836 



SCIENCE 



IS. 3. Vol. XXXIII. No. 857 



tion of the public to the fact that diph- 

 theria, typhoid fever and scariet fever have 

 never been definitely traced to sewer air or 

 bad plumbing are reform measures that 

 might release a considerable sum of public 

 money for use in really profitable lines of 

 sanitary endeavor. 



In the matter of heating and ventilation 

 enormous sums have been spent and are 

 being spent to "renew" the air in rooms 

 and public assembly halls and to introduce 

 "pure air" in what has been assumed to be 

 necessary amounts. And yet if the work of 

 Beu,* Heymann, Paul, Erclentz, Pliigge,^ 

 Leonard Hill and others means anything it 

 demonstrates that the whole effect from 

 "bad air" and crowded rooms is due to 

 heat and moisture and not to carbon dioxid 

 or to any poisonous excretions in expired 

 air. "When all the effects of "crowd poi- 

 son ' ' upon a group of individuals in an ex- 

 perimentally sealed chamber can be elim- 

 inated by rapidly whirling electric fans it 

 is useless any longer to look upon carbon 

 dioxid as "a measure of danger." If we 

 recognize that all the discomfort from 

 breathing air in a confined space is due to 

 a disturbance of the thermal relations of 

 the body, the problem of ventilation be- 

 comes very different from what has usually 

 been supposed. In temperate climates at 

 all events it ought to be much simpler to 

 provide for proper heat regulation of the 

 body than to warm a large volume of out- 

 side air and introduce it into a building 

 continuously or at stated intervals. It may 

 well be asked whether the elaborate legal 

 regulations governing the "supply" of air 

 and the cubic feet of bedroom space have 

 a real basis in scientific knowledge. If 

 over-heating, moisture-content and stag- 

 nation of the air are the chief things to be 

 avoided, may this end not be reached more 



* Zeitschr. f. Hyg., 1893, 14, p. 64. 

 '^ Zeitschr. f. Hyg., 1905, 49, p. 363. 



effectively and less expensively than by 

 present methods? 



One conspicuous function at present re- 

 quired of or voluntarily exercised by health 

 departments is the practise of terminal dis- 

 infection after cases of infectious disease. 

 This has come to play a large part in mu- 

 nicipal health activities and is respon- 

 sible for an important share of the expense. 

 In Boston, for example, in 1909, about one 

 tenth of the annual appropriation was ex- 

 pended for disinfection. One of the most 

 experienced New England city health oifi- 

 cers has recently seriously questioned the 

 value of such an expenditure." After a 

 study of the ratios of recurrences in cer- 

 tain diseases he concludes that, "Both 

 theory and facts, so far as any data are 

 available, indicate that terminal disinfec- 

 tion after diphtheria and scarlet fever is 

 of no appreciable value." This view has 

 met with strong support from the experi- 

 ence of a number of English health offi- 

 cials, even if it can not be regarded as con- 

 clusively proved. Every one now knows 

 that the large sums of money spent in meas- 

 ures of disinfection directed against yel- 

 low fever gave little return in added safety. 

 We can hardly take for granted that any 

 process of combating disease is effectual 

 simply because it is customary or tradi- 

 tional. It is evident that the whole ques- 

 tion of disinfection needs to be studied 

 afresh with a view to actual efficacy. It is 

 not a subject for laboratory experimenta- 

 tion alone, but must be investigated as a 

 problem of practical public health admin- 

 istration. 



Other instances of the application of 

 energy and money to measures apparently 

 of slight or doubtful value might be cited, 

 but those already given are fairly typical. 

 The question that should be asked in every 



" Chapin, Jour. Amer. Public Health Assoc, 

 1911, 1, p. 32. 



