A LITTLE LESSON ABOUT LITTLE THINGS 33 



All this tells about our food, how it spoils and how 

 to keep it sweet. But you and I are far more important. 

 We send microbes into our lungs every day with the 

 air we breathe; we put them into our mouth with our 

 food and our drink ; we gather them on our hands and 

 our face from anything we touch. Though many of 

 these microbes do us good, some of them do us great 

 harm. They may give us sore eyes, typhoid fever, con- 

 sumption, or any one of a long list of other diseases 

 that make us miserable, put us to bed, or kill us out- 

 right. They are the smallest and the strongest enemies 

 we have, and we need to know how to protect ourselves 

 against them. 



QUESTIONS 



1. What instrument does a man use when he studies microbes? 



2. Where do microbes live? 



3. Do they help us or do us harm? 



4. What do they do to milk, meat, fruit, vinegar, and other things? 



5. Describe what happens when you put a rotten apple against a 

 sound one. 



6. Do microbes work faster in cold or warm places? 



7. What does freezing do to microbes? 



8. Why do we boil fruit and vegetables before we can them? 



9. What is the secret of keeping things from spoiling? 

 10. Can you mention any disease that microbes give? 



