DUST OF SCHOOLROOMS 233 



It is extremely important, also, to remember the signifi- 

 cance of dust in a schoolroom. A schoolroom with chil- 

 dren from many homes is likely to be a collecting place 

 of disease germs. The children are almost always sure to 

 bring such germs to the schoolroom, where they are dis- 

 tributed through the air, float around for a while, and 

 eventually settle on the iloor. If they remained on the 

 floor they would be harmless ; but every time the room is 

 swept or dusted the germs are stirred up again. Sweeping 

 and dusting a schoolroom decidedly increases the danger 

 of contagion. If feather dusters could be discarded and 

 brooms also dispensed with, their places being taken by 

 damp cloths, the amount of contagion would be materially 

 reduced. If the floors, window sills, desks, and tables 

 were wiped each day, the dust, instead of being scattered 

 through the room, would be collected and removed by the 

 damp cloth. The cloth should subsequently be rinsed and 

 occasionally washed in hot water. Where this method 

 has been adopted the results have been surprising. One 

 school, for example, with over four hundred pupils, burned 

 up the feather dusters and used damp cloths for cleaning. 

 During the following year there was not a single case of 

 :ontagious disease among the scholars, an altogether new 

 experience for the school. The same general facts would 

 ipply equally well to the household. Brooms and dusters 

 iimply distribute germs through the air, and should be 

 lispensed with as far as possible. Carpet sweepers and 

 ■ lamp cloths should, where possible, take the place of brooms 

 ; nd dusters. Woodwork should always be cleaned with a 

 - lamp cloth rather than by dusting. No simple rule will 

 ' >e more useful in checking the distribution of contagious 



