The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-07-05


oic Bulletin, 315 Newton Bldg, st. Paul.
the temperate zone. Arctic explorers
seldom suffer from them.
All the pulmonary affections are due
to dust and the rebreathing of air,
though these do not give the disease
but predispose the patient to taking
lit. We know now that fresh air, even
cold air, is the best possible remedy
for tuberculous patients. They must
live in it all day long. A great many
of them get better while living thus.
Practically all get better in whom
this mode of treatment is begun early
If air is so good for the sick and the
ailing it must be good also for the
healthy Neither night air nor cold
air do harm, but the dust and the dirt
and the human emanations that get
into air from overcrowded, unventil-
ated houses are the real disease fac
tors.
In the summertime it is not the
heated air, in spite of it's relaxing
qualities, that does harm, but other
agencies. Among these the most dan
gerous is the fly. The trouble with
the fly is that he likes to feed on
decaying material of all kinds, affects
garbage of every description, and
buzzes around sores and bandages.
When the odor of neighborhood cook
ing at mealtime attracts his attention
he comes wandering into the houses
forgetting to wipe his feet" and he
walks over the butter, promenades
along the sugar and bathes in the
milk. He particularly likes to get at
the candied fingers and faces of chill
dren and he carries dirt of all kinds
with him. This would not be so dan
gerous because it is small in quantity
only that very often it is living dirt,
that is, it contains microbes of all
kinds, which begin to grow in such
mediums as milk or on moist food,
and as they grow very rapidly, a few
thousand soon become many millions.
The fly, however, is due to mans
neglect. 1t breeds in decaying ma
terial of almost any kind. Such ma
terial must be disposed Of The fly
lays it's eggs in this material and the
larvae attain their growth and become
winged creatures with this for food
The presence of the fly with it's many
: annoying qualities is a warning to
man that there is filth in the neigh
borhood. Apparently, it is meant to
!, enforce the lesson that such material
, must be removed. The mosquito
breeds in stagnant water, as flowing
water will not permit of such breed.
ing. Stagnant water is useless
waste, and Natures protest against it,
as it were, is the breeding of insects
that prove so annoying to man. Dis,
+. eases are carried by other parasites
of mankind, as the flea. There are
also various uncomfortable insects
which carry disease. They are all due
:. to neglect of cleanliness.
We hear much of germicides and
many are advertised. There is nc
germicide so powerful as direct sun
light. Practically every germ will be
: killed if exposed for few hours to
sunlight. The best way to make a
room healthy is to give the sun free
access to it. After sunlight, the most
powerful germicide is good hot water
: in abundance. Soap and water, plenti
5 fully used and applied everywhere
( but particularly to dark corners and
l hooks and crannies where dampness
: and organic material encourage the
! growth of microbes, will do more to
J, make place healthy than all the
5 antiseptics, unless they are used in
r large quantities.
Mans taste for cooked rather than
raw food is of itself a very precious
4 instinct for health. Cooking destroys
: practically all microbes. 1t is the best
E possible safeguard. 1t is the foods
4 that are eaten raw that come under
suspicion, whenever disease is spread
ing. Milk, particularly, needs to be
v cooked or at least pasteurized unless
. one can be absolutely sure about the
. source of it and it's proper handling
o If milk has been iced from the time
it is obtained, it is not dangerous as
I a rule. Not all microbes are harmful
+ but a comparatively few. We are
;, now acquainted with many thousands
o of microbes. Only couple of dozeI
: of them are dangerously productive Of
disease. Most of the others are very
useful. The nitrifying bacteria purify
: water for us and make our filter beds
so useful to cur cities.
Now that the children's diseases
particularly have been very much
reduced in number the value OF
; modern discoveries in medicine be
comes very much clearer. Literally
. thousands of children who would die
under the living conditions of even
> ten years ago are now spared in ou1
4 large cities, and the amount of suf
fering is much less than it was. This
suffering affects the parents much
more than it did the children, and
human nature has been freed from
hours of solicitude and nights of sleep
lessness. The inspection of milk, the
care for it's production at the farm
the superintendent of its distribu
ton, all these things have meant much
) for the children of the poor 1t is
, they particularly who have been bene
7 flied. What has been done at Panama
J by the government because of the en-
a -