96 THOMPSON YATES AND JOHNSTON LABORATORIES REPORT 
corridor is of wood and smooth. Organisms carried with such dirt are more likely 
to be injurious to the bathers than those derived from their own skins. Thus the 
bacillus of tetanus is common in horse-dung, and tubercle bacilli are constantly 
expectorated upon the street pavements, as Dr. Anneti (5) has found in Liverpool. 
Ot course the number of bacteria, in other words, the amount of street dirt 
introduced in this manner varies considerably according to circumstances, and accord- 
ing especially to the frequency with which the corridor is washed ; it is worst on club 
nights and when the streets are muddy. 
Although the number ot organisms thus introduced into the bath is probably 
too small to be harmful, yet on general hygienic principles their introduction at all is 
most undesirable. 
This source of pollution might be prevented in four ways : — 
1. By more frequently washing the corridor — a very difficult matter when the 
baths are crowded. 
2. By insisting that every bather should remove his boots in an adjacent 
room before entering the corridor surrounding the bath, a rather annoying regu- 
lation. 
3. By automatically flushing the corridor with water. 
4. By certain structural alterations. 
We believe the ideal bath should have two corridors, an inner one between 
the bath and the dressing boxes, a second one outside the dressing boxes. The 
dressing boxes should be open back and front. No one should be allowed to walk 
on the inner corridor unless he was barefooted, and no one upon the outer corridor 
unless he had his boots on. To construct a bath on this principle with two corridors 
instead of one means an increased initial expenditure, but there are several great 
advantages. 
1. The corridor would not require constant washing, and consequently the 
attendant would have more time to devote to his other duties. 
2. The fact that the inner corridor was, so to speak, ' sacred ' to the bathers 
would have a moral effect. It would tend to impress the importance of cleanliness. 
Bathers would he less likely to spit on a clean corridor than on a dirty one, for the 
expectoration would be more conspicuous. 
i ) . The water would be cleaner and, therefore, more attractive, and con- 
sequently better patronized. Swimming deserves every encouragement. 
We do not advocate the reconstruction on this plan of baths already existing, 
especially if the expense of the alterations is great ; but we are strongly of the opinion 
that new baths should be built on this principle it progress in matters of cleanliness 
is worth anything. 
No attempt has been made to classify or identify the nature of the bacteria 
present in the water ; yeasts and sarcinae were common, moulds comparatively few, 
