1 82 The Story of the Bacteria 



market garden manures, all fruit, vegetables, 

 and salads should be thoroughly washed 

 before they are eaten. If such articles are 

 to be cooked, though not so vital a matter, 

 washing is at least a contribution to decency. 

 The exposure of such foods upon the side- 

 walk in cities, as is so often done, is a filthy 

 practice, and this alone should decide the 

 householder to dispense with the supplies of 

 any dealer who persists in it. 



There is no doubt that the germs of typhoid 

 fever, and when it is prevalent those of 

 Asiatic cholera, are conveyed by food con- 

 taminated by the discharges of sick persons 

 or the activities of flies. This, of course, is 

 most frequent among the poorer people in 

 towns whose market stalls are in the gutter, 

 and whose living-rooms, alike for sick and well, 

 must serve at once as kitchen, dining-room, 

 garbage reservoir, and bed-chamber. But 

 among those more fortunately circumstanced, 

 the conveyance of the diphtheria and the 

 typhoid germs on uncleansed spoons, dishes, 

 etc., as well as through contaminated food, is 

 of no infrequent occurrence. 



