PROPHYLAXIS. 281 



thorough cleansing of the nates with a bichloride solution 

 after each evacuation of the bowel. 



In the typhoid circular sent out by the Board of Health 

 of the city of Chicago the following directions are given for 

 avoiding the possibility of infection with Bacillus typhosus : 



" Boil all drinking-water for twenty-five or thirty minutes. 



" Pasteurize all milk and cream, especially for the young. 

 If you do not know how to pasteurize, ask your druggist, or 

 the nearest dispensary, or your family doctor. Five minutes' 

 instruction will teach you, and it costs nothing to speak of. 



" Dirty hands may also carry the typhoid poison. There- 

 fore, wash your hands carefully before handling any article 

 of food or drink. 



" Food gets poisoned, especially green stuff, by being ma- 

 nured with night-soil ; by flies crawling over it after feasting 

 on a typhoid discharge, of which they are especially fond ; 

 and often by the filthy dust of the street. Therefore : 



" Wash thoroughly all vegetables and fruit intended to be 

 eaten raw. Wash in water that has been boiled and then 

 cooled. Keep flies out of the house as much as possible by 

 screens and fly-paper. Cover all food-supplies so that flies 

 may not have access to them." 



In the same leaflets are contained the following instructions 

 for disinfecting typhoid excreta : 



" If all discharges of every existing case of typhoid fever 

 were instantly disinfected, there would be no more typhoid 

 fever in the world. Therefore : 



" If you are so unfortunate as to have a case of typhoid in 

 the family, disinfect every discharge as a duty to your neigh- 

 bors as well as to prevent others of the family from getting 

 poisoned. 



" Sulphate of copper (blue vitriol) is the best typhoid disin- 

 fectant, one pound costing ten cents, dissolved in two and a 

 half gallons of water. Keep a pint of this in the vessel for 

 the discharges from both the bowel and the bladder. Stir 

 thoroughly for a few minutes ; let stand for fifteen minutes 

 and the poison will be destroyed. Do not allow any discharge 

 from either the bowels or the bladder to be received or dis- 

 posed of except in this manner." 



