DUST AND ITS DANGERS. 77 



rooms, no further danger need be feared if 

 the material which they expectorate or dis- 

 charge in coughing and sneezing be carefully 

 attended to. If, on the other hand, consump- 

 tives are permitted to discharge the material 

 raised from the lungs on floors or elsewhere 

 where it may dry, this will be a source of dan- 

 ger far exceeding all others. In houses where 

 healthy persons are, then, or in houses where 

 consumptives are who are intelligently clean 

 in their habits, the chances of inhaling the 

 tubercle bacilli are slight. But it should al- 

 ways be remembered that these chances, 

 whether small or great, are directly dependent 

 upon the means which are used to get rid 

 of the dust. If this be permitted to accumu- 

 late so that it is liable to be stirred up over 

 and over again by the movements of persons 

 in the room, by so much will the risks be 

 increased of inhaling the harmless germs of 

 dust and with them sooner or later, the dan- 

 gerous ones, should such by chance be present. 

 It is perfectly obvious that unless the win- 

 dows be widely open or liberal air currents in 

 some way established, the too common method 



