The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-07-30
n CLOSE companion of hygiene is
~ sanitation. "Broadly defined" )"

sanitary engineers concern themselves
with all of the many activities required
to provide communities with pure water,
fresh air, clean food, and in general,
clean surroundings. A few years ago,
sanitatians were assiduously cultivating
newly discovered germs; now, they are
also studying flies and mosquitoes and
rats and squirrels and other insects and
animals which may harbor and spread
these germs. They are also studying
the currents in lakes and the laws of
Isedimentation and filtration. They
have found that very few cases of
sickness are ever caused by infection
passing through the air. The aerial
transmission of disease germs from
patient to victim is not denied, but it
has been found to be very small fac
tor, indeed almost a negligible factor,
except in the case of a few diseases
where the virus is ultra microscopic.
Abandoning Fumigation.
Acting on this theory, health officers
little by little, have been abandoning
the practice of fumigating and disin-
fecting rooms which have been occupied
by persons sick with contagious dis
eases. In hospitals, segregation of diff
ferent contagious diseases in separate
rooms is no longer deemed absolutely
necessary. Cases Of scarlet fever,
measles and typhoid fever have been
kept in the same ward with an extreme
ly small portion of cases Of cross
infection. Aerial transmission has been
replaced by the theory of contact. The
germs do not float in the air from one
person to another, but are carried on
solid objects-on spoons and knives and
forks, on soiled clothing, on pencils and
toys, books and tickets, doorknobs and
drinking cups, and on scores of objects
which pass from hand to hand or from
hand to mouth.
In the study of water the discovery
has been made of the natural processes
of publication which occur in water
during storage. Typhoid bacilli do not
multiply in water, as once thought, but
become gradually devitalized-or, to
use plain English, they die-in few
days or few weeks, according to the
Temperature and character of the water.
They are able to live longer in cold
water than in warm water, hence there
are more typhoid epidemics in winter
than in the summer and more in the
North than in the South.
Microscopic Plants.
Tt has been found that the algae, the
microscopic plants seen floating in tho
waters of lakes, use up the carbonic
acid dissolved in the water, and even
take carbonic acid away from the dis
solved bicarbonate of lime. This leaves
the water in condition in which the
typhoid bacilli are speedily killed.
Whatever typhoid bacilli there may be
in river water may be practically elimi
mated by filtration. For example, after
the water filtration plant was put in
operation at Pittsburg the typhoid
fever death rate fell from 1875 per 100,-
900 to 10; at Philadelphia it fell to 17.5;
at Cincinnati, to 8 per 100000.
In the matter of ventilation old ideas
are being flung to the winds. There is
not so much fear now Of carbonic acid,
for it has been found that the human
body possesses powers Of automatic
readjustment to slight changes in the
oxygen and carbonic acid content in the
atmosphere of room.
Keep Air Moving.
Much Of the discomfort in crowded
rooms and cars is found to be eliminated
by the artificial movement of the air.
Cooling the skin affects metabolism, and
thus in an indirect way stimulates the
lungs to seerete more oxygen. Instan
ces of the effect of movement of the air
may be seen during church services.
During the sermon many people will
feel drowsy. Let the audience rise
while a hymn is being sung and the
effect upon the atmosphere is such that
the sleepy feeling is entirely eliminated.
There has been no new air brought into
the room, but the movement of the air
as the result of the audience rising has
caused the change This is a point that
al .oLt