75 



I migbt stop here, but I am inclined to thiulv that some one will 

 say that the term "infective dust" is rather vague. A pathologist or 

 bacteriologist would demand something more definite. He will likely 

 call our attention to the little bits of yellowish or greenish matter 

 which we so frequently spit up and which is coughed up in large quan- 

 tities by persons severely afflicted with inflammation of the respiratory 

 tract. He will tell us that this matter is made up mainly of white cells 

 from the blood which have been killed off in the struggle with this 

 so-called infective matter, and he will mention a lot of big names that 

 are Greek to 999 in every 1.000 persons. 



Now, 1 have purposely refrained from making use of the term mi- 

 crobe. A wise sanitarian has said that as long as you speak of infective 

 matter you come in for very little criticism, but the moment you men- 

 tion microbes the newspapers jump on you and ridicule the idea that 

 dust is dangerous or that it is dangerous to spit whenever and wherever 

 we choose. The newspapers are great factors in disseminating useful 

 knowledge, and if they will not speak ill of infected dust but will 

 antagonize any statements based on microbes, it seems to me that we 

 would best stop and let the bacteriologist continue the discussion. 



A Method of Determining the Absolute Dilation of Mercury. 



By Arthur L. Foley. 

 (By title.) 



