452 SANITATION 



fected house at all, but that the milkman should pour the 

 milk, out of doors, into vessels belonging to the house. 



How shall a person having a dangerous germ disease be isolated? 

 In some cases it may be best for him to go to a hospital for contagious 

 diseases; in other cases he may be left in his own house, with his nurse, 

 but all other persons may be required to leave the house. In some 

 cases only room isolation, or confinement in a certain room, is advised. 

 In room isolation the cracks about the doors and transoms leading to 

 the remainder of the house should be closely sealed, and the nurse 

 should not mingle with the family. But room isolation is usually 

 unsatisfactory and dangerous, because it is not properly carried out, 

 and is not a real isolation. Real isolation in a room is not ordinarily 

 possible unless the house is a large one, and is so arranged that the 

 patient and the nurse can be removed to a really separate part of it. 



The illustrations already given show us that the real value of isola- 

 tion, like that of other sanitary measures, depends on how it is carried 

 out. If we elect officers to provide a good quarantine, we must support 

 them when they are obliged to use force with some persons who refuse 

 to observe quarantine. Furthermore, we ourselves must obey the 

 regulations of our health department, not merely in the letter, so that 

 we may just escape punishment, but in the spirit, because we recognize 

 the fact that they are for the greatest good of all the people. 



438. Disinfection. We have already learned (cf. 

 423) that disinfection means the destruction of harmful 

 germs. It applies to such familiar operations as the 

 boiling of milk and water, the filtering of water, and the 

 washing of hands and clothing, as well as to the treatment 

 of a wound with carbolic acid, or the fumigation of a room 

 with burning sulphur. Preservatives are disinfectants 

 put into food (cf. 425). 



The need of careful disinfection during and after dis- 

 ease is much greater than people realize; because disin- 



