The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1894-03-09

and especially needed by the feeble,
very young and old, in this latitude,
and afford protection from disease
These places of filth are generally con-
nected with human residences, either
directly or indirectly, where of all
| others care ought to lead to cleanli-
ness and purity, for life, health and
comfort are too precious to be COM
| PEELED to live in or near filthy abodeS
There are other places of filth. /
know ofno more offensive odor ascend
| ing to high heaven and waited for
long distance on warm summer day,
especially after shower, than that
which emanates from poorly con-
Structed, untidy, and uncleaned pig
sly. Stables and barn yards may be-
come SofOul from remaining uncleaned
that the stomach of scrub cow will
become nauSeated, and the patient,
submissive, valuable, yet much-abused
horse, will be on the verge of vOmit
ing. The Augean stables cleaned by
Hercules, as one of his twelve labOrs,
were sweet compared with many barns
and barn-yardS that may be found
in this city and vicinity, and
used for horses and cattle.
The probable reason for this
accumulation, for at least decade, in
IN many barn yard and occasionally
an alley, is because the demand for
manure as a fertilizer, in this section
of our state, is very little owing to
the richness of our soil compared with
that of other states. Barns and barn
yards, the receptacles of all sorts of
filth, contain and will communicate
diseases of malignant form to domest-
ic animals. Our streets become i'm
menSe reSceptacleS of filth. Our Gus
tom for the past few years. of using
| the winters accumulation Of filth on
Front street, to fill up or raise to grade
some other street is, from a sanitary
point of view, to be condemned. This
SO-called dirt is liable to be tainted
with disease germs which upon being
dried and pulverized by travel over it
| becomes our street dust, which inVadeS
our homes, is inhaled with the air we
breathe and falling on our food is eat
en- by us. The places Of filth are nu-
merouS. and most of them are the re-
suit OF careleSSneSS, while others of
wanton negligence or Indifference to
others comfort and health. We do
not always do to others about our filth
as we would that they should do to us
about their filth. Having said this
much about the origin and places of
! filth, l must needs speak OF some of
the methods Of it's removal, it's dis
tructiOn and of filth purifiers.
Much Of filth can be burned up, and
so be put out of sight and out of power
to do harm. Heat possesses the
power OF destroying all spores, seeds
and seed vessels; all germs Of disease
fall pOWerlesS before fire. 1t cleanSeS
! by destroying one form and establish
ing another form of matter. Oft
times heat performs such chemical
changes in offensive substances as to
eXpel their injurious qualities and rem
der them harmless.
Freezing does not kill disease germs.
Cold will not kill trichina but heat
will. Cold will not destroy animalcule
for they can be obtained from ice and
ice water, but heat destroys them
Cold may hold in check some forms of
disease germs in filth and prevent
them doing as great and as rapid in
| jury as in pleasant weather. but heat
raised to four or five hundred degrees
destroys every kind Of them. Cold
will not entirely and certainly disin-
feet a home where smallpox, diph-
liberia, scarlet fever, measles, ETC.,
have been, and yet, fresh air, even
when cold, neutraliZeS greatly the
poisonous properties of the germ Of
! these diseases. Some things in filth
cannot be killed by drying up in a hot
sun, yet strong, clear sun light falling
directly, or even indirectly, on filth of
some character is a powerful agent
in the destruction Of disease germs. If
ri,I,f 70, lp, tot Io
| in the first clause of the preceding sem
tence, take some Of the filth from the
ceSSpOOlS, if you have any, at your
homes, dry it, then moisten the mass
I with pure water, expose to warmth,
and in twenty-fOur hours you will find
it alive with animalcules and yege-
table growths. Often these apparent
ly dried up dead things but Slumber,
| and only await the resurrection power
of heat and moisture to revive them.
What has been said of the effects of
sunlight on disease germs, is also true
mitted to public buildings, houses,
cellars, spaces under houses, stables
and sheds, to which we should let in
as much as possible, the clear light Of
the sun.
In low, swampy, slOughy localities
bonfires are occasionally great sanitary
blessings. They create strong upward
currents of air which bring in pure air
from higher localities. The burning
of an old tumble down, worm eaten,
filth-flled and pestilence breeding log
house or straw sued, is not a curse but
sanitary blessing.
Water is a purifier of some kinds of
filth, though not of all. When cur
rent is large and strong enough to car
ry away filth to a still larger body of
water then it may be relied upon as a
valuable purifier. Water combined
with soap or I've and applied with a
plentiful supply of muscular force, is
wholesome in cleaning the filth of
cupboards, closets, kitchens, utensils
of domestic use, clothing and person.
The scrubbing brush and hot suds
cleans away a multitude of sins and
saves many a doctors bill. When [
see the house-maid scrubbing well |
instinctively say, "Maiden, spare not
that soap and water" Water does
not destroy disease germs unless it is
very hot, nor kill vermin, but may
diSlodge them from their nests and
Cwaap tbon IN otbar localities when