HOW TO ESCAPE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 23 



M. Koniger strongly urged the necessity of being on our guard 

 against the influence of the minute droplets of saliva carrying bacilli 

 which are expelled from the mouth in the act of coughing or sneezing, 

 or in vigorous explosive speech. 



A Chicago health officer maintains that we have just as good a 

 right and duty to guard against the contagion caused by promiscuous 

 spitting, coughing and sneezing in public places as we have to guard 

 against contagion by prohibiting the slaughter and sale of tuberculous 

 cattle for food. 



In small-pox and some other diseases in which the danger of con- 

 tagion is universally recognized, society has guarded against contagion 

 by immediate and complete isolation of the patient, but in consump- 

 tion, pneumonia, influenza, grip and various other diseases the con- 

 tagious nature has not been fully realized and hence where we now have 

 one case of small-pox we have many thousands of either of the other 

 mentioned, although the time was when small-pox was more prevalent 

 than any of the others. 



HOW TO ESCAPE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 



J. J. Richardson, M. D., in a treatise on this subject, says that 

 when any member of a family is attacked with scarlet fever, diphtheria 

 or any contagious disease, it may be generally prevented from extend- 

 ing by attention to the following rules: 



Have the patient placed in one of the upper rooms of the house 

 or at least the farthest removed from the rest of the family, where the 

 best ventilation is to be had. The apartments should be at once 

 cleared of all curtains, carpets, woolen goods and unnecessary furni- 

 ture. Fill a cuspidor or spittoon with chloride of lime or a strong 

 carbolic solution (a teaspoonful of carbolic acid to one-half pint of 

 water) . A large tub containing carbolic acid solution (four fluid- 

 ounces to each gallon of water) should stand in the room for the re- 

 ception of bed or body linen immediately after it has been removed 

 from contact with the patient. The nurse should wear in the chamber 

 a loose gown and tight-fitting cap, to be thrown off at the door, and 

 the hands should be washed before going out, with carbolic acid 

 water. Napkins should not be used, but in their stead pieces of rags, 

 which can be burned. Glasses, cups, dishes, etc., must be scrupu- 

 lously cleaned in a carbolic acid solution or in boiling water before 

 they are carried away from the room. All discharges from the bowels 

 and kidneys are to be received into vessels containing some disinfect- 

 ent, such as a solution of two pounds of green vitriol to a gallon of 

 water, or the carbolic solution, and immediately removed. A sheet, 

 kept moistened with a strong carbolic acid solution, should be hung 

 over the door outside, for the purpose of catching any germs of the 

 disease which might otherwise escape. 



Boiling is the surest way of disinfecting contaminated clothing, 

 or it may be baked in an oven heated to about 240 Fahrenheit. After 



