420 



HEALTH AND DISEASE 



those who have weak throat or lungs, are regaining health by 

 sleeping out of doors or with the windows wide open. The only 

 essential in sleeping out of doors or in a room with a low tem- 

 perature is that the body be kept warm and the head be protected 

 from strong drafts by a nightcap or hood. Proper ventilation at 

 all times is one of the greatest factors in good health. 



Change of Air. Persons in poor health, especially those having 

 tuberculosis, are often cured by a change of air. This is not 

 always so much due to the composition of the air as to change of 

 occupation, rest, and good food. Mountain air is dry, and rela- 

 tively free from dust and bacteria, and often helps a person 

 having tuberculosis. Air at the seaside is beneficial for some 

 forms of disease, especially hay fever and bone tuberculosis. 

 Many sanitariums have been established for this latter disease 

 near the ocean, and thousands of lives are being annually saved 

 in this way. 



The Relation of Pure Food and Pure Water to Health. Thanks 

 to the care of state and city governments there is little need now- 

 adays for the health of any in- 

 dividual to suffer from impure 

 food or water. But that people 

 do become sick and die from 

 such causes every day is well 

 known, as is shown by the 

 many cases of typhoid fever, 

 summer complaint, and pto- 

 maine poisoning of various 

 sorts. Our milk may have 

 been watered or sent in cans 

 washed with water containing 

 typhoid germs, we may eat 

 oysters bred in contaminated 

 localities, we may have re- 

 ceived and eaten fruits or 



vegetables sprinkled with water containing the germs. Our laws, 

 however good, cannot cope with human carelessness. Not only 

 should we as individuals demand from the source of supply pure 

 food and water, but we should do our share at home to keep them 



Tracks of germs left by a fly crawling on a 

 culture in a dish. 



