The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-12-17
platform will be agreed upon without
much trouble.
SECONDHAND SCHOOL BOOKS.

much trouble.
SECONDHAND SCHOOL hooks.
The objections made to secondhand
school books by the Superintendent of
Education Of this county are strong
ones, and should have the thoughtful
consideration of parents. The cost Of
school books is undoubtedly a pretty
heavy burden on the great majority
Of parents, but it is better for them
to buy new books than to take the
risk of introducing disease into their
families by means of secondhand ones,
OF course, if they knew where the
books came from the risk would not
be so great, because they would be
able to determine, to a great extent
whether they had been exposed to in
fictitious or contagious diseases. AS a
matter of fact, however, in nine cases
out of ten they have no such knowledge.
The books are gathered not only from
local sources, but also come from towns
and cities of other states.
A gentleman, speaking of the matter
yesterday, said that he had purchased
some secondhand school books for his
boy, and that an examination of them
disclosed the fact that they had come
from some point in Pennsylvania. He
had no way of determining whether
or not they had been used by children
of families in which there had been,
at the time the books were in use, con-
tagiouS or infectious diseases. Just
now it is known that there are cpl
denies in two Pennsylvania cities-ty-
phoid fever in Butler and small pox in
Philadelphia-and there may be cpl
denies of other diseases, such as
measles, diphtheria, scarlet fever, ETC.,
in other towns of that state
The germ theory is well established.
In our dispatches yesterday there was
an account of the discovery of protocol
in scarlet fever cases. The account
was contained in a paper read by Dr.
H. B. Mallory before the Boston So
ciety of Medical Science. How long
a scarlet fever germ or the germ of
any other disease that finds a lodg-
ment in a school book retains it's vi
tally is not known. The length of
time may depend upon a good many
things, but if the germ is not brought
in contact with anything that is fatal
to it there is no reason to doubt that
it will live for months, perhaps years
1t is a safe proposition that it Is
the exception that efforts are made to
purify school books before they are
sent to the secondhand book store,
and even if such efforts were made it
is doubtful if they would be success
full, on account of the difficulty in
reaching germs that are hidden be-
tween the leaves.
That diseases are conveyed in cloth
ing, books and even in letters there is
no doubt. 1t hasn't been so very long
since a girl in New York contracted
measles from a letter received from
her sister in this city. At the time
of writing the letter the latter was re-
covering from that disease. If dis
ease germ can be carried in a letter,
why not in a school book, the leaves
of which have been thumbed by the
original owner and which are likely to
be thumbed by the second owner of
it, the thumb being dampened in the
mouth during the process.
The Macon Board of Health acted
wisely in taking steps against second
hand school books. Precautions for
the preservation of the health and
lives of school children are of vastly
more Importance than the saving of the
difference between the cost of second. .
hand school books and new school
books. Besides, the amount of one
doctors bill may be greater than the
amount of the difference in the cost
of the two kinds of books during the
entire school life of child.