112 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The conditions for the propagation of bacteria are very favor- 

 able in houses without cellars. The Michigan Board of Health 

 reported a case of poisoning by milk. The family was poor but 

 tid}'. Their house was an old frame house long known as 

 unhealthful ; the sills were on the ground and there was no cellar 

 under it. Rain water collected under the floor of unjointed 

 boards ; sweepings collected in the cracks, and the floor was 

 scoured and mopped and the water ran through, and kept the 

 dust in the cracks moist. A corner of one of the two ground 

 floor rooms was p«\rted ofl" as a pantry, where the milk was kept, 

 and here a second floor had been laid over the rotted boards of 

 the first, and it was impossible to reach the mass of decompos- 

 ing moist material beneath. There were three fatal cases in a 

 family of four, and it was decided with certainty that the poison- 

 ing by the milk was due to the germs from the damp and mouldy 

 floor, 



]n another case some ice cream was made, and a part flavored 

 with lemon was frozen immediately. The remainder was flavored 

 with vanilla, and stood for some time before freezing in an old 

 decayed and damp building which had been used as a meat 

 market, but had for months been unopened and unoccupied. The 

 latter caused a great deal of illness. 



To get rid of the disadvantage of dust we should have things 

 as dry as possible. We should have sunlight and air in our 

 rooms, even if it does involve the admission of dust from the 

 street, which is much less harmful than the bacteria. The raising 

 of dust should be avoided. Dampness should also be avoided. 

 Sanitary experts often object to very dry air in a room, but from 

 this point of view it is an advantage. 



The question how far the great quantity of organisms that we 

 breathe is injurious has not been decided. It seems probable 

 that for persons in perfect health the majority are harmless. The 

 ciliated epithelium of the respiratory passages probably sweeps 

 them out as fast as they become entangled in the mucus with 

 which it is bathed. Even those which have penetrated as far as 

 the trachea and bronchial tubes are thus probably ultimately 

 swallowed. It seems scarcely possible that any can ever reach 

 the air cells. The conditions are different, however, when there 

 is even a slight catarrh of the respiratory passages. The bacteria 

 in air are then probably a source of considerable danger. In our 



