662 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1907. 
not enforced. Lighted cigars, cigarettes, and pipes were occasionally 
carried even into the cars. 
Odors from new concrete and fresh paint were often noticed. The 
former was persistent, the latter transient. 
Odors of human origin were sometimes present, but almost always 
close to people. They were most common during warm, damp 
weather and where there was much crowding. These odors often 
came from the clothing of the passengers. It was sometimes possible 
to learn the occupation of a workman by the odor of his clothes. 
Odors of coffee, garlic, bad teeth, liquor, cheese, and perfumery were 
some of the personal odors noticed. 
The peculiar odor given off by clothing which had been hung in 
a kitchen was frequently noticed. 
In fact, under the conditions of crowding, amounting frequently to 
close personal contact, it seemed that odors of practically every char- 
acter connected with human existence were noticeable. 
Excepting in rare instances, where ignorant employees were not 
kept under as strict supervision as their defective sense of decency 
required, the odors which permeated the general air of the subway 
did not point to conditions dangerous to health. Personal odors were 
detectible only at short range. When people are crowded so closely 
together that their breath and other body odors are offensive, there is 
always danger that disease may be transmitted from one to another. 
The toilet rooms were much neglected at the time of this investiga- 
tion, and often gave rise to an unpleasant local odor. 
DUST. 
The dust of the subway was made the subject of study because of its 
unpleasant features and the possibility that it might play a part in 
producing or aggravating respiratory diseases. Its possibilities for 
harm were considered to lie in its bacterial and physical composition. 
The dust was examined microscopically, chemically, and bacterio- 
logically, by a special method which was devised for determining © 
the gross weight of dust in a measured volume of the air, and by an 
instrument for estimating the total number of floating particles 
present. 
In appearance, the dust was always black and very finely powdered. 
It was easily distinguishable by the eye from dusts collected in the 
streets and in theaters, churches, office buildings, and mercantile and 
manufacturing establishments. 
The subway dust had a peculiarly adhesive character, which caused 
it to attach itself securely to all surfaces, even when these were verti- 
cally placed and glazed. All parts of the subway which had not 
been recently cleaned and painted, or were not of a dark color, were 
sprinkled with this black dust when the investigation began. 
Se 
