62 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



Educational pamphlets, bulletins from boards of health, co- 

 operation of the daily press and similiar means of reaching 

 the consumer must be employed. If we can convince the 

 consumer that clean milk is healthful, and should contain but 

 a small number of bacteria, that it should be sold in bottles 

 only, that it should be cold when delivered, that efificiently 

 pasteurized milk is the safest milk under present conditions — • 

 if the consumer is convinced of these points, he will demand 

 the right kind of milk and milk of lower standard will be 

 driven from the market. 



HOUSING IN RELATION TO HEALTH 



MARION TALBOT 



There is much confusion in the use of the term "hous- 

 ing." It is often taken to mean, not merely the structure of 

 the house itself, but its equipment, plumbing, furnishing and 

 the like, and its immediate surroundings, such as streets and 

 alleys. It may also include the way in which the house is 

 used or maintained on its physical side, which is more proper- 

 ly housekeeping, or even the way in which the lives of those 

 who occupy the house are ordered, such as overcrowding, 

 which is more properly homemaking. Moreover, much of 

 what is said and written in regard to unhealthful housing is 

 concerned more with the aesthetic standards of decency and 

 order than with health. A scrutiny of many of the pictures 

 which are supposed to represent bad housing shows that these 

 distinctions are frequently not closely drawn. For example, a 

 room may be light, large, well ventilated and yet be a menace 

 to health, because of the unduly large number of people who 

 occupy it or their uncleanly habits. On the contrary, it is 

 possible for a small room with a meagre supply of light and 

 air to be kept so neat and clean as to be quite fit for habita- 

 tion. Again, many kinds of construction, like back stairways 

 or broken fences, may be ugly but not unhealthful. Higher 

 standards of order or of beauty should be developed to meet 

 this difificulty. A street or alley may be unpaved or even 

 disfigured with rubbish. The aid of the street department, 

 not of the board of health, is needed here. A room may show a 

 disordered bed, a cluttered table, or clothes hanging on a line. 

 Better instruction in homes and schools as to what is good 

 housekeeping should be the remedy sought. 



So it is impossible to discuss or criticize housing with- 

 out a clear understanding of the many problems involved. 

 Many well intentioned efforts to secure proper conditions 

 for living fail because of this confusion in terms. 



