95 
About twenty-four to forty-cig'lit liours of froezinjr tewipeniture 
kills the free infection, hence aftcj- any cold wi>ath(*r of tliis kind in 
winter it may be assumed that the ])remises arc disinfertod. 
After any especially dry weather, most if not all tlu' fi*ec infection 
(except such as exists in places not affected by the drviu‘s.s) is killed, 
so that exposed portions of promises may be assumed to lie })racticallv 
disinfected. 
Spra3un^ with burnino- oil (H^. 8^>). ])racticed by the Mju^sachusetts 
G3^ps3' Moth Commission, will etfectualh' disinfect any area. If a 
spra3^ nozzle or ‘Awclone burner’' is not at hand, the ground around 
the house could be strewn with straw or brush and set afire (due pre- 
caution bein^ taken not to burn the house), thus thorou^hl3' disinfecting^ 
the premises. (See Stiles, 1902 d.) 
DrinT^in<f icatcr.—To tell the average faiin hand or miner that ln‘ 
should alwa3's *‘boil or filter’’ the water before drinking it is, academ- 
icalh% a step toward preventing infection with uncinariasis. Practi- 
calh", however, it is a step toward throwing away whatever intluenee 
wema3' happen to have with him. Theoreticallv. we should teach this 
simple h3"gienic j)recaution to all families, both in the cit3' and in the 
countiT. Practicalh% we are in maiw cases weakening our position 
1)3" insisting too generalh" upon this point. 
While, therefore, we mav warn people to boil or filter their 
drinking water in order to prevent the introduction of the iidecting 
agent of uncinariasis or of other diseases, provided we see an v chance 
of their following the advice (in regard to which we ourselves, except 
in times of epidemics, are verv inconsistent), we will, 1 believe, 
usually weaken our' influence with the ])oorer classes in mentioning 
a precaution which the average farm hand naturalh" looks on as 
absurd. It is much more important to urge him to locate his i)i ivv 
some distance from the well. That is a ])roposition he can ai)preciat«': 
the necessitv for l)oiling or filtering drinking water is usuallv bevond 
his mental horizon. 
Clean lunnh . — An important point in connection with preveiifir.g 
the ingestion of the infectious agent of uncinariasis is that the hands 
and finger nails should be kept clean. I am inclimal, however, to take 
an ultrapractical view of cleanliness versus dirt in connection with 
countrv houses, ami to first see that the im*vitabU‘ dirt shall b(‘ clean 
This can lx* accomplislnal if we can succeed in having pioperlv con- 
structed latrines, built at projier distaiua* from the wells and houses, 
if the children be taught to use them, and if tin* parents be taught the 
necessit3" for cleaning them. 
These, in mv opinion, an* the first st<*ps fo hr taken, and far out- 
weigh all such considerations as boiling and filt<*ring drinking wat4*r 
or keeping the* hands ch*an. 
Wearimj sJioe^i . — Wearing shoes during wet wt*ather and wasliing the 
feet frequentl3" will prevent the cutaneous infection and will jirotect to 
