398 ADVANCED PHYSIOLOGY 



Transmission is through droplets or smears from the mem- 

 branes of the mouth and air passages. ' 'Carriers" are respons- 

 ible for many cases. However, many epidemics are believed 

 to have been caused by milk which had become infected during 

 handling. 



Its spread may be hindered or stopped by: 



1. Avoiding crowding of people together. 



2. Pasteurizing all milk supplies. 



3. Isolation of patients. 



4. Disinfection of all discharges from the mouth or nose. 



Scales from the skin probably have no special infective 

 power, and rooms once occupied by patients may be dis- 

 infected with formaldehyde if desired; this precaution is 

 probably unnecessary. 



If, after learning and perhaps experiencing some of the 

 modern methods of health conservation, some are tempted to 

 feel that such procedures interfere with personal liberties, 

 they should remember that, in the long run, personal, family, 

 neighborhood, school, and municipal health and hygiene are 

 so closely interdependent that authority must be present at 

 every point; also that observance of legislation looking toward 

 the greatest common good should be accorded, not grudgingly, 

 but eagerly and sympathetically by all. 



