2O2 



HOW TO KEEP WELL 



disinfected. It is simpler and less painful to kill germs in a 

 new wound than to open an inflamed, infected one. 



The need of help from city and state. Our health depends 

 not only upon ourselves but also upon the city and state in which 

 we live. If a city is careful about the sweeping of its streets, 

 the removal of its garbage and sewage, the purity of its milk 

 and water, the extermination of disease carriers, such as flies and 

 rats, and the isolation, or quarantining, of all contagious cases, 

 the people are quite free from most epidemics, and the death rate 

 is low. If a city is careless about these things, many people 



suffer from contagious diseases and 

 the death rate is high. 



A city should clean its streets fre- 

 quently and hygienically. Dust 

 should not be stirred up. To keep 

 down dust the streets should be 

 sprinkled (Fig. 69, p. 197) or flushed 

 before the sweeping is done. Sweeping 

 dry streets with dry brooms merely 

 stirs up germs and spreads them 

 through the air. Vacant lots are a 

 source of dust and germs, and should 

 be converted into well-sodded grassy 

 plots, because grass keeps down dust. 

 Horse manure, banana skins, apple 

 cores left in the street for days serve as a breeding place for flies 

 and other germ carriers ; lost handkerchiefs, bits of paper, old rags 

 accumulate and distribute dust and germs. Many cities place 

 metal waste baskets or receptacles on the streets and encourage 

 people to throw waste material into them rather than on the 

 pavements (Fig. 70). Frequent cleaning of the streets and fre- 

 quent removal of waste material from public receptacles are 

 essential features of good city housekeeping. 



FIG. 70. Metal waste can. 



