PROTECT THE STREAM OF LIFE 171 



If all were as wise as this woman, even public drinking 

 cups might be used ; but many are ignorant, and as I watched 

 the cup I knew that day after day there was danger for the 

 city through that single cup alone. For over and over again, 

 whether a man betrayed his condition or not, there were sure to 

 be many who used the cup and left dangerous microbes on it. 



Fortunately for the race, the particular microbes discussed 

 in this chapter do not live long when they are on surfaces 

 outside the body. 



It is well to bear in mind and to act upon the following rules : 



Rules of Protection 



1 . Never use knife, fork, spoon, cup, or any other article 

 after another person until it has been washed. 



2. Never put into the mouth pins, pencils, money, whistles, 

 chewing gum, or any other article that may have been in the 

 mouth of another person. 



3. Never let the diseased surface of any diseased person 

 touch the delicate membranes of any part of your body. Older 

 people sometimes kiss children on the lips. This should never 

 be done. Let old and young alike kiss each other on the 

 cheek, not on the lips, for the thick, unbroken skin of the 

 cheek is a protection against the invasion of microbes. 



Since these laws of prevention are easy to follow, we wonder 

 why cities and citizens have been careless so long. The answer 

 is that most of us are both ignorant and thoughtless. Few 

 realize that, of all the diseases that come to man, this is the 

 only one which is able to travel the road of direct inheritance 

 from one generation to the next — the only microbe disease 

 which seems to affect germ cells themselves, and which stays 

 with the cells as they multiply and become a baby. 



