94 BACTERIOLOGY FOR NURSES 



thorough cleanliness ; the compiler speaks with con- 

 viction, after twenty years of experience in training 

 hundreds of nurses, that no woman who has not been 

 taught the technique of cleanliness in her own home 

 can or will ever be thoroughly, consistently, and 

 safely clean in her nursing technique. If this be true 

 of women of the better class, we should have infinite 

 patience with the poor and ignorant who come from 

 generations of poverty and its accompanying filth. 

 If the tuberculous patient remains in his own home, 

 he should never occupy a room with any other person, 

 his dishes should be kept apart and any broken food 

 should be burned, his bed and body linen should be 

 changed frequently, and the mattress, blankets, and 

 pillows should be hung out in the air every sunny day, 

 and if he be confined to his bed, enough bedding 

 should be provided to use alternately. Paper 

 sputum cups are preferable, as they may be burned, 

 and if metal cups are used, they should be lined with 

 two thicknesses of rather heavy paper, which can be 

 removed with the sputum and put into the fire, and 

 the cup be boiled for ten minutes in a 5 per cent 

 soda solution, and immersed in a 5 per cent solution 

 of carbolic acid until needed again; there should 

 always be two cups for alternate use. Old soft cotton 

 or linen cloth or cheese cloth should be used for 



