resulting from bad preservation or dirty handling of foods : For 

 example, the dust of the streets adhering to the fruits, the greens, 

 and the pastries carried in pushcarts and displayed without protec- 

 tion in the store fronts of groceries and fruit shops; the dust of apart- 

 ments which settles on the surface of dishes which have just been 

 prepared; greens infected by typhoid-polluted water; the tuber- 

 culous cook who carelessly coughs over the dishes which she serves; 

 the cook who is a carrier of typhoid germs or dysentery, who by 

 means of her unclean hands transfers them to the food ; flies, which 

 having collected dangerous germs from privies, come to leave them 

 on the surface of foods; finally the dog, too welcome visitor in the 

 kitchen, who transmits parasites of which he is a bearer. 



The dangers which menace us are too numerous and too diverse to 

 be all represented in a series of four plates. But the principal ones 

 are there, and in a form which the mind can easily grasp. 



These plates have the happy privilege of making the children, and 

 even adults, laugh ; they hold the attention, they are deciphered like 

 a rebus, they are commented on scientifically, and they impress the 

 story they tell on the memory of all. Would it not be desirable that 

 they be printed in large editions and adopted for school equipment ? 



These plates are of the type of the posters, pictures, pamphlets, 

 and postal cards published by the American commission for protec- 

 tion against tuberculosis in France. It is believed that they would 

 render equal service if they were reproduced in the form of simple 

 pictures of the Epinal kind, in the form of illustrations for little 

 tracts, or in the form of postal cards to put in the hands of children. 



Their form is, moreover, by no means limited, and I can well 

 imagine possible graphic representations of the elimentary dangers 

 which menace us, of the mistakes to avoid, and of the precautions 

 to take. The commission for protection against tuberculosis has 

 published amusing pictures showing children the danger of dust and 

 flies, of the necessity of washing the hands before coming to the 

 table, and of brushing the teeth to keep them in good condition. 

 These are some of the precepts of alimentary education : It would be 

 desirable to formulate and to depict a series of others to teach 

 thorough mastication, not to eat too fast, not to drink too much dur- 

 ing a meal, not to abuse alcohol, etc. Certain of these pictures would 

 be common to the antialcohol campaign and to alimentary education. 



