The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-28

that the rooms of the players areNusu- ally overloaded and badly ventilated, rendering the occupants more suscep- tible to the micro organisms which are in the atmosphere. These come most often from the packs of cards which are used in turn by various hostesses and are contaminated by their hands, their clothing, or by the saliva when the nervous dealer moistens her finger in her zeal to deal quickly. The sur geon suggests the invention of wash able and sterilizable playing cards as q preventive measure against the alarming spread of cold and influenza among the socity women who play.
 An even greater bombshel than this is the one that the biological laboratory ot the department of agriculture is now get ting ready to hurl into the American home. This will be the intelligence that the cat is one of the greatest carriers of disease, that it Is responsible for the spread Of tuberculosis, scarlet fever, smallpox and diphtheria, especially V among children. and that it's usefulness is far outweighed by it's danger. The bureau is making careful inquiry into Tabby's case, and if the results continue to be such~as have already been obtained, spinsterdom will suffer the loss of com- forter and many a child's heart be made sore with the bereavement of some be- loved pet The rat and his accomplice, the flea, have already been written in the black books of the nation as transmit ters of bubonc plague, though evidence so far is circumstantial yet it is wise to be on the safe side when so great matter as the protection of the public health is concerned.
 Scarlet fever infection can be carried directly from the patient to one who touches him, but furniture, clothing and bedding have been known to catch the small dust particles or minute scales and hold them for years, to later transfer them to some person in just the condi- ton to take the disease. It is persistent poison as was found in Detroit five years ago, when the discovery was made that it came through the milk supply in one section, and even after the milk was made pure and non-infecting the disease was carried by the old milk tickets formerly used. Many municipalities have laws on the subject of scarlet fever, smallpox and diphtheria, requiring the reporting and isolation of the case, prescribing methods of disinfecting, ordering the ster- iization of every article used in the room and suggesting the burning of all non-washable bedding and mattresses. Is . norance in these, as we'll as in most other
 
 diseases. case recently cited by medi- cos was that of little child of the New York slums, who was discovered in school one day removing bits of dead skin from her arms and generously passing them on to her classmates. An epidemic of scarlet fever was the result. the childs parents being too ignorant to know she was really i'll of a contagious disease,
 Ignorance has led the world Into many odd mistakes. The leper was once the synonym for all that was loathsome and unclean he was driven by the ancients to live in caves in the hills and subsist on such food as he could find. Only year ago this country brought on herself ! lasting disgrace by allowing a leper to perish when he could have been ap- proached and nursed without fear. For proof, look to the leper colony of Hawaii on the island of Molkia. Father Damien, the great hero, it is true, died of the dis ease but the good father was not conver- sant with modern hygiene and long days and nights of work made him take too little nourlshing food and become negii- gent of his own health, and the disease found him ready prey. His successors. the brothers and sisters of d Catholic order, have lived some of them, for over 20 years in constant attention on the lepers sores and have none been infected. Isolation of cases, medical attention and proper food and clothing are decreasing the deaths by leprosy and preventing it's spread So much for the triumph of mod ern science.