222 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [June 



A Study of the Infectiousness of the Dust in the Adiron- 

 dack Cottage Sanitarium. — Irwin H Hance {Canadian 

 Practitioner, January, 1896) g^ives a very interesting- resume 

 of the literature bearing- upon the infectious character of 

 tuberculosis, and relates some instructive experiments 

 uponthe subject. These were done at the request and 

 under the supervision of Dr. Trudeau, at the Saranac 

 Laboratory, and consisted of inoculations, into the subcut- 

 aneous tissues of g-uinea-pigfs, of suspension of dust from 

 the various building-s and cottag-es of the Sanitarium. A 

 total of eig-hty-one inoculations was made, all but eig-ht of 

 which g-ave a negative result. Three of the animals died 

 of rapid acute infections; the remaining five fatal cases 

 were infected with tuberculosis. Theyall occured among 

 the ten animals which were inoculated with dust from the 

 "Red Cottage," which had been occupied by the sickest 

 patients and by one who was notoriously careless as to 

 spitting about the cottage. 



The author seems justified in concluding that the free- 

 dom from infectious material of the dust from sixteen out 

 of seventeen buildings tested is due to strict measures in 

 disposingof sputum. The patientsare carefully instructed 

 concerning- the disposal of their sputum, and close super- 

 vision of them is maintained. The pasteboard cuspidors 

 are burned daily, as are the Japanese napkins as soon as 

 possible after using. I*aper napkins are used in the infir- 

 mary in hemorrhage cases or where patients are too feeble 

 to get up on their elbows so as to use a cuspidor. These 

 are used but once, then placed in a pasteboard receptacle 

 and soon after burned. In addition to these measures, 

 the author insists upon general good hygiene, etc. These 

 results show that buildings may be occupied by consump- 

 tives for years and still be uncontaminated by infectious 

 material if the discharge of bacilli from the patient be pro- 

 perly cared for. 



Defective Sanitation in Italy. — According to Professor 

 Bodio, of 8,254 communities in Italy, 1,454 have no supply 

 of pure water, and 4,877 no regular sewage system. 



