396 PRACTICAL HYGIENE 



form dust. This is lifted with other fine particles by the 

 air and may be carried quite a distance. The dust from 

 public halls and other places where people congregate is 

 the kind most likely to contain disease germs. Dust should 

 be breathed as little as possible and only through the 

 nostrils. Where one is compelled, as in sweeping, to 

 breathe dust-laden air for some time, he should inhale 

 through a moistened sponge, or cloth, tied in front of 

 the nostrils. 



3. By Means of Domestic Pets and Different Kinds of 

 Household Vermin. Germs sticking to the bodies of 

 small animals are carried about and may be easily com- 

 municated to people. By this means, rats, mice, bedbugs, 

 etc., where such exist, are frequently the means of spread- 

 ing disease ; and particularly dangerous, on this account, is 

 the common house fly. Feeding as it does on filth of all 

 kinds, it is easy for it to transfer the bacteria that may 

 stick to its body to the food which is supplied to the table. 

 The proper screening of houses and the destruction of 

 material in which flies may develop, such as the refuse 

 from stables, are necessary precautions. 



Germs are spread also by the clothing of people, by rail- 

 road and steamship lines, by the mails, and by the natural 

 elements. In fact, any kind of carrier, in or upon which 

 germs can live, may serve as a means of spreading those 

 of certain kinds. 



Public Sanitation. The general conditions under which 

 germs may thrive and some of the means by which they 

 are scattered, emphasize the practical value of measures 

 which have for their purpose the making of one's surround- 

 ings more wholesome and hygienic. Such measures may 

 be directed both toward one's immediate surroundings 

 the home and toward the neighborhood, town, or city in 



