OUR BODIES AND HOW WE LIVE 



The most important measure for the restriction of consump- 

 tion is the disinfection or destruction of all sputa 1 of every 

 consumptive person and the strict supervision of all animals 

 which furnish food (Sec. 237). 



434. Scarlet Fever. Scarlet fever has not yet been iden- 

 tified by its special germ, but that there is a germ seems 

 to be proved by the well-known fact that this disease 



can be communicated 

 from person to person. 

 It is spread by the dis- 

 charges from the nose, 

 mouth, and throat, and 

 probably also by the 

 minute scales and bits 

 of dust which are 

 thrown off from the 

 surface of the body. 



Isolation and disin- 

 fection are the meas- 

 ures by which this 

 disease is restricted. 



435. Diphtheria. 

 Diphtheria is spread 

 by the sputa, saliva, and whatever comes from the throat and 

 mouth of the patient, and by the dust which results from the 

 drying of such substances. The germs of diphtheria some- 

 times remain in the throat weeks after apparent recovery. 



1 All persons suffering from this disease and who have a cough should 

 carry small pieces of cloth (each just large enough to receive one sputum 

 properly) and paraffined paper envelopes or wrappers in w r hich the cloth, as 

 soon as once used, may be securely inclosed and with its envelope burned 

 at the first opportunity. These pieces of cloth must not be carried loose 

 in the pocket and allowed to dry after being used. 



FIG. 200. Bacilli of Diphtheria. 

 Magnified 1000 diameters. 



