The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-08

1 fined as of the organic kinds of dust
 The fact is. however, that they are usual l. attached to dust. and not free in the air. There are two kinds, the harmless. ] hy far the greater number, and the dis ease producing. They come from the ei-rth and are conveyed into the air by the winds, and maybe increased by street
 traffic. They are found mostly near the earth and diminish with the height.
 Miguel found 15O bacteria per cubic feet in the air of Paris. but only six
 after a rain; on top of the Pantheon he
 found one and one half: in the streets | l2; in a neglected hospital 3170; in 15 grains
 of laboratory dust 75.0o0. and in the same
 amount of house dust, 2.1eo,00o. This
 teaches the important lesson that air
 dust in the house Is the most dangerous
 and points it's own moral, to-wit; house cleanliness. This Is no doubt the ex-
 planation of the frequency of tuberculosis
 among those who live or work in dirty,
 badly ventilated, or oyer-crowded houses
 There is another explanation of the | danger of house dust; sunlight kills mae
 teria in a short time, but in the shadows of the room. many of them are not killed, 1 particularly the bacillus of tuberculosis Tubercle bacilii have been found in the dust of rooms in which there were cases of tuberculosis more than one year after | the patient moved or died. In this in '
 to dust. and on it ride through the breath | into the lungs. There is nothing that | can speak more loudly of the vast inn portance of adequate cubic space. cleanli- ness, light and ventilation in working
 and living rooms. Since the advent of hacteriology showing that tho contag gious 1 principles were living germs. and not
 miasr effuluvia, gases. etc. the air as | a vehicle for carrying disease is not very 1 important. At one time many if not most ] of the infectious diseases were supposed 1 to be air borne. This has been thorough ly disproved.
 During ordinary respiration, the expired l air is found to be sterile, even in cases of tuberculosis But with coughing, sneez- 1 ing, laughing and talking, the expired | air is found to contain bacteria. and in | this way the air for a short distance may be infected and communicate dis
 eases. Whatever danger, then, resides in l the air so far as the living principles of 1 disease are concerned. are chiefly found in indoor air, and especially in the air of badly ventilated. dirty and crowded 1 places. Hence the danger may be either Il from bacteria-laden dust or from droplet ction."-Roseneau. These remarks also apply to dirty and badly ventilated rail- road and street cars, and other vehicles
 of transportation. It would be a good law requiring street cars and buses to be open the year round. There is no doubt but that communicable diseases are
 often transmitted from persons affected to those unaffected in our tightly closed street cars in winter
 The length of this bulletin prohibits fur I ther discussion with more minute details | of this very important topic. l will mere 1 ly allude to some of the physiological purposes of the air. The oxyge< in the air is absolutely essential to animal life, and Is taken into the body by the func- ton of respiration, and is exchanged in the lungs for carbonie acid gas which
 comes out with the expired air. Ordinari- ly about 21 cubic inches of air of which T 1-5 is oxygen is inhaled at each breath, and about 16 or r cubic inches are ex- pired Tn this diminuton of the volume
 of air the loss Is in oxygen. Speaking generally, the carbonic acid gas goes off
 in the air, and the green leaves and blades
 of plants decompose this gas, appropriate ing the carbon to plant structure, the oxygen going off in the air to sustain animal life. There is no greater demon stration in the whole field of natural
 science of the wisdom of the Creator ir : this interchange of animal and vegetable
 activity in the formation of crbonic acid : gas necessary for plant life by the animal
 kingdom. and the liberation of its oxyger
 by the vegetable Kingdom.
 R. M. CUNNINGHAM. NJ D., -j City Health Officer