442 SANITATION 



430. Spitting in Public. Public-health authorities 

 everywhere are trying to stop the practice of expectorat- 

 ing, or ' ' spitting/ 7 in public places. The habit is not only 

 disgusting and indecent, but dangerous. This is clear 

 from what we have learned of tuberculosis. If we 

 remember that a multitude of germs is expelled from the 

 body in the act of " spitting/' and that the germs cast 

 forth become a part of the dust that all passers-by must 

 breathe, we can see what a dangerous indulgence public 

 spitting is. 



431. Colds. We often speak lightly of colds; if suf- 

 fering from one, we say we have "only a cold." But 

 colds need to be included in our list of serious diseases, if 

 for no other reason than that they are so common, and 

 that they lower the working ability of so many people. 

 Colds are also serious because they are often the begin- 

 nings of consumption, pneumonia, diphtheria, etc. The 

 cold does not cause these diseases directly, but it lowers 

 the power of the body to resist dangerous germs. 



Colds are communicated from one person to another; the one who 

 has a cold ought to exercise care, so that he may not pass it on to others. 

 A cold that "hangs on" needs a physician's care, especially if it causes 

 difficult breathing and fever. If it is "only a cold," the avoiding of 

 drafts, care in clothing, and the eating of light food, especially of liquid 

 food, are usually all that is needed to cure it. The old saying is that 

 if you "stuff a cold" (that is, overeat), you will need to "starve out a 

 fever." But if a cold makes us weak and chilly, a day or two spent in 

 bed will be of the greatest possible help. Time will actually be saved, 

 if we do not work when we are unfit for work. 



We often "catch cold" after we have been overheated by the 

 wearing of too heavy clothing, or by living, even for a little while, in 



