240 CIVIC BIOLOGY 



our local health authorities (when possible) and the best current health 

 literature. All are agreed that in case of gross uncleanliness or of new, 

 rare, and exceptional infections, the means of transmission of which may 

 not be known, terminal disinfection is advisable. It may take years, or 

 even centuries, of hard work, but nothing can ever take the place of 

 exact knowledge of the definite means by which each parasitic germ is 

 harbored or transmitted. Knowing this, we now exterminate the guilty 

 mosquito instead of sinking the ship to prevent spread of yellow fever, 

 and we pay attention to the rats and fleas in case of plague instead of 

 burning the village, inhabitants and all. 



Contact infection. It was a lesson, never to be forgotten, 

 when his family physician once confessed to the writer that 

 he had caused the death of a young mother by failing to 

 scrub the little-finger edges of -his hands carefully enough. 

 Upon such honesty as this we can depend for progress of 

 both science and practice. Could we be as honest with our 

 own hands for one day, we might each learn a lesson of life- 

 long value to our own ideas of rational cleanliness. Suppose 

 we mark with red ink every spot on fingers or hands moist- 

 ened by saliva or mucous secretions from the nose, and with 

 black ink all areas soiled by contacts with things which it 

 would be utterly disgusting or dangerous to put into the 

 mouth the fly we crush, the cat we touch (that has licked 

 her own saliva over her fur), the dead mouse we have taken 

 from a trap, the pus from a pimple or sore, and so down 

 the list. If we did this for half a day even, could we ever 

 again go to the table without obeying the scriptural injunc- 

 tion to wash the hands before breaking bread ? And we 

 would not be content with ceremonial touching of water, 

 but would wish to scrub them with soap until all the ink 

 spots were off. If such definite instruction were universal, 

 we might not have examples like the following: 



Spread of gonococcus infections, persistent and impossible to prevent 

 or trace, in the New York City Babies' Hospital, uncontrolled for sev- 

 eral years by laborious disinfection of buildings and equipment (after 



