The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1891-08-22
Dangers in Our Homes.
From the National Baptist.


majesty is to be met and routed, only, how
ever, to reappear with renewed energy for
a fresh conflict The fathers in medicine
have taught how disease is to be met, but,
for three thousand years, disease has stalked
at midday among the children of men,
Staying alike the aged man and the innocent
babe at its mothers breast. 1t is only re-
Gently that intelligent men have begun to
understand the causes of disease and the
conditions which make it possible for dis
ease to exist and to spread; and still more
recently they have secured the knowledge
which will, in time, Danish many common
diseases altogether In past centuries the
plague, the cholera, the smallpox and other
diseases swept over Europe repeatedly, de-
stroying people by the thousand and even
by the million, in some cases leaving not
more than one-tenth of the people alive; in
other cases whole districts were abandoned
and became the abode of wild beasts. But
these diseases, with scurvy and typhus
fever Jail fever), are nearly unknown now
in civilized communities, and we are Just
on the point of banishing in like manner
the scOurges of childhood, diphtheria,
scarlet fever measles and whooping cough,
and the plaques of manhood, pulmonary
consumption and typhoid fever. We be-
lieve that we have knowledge enough today
to enable us to live and avoid the greater
portion of the diseases to which the human
family is subject, and we fully believe with
the old philosopher, John Locke, that
prevention is better than cure, and far
cheaper" J"
1t is in and about our homes that the
most of the causes of disease will be found,
and because most of us have failed to de-
tect them they are called "Hidden Causes
of Disease Let us begin our search in
the cellar and proceed through the house
to the garret.
As a rule the most dangerous place in an
American house is the cellar. 1t is often
damp, and too often not thoroughly clean.
Damp, foul odors day by day arise from
the unventilated and dark cellar, and pass
to every room in the house, carrying the
seeds of rheumatism, diphtheria, pneu-
monia, colds, consumption, &C., to the in
mates. Many families who wonder why
it is that the children are sick could dis
cover the reason by going into the cellar.
DIR. r. G. Kedzie, of the Michigan Agri-
cultural College, thus speaks:
"Go down into the cellar and examine
the foundations of life; see whether the
cellar is dry and well ventilated, and the
air sweet and wholesome; that no vegetables
and useless rubbish of any kind are left to
rot in your cellar; or do you find all kinds
of things going to decay, the cellar wet,
the walls Shiny, mould spreading over
everything, and close, sitting odor per-
vading the air of your cellar? If these in
animate things could give voice to their
warning, what sound would startle our
ears in hundreds of cellars in our state:
Here lie in ambush diptheria and mem
branous Group, the destroyers Of childhood,
and typhoid fever, that strikes at all ages;
here lurk the seeds of consumption to bring
forth the slow but sure harvest of lamen-
tation and woe For the stones shall cry
out of the wall and the beam out of the
timber shall answer it. But though these
voiceless things speak no word of warning,
they hang out the flag of danger; the spotted
mould and fungus attacking the timbers
of your cellar show that destructive ten
denotes are at work. Why, man. death is
gnawing the very sills of your house, and
shall he spare these tender morsels, your
children? These damp, musty, mouldy
cellars are the seed beds of disease Do
not hope to preserve health over such
charnel house. Do not leave vegetables to
rot in your cellar to spread rottenness
through all your house. The wet cellar
foretells wet eyes upstairs. Drain it, and
underdrain the surrounding soil, so that
your cellar shall always be dry. Drive out
all mustiness and mould by ventilation and
by abundant use of whitewash. Make the
air of your cellar at all times sweet and
wholesome, because much of this air will
find its way into the rooms above. But if
you neglect all of these things, and the
Angel of Death spreads his dark wings over
your household, do not charge the effects
of your nastiness and laziness to very
mysterious Providence. "a prudent man
forseeth the evil and hideth himself; but
the foolish pass on and are punished.
The cellar should be as dry, as clean, as
sweet as any room upstairs. 1t should be
whitewashed, not once year, but if at all
musty once month. Open all its win
dows and ventilate completely.
You may wonder how dirty cellar ef-
fects the dwellers in the room above. It
is BECAUSE the disease germs, which are in
the air of the cellar, pass with that air into
the rooms above There are fires lighted
in winter, the cold air on the outside presses
into the cellar, and the air there presses
up into the house. There is no such thing
as keeping foul air in the cellar. 1t will
go throughout the house. The only thing
to do in the matter is to keep the cellar
clean and dry, else fevers, malaria, Group
and consumption may be expected in the
rooms above.
From the cellar, we pass up to the kitch-
en-, where we examine the drain and sewage
pipes. These are often inlets for poisonous
gases. Even dish-water will coat a drain
with foul substances, which will decompose
and send into the house most dangerous
gases. Every drain pipe should be trapped;
but that is not enough. Proper disinfec-
tants should be dissolved in hot water, and
at least once week poured into the drains.
The best substance that I know of for this
purpose is green vitriol, a pound to gallon