The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-04-08
DUST AND SUN.
Foes and Friends In the Modern
housekeeper's Battle.


Economy-Dust and Dampness.
Mrs Richards began by mentioning some
of the different kinds of dust Arctic ex-
plorers have found cosmic dust everywhere
that they have gone, and the result of the
eruption of Krakota fully proved that the
dust from that volcano was disseminated
the world wide. 1t is now pretty well set
tied that frogs are composed OF moisture
collie cted around minute particles of dust in
the air. Then there is the dust blowing
about the streets today, filling our eyes and
irritating our lungs, which corresponds to
the dictionary definition of dust. This is
composed mainly of mineral matter, and is
net Injurious. except as irritating As it
Sits into our houses, it is the bane of care
ful housekeepers, and is considered by them
a disgrace If you can write your name in it
on the piano. 1t is thought better by some to
leave IL where it settles than to stir it up, but
there is much to be said in favor of busting
once day and then letting it be, and it is
certainly worse than useless to live with the
feather buster in hand.
1t has been known for great while that
there were other constituents of dust than
mineral matter, and the question what and
how much is an important one. Aristotle
pronounced dust injurious. All dry bodies
which become damp, and all damp bodies
which are dried. he said, engender animal
life. After the discovery of the microscope
the theory of animalcula and spontaneous
generation of them ruled the world A mix
ture of flour and water set out in the air will
ferment, and bit of bread or cheese will in
a night be covered with mould. The quick
ness and number of kinds of such growths
seemed magical, and it was asked how il
could be possible. nnless the germs grew
spontaneously, but we now know that il was
due TO an immense number of exceedingly
minute spores. Pasteur, about thirty wears
ago, showed how dried bodies which became
damp engendered life. Pouchet had found
I ~, Wnen tube was Eeated so as to destroy
an germs ano then inverted over mercury,
organisms were developed In it, but Pasteur
Ia 1864 showed that the dust which chung to
the mercury and that suspended in the air
carried the germs of life into the apparently
sealed tuDe. he rendered this dust visible
py darkening room and allowing beam of
light to penetrate. This is the dust of the
house which falls on everything. Everyone
knows that dust is visible in beam of sun
light when none can be seen elsewhere in the
room. ana the careful old New England
IN dust, and so shut up the best room and
kept 1t dark, and also damp and mustv. and
caused the organisms i'm the air to Increase
at the rate of many thousands in twenty
four hours.
1t is now well recognized that air every
where contains the spores of moulds and
bacteria, and air free from them Is only To he
found ON the tops of high mountains and
perhaps at sea. Many of them are too small
to be seen by the microscope.
Inc amount OF this matter and its causes
are Important, but we know very little about
them, except that these fine particles are
everywhere. If pan of -four and water is
set outdoors, enough yeast germs will fall on
II 10 cause It to ferment Indoor, in dwelling
houses ana public halls, and wherever people
come together, they are found. Thew NAV
De divided into moulds and bacteria, both
needing certain amount of moisture and
1000 TO propagate. Dry bread will not
mould moulds must have moisture to in
crease put they require very little food
PROBABLY there Is food enough for them in
any room, however clean. In August we
ma moulds sprlnging up everywhere, show
ing that the germs are everywhere.
mineral particles are found in great excess
IN 10 the ar OF cities One investigator tried
by The process of fog making to estimate the
number In cubic inch. In rainy day he
found 52l 200, In fair weather 2ll9,OO0, in the
ar OF rooms 30,3l8,000 in a cubic inch. This
DUST IS not usually dangerous. In determin-
ing the number OF organisms in the air of
London. DR.. Percy FARMLAND found that
Ior every ten colonies at the top of the dome
OF 81. faul's there were in the same quantity
OF ar thirty-fiye at the base of the dome and
dorty-seven at the surface of the ground. In
scotland another investigator, having special
reference to houses and schools. found in
place OF 10 outdoors, in four-roomed houses
~, In two-roomed houses AGO, in one roomed
houses there were $40, in schools of average
cleanliness 1850, and In dirty schools $780,
" was supposed that the number of organ
lsms would depend wholly on the Cleanliness
OF the rooms, but it was found that while in
schools opened before 1885 there were only
5oO, IN those opened in 1880 there were 1900
and In those opened before 1866 there were
oliv. inis showed that the number de-
pended partly on the age of the room and
that the increase was due largely to propa-
CATION in cracks, etc., where the dust was
not easily dislodged. Architects should con-
S S,sl TINS point In constructing buildings.
Inc iOugment OF these fine dust particles has
not been heretofore taken into consideratinn
they are composed largely of spores, which.
Wnen moist, Will begin to multiply rapidlv
our uncomfortable feelings In a room are dlIe
largely 10 these and not merely to carbonic
acid gas. Decay always gives off gases
which are not as good to breathe as pure air
as much dust from the top of dinfng-room
door as could be taken on the point of a min
containing three thousand living Organisms.
Whlch is not pleasant to think Of, for among
ones.
1t becomes important to find under what
conditions we can have fewer Of these germs
At the City Hospital large number of ex-
perlments have been carried on to determine
this point. The rooms are swept three timas
and wiped over twice daily, and the average
number OF organisms in two gallons of air
averages ten, but one who tests the air can
tell whether patient has been lately taken
up ana ms PED been shaken. for in that case
q ~ ahnW rfo 81 81.
school in Scotland where the number was
ten, the boys were told to get up and stamp
on the floor, which increased the number To
100. Experiments In Scotland showed that
these micro-organisms do not come from the
breath OF the person but from the building.
The great lesson in domestic economy to
be learned from the facts which have been
mentioned is that dust cannot wholly be got
rid OF, but II should be removed as thorougl-
ly as possible. A feather buster will not do
this, Bacteria settle more rapidly than
moulds, and If, after two hours had been
allowed for them to settle, all Surfaces could
be wiped off with damp cloth, it would be
good way to remove them. Modern rooms
with carpets and upholstery furnish fine
resting places from dust. Anything from
which football will raise dust favors the
propagation of bacteria. The lecturer did
not see how to get rid of dust as long as we
keep carpets nailed do Hn
The conditions for the propagation of
bacteria are very favorable in houses with
out cellars. The Michigan Board Of Health
reported case Of poisoning by milk. The
family was poor, but tidy. Their house was
an old frame house long known as unhealth-
ful; the sills were on the ground, and there
was no cellar under it. Rain water collected
under the floor of unjointed boards: sween-
lngs collected in the cracks, and the fio6r
was secured and mopped and the water ran
through, and kept the dust in the
cracks moist. A corner of one of the two
ground floors was parted off as nantrv
where the milk was kept, and here a second
floor had been laid over the rotted boards If
the first and it was impossible to reach the
mass of decomposed moist material beneath.
There were three fatal cases out of a family
of four, and it was decided certainly that
the poisoning by the milk was due TO the
dust germs.
In another case some cream was made. and
a part favored with lemon was frozen imme-
diatey. The remainder was favored with
vanilla, and stood for some time before
freezing in an old decayed and damp build
ing which had been used as a meat market.
put had for some months been unopened and
u9oeecupled. The latter caused great deal
10 get rid Of the disadvantages of dust we
shhou iia nave things as dry as possible. We
s 81 nave sunlight and air in our rooms
ItlnVoiveS the admission of dust from the
street, winch is much less harmful than tho