Arizona republican., 1917-07-10
Bacteria On Books

disease in this way. there is danger that the fear of micro organisms may become exaggerated At the same time the growing appreciation of the unseen dangers that constant ly turk about us has done much to bring about improvements in pubhc and private hygiene. The roiier towel is doomed and fingers only in unprogressive back waters of civl- Iization; the common drinking cup | holds a short lease of life; the nine foot sheet" so recently the food for the funny man, will soon cover us all
 | It is to be remembered that many 1 bacteria are entirely harmless. and some-like the tactic acid bacillus in mik-dstinctly beneficial. Our fore fathers were not exterminated by 1 the "old oaken bucket" nor do | hank tellers show a higher incidence of infectious disease than people not privileged to handle such large amounts of filthy lucre." So that while reasonable precautions are | wise and desirable, morbid fear of 1 infection is a more serious menace l to the public health than the danger of contracting disease from the ob- 1 jects handled in the ordinary routine of life.
 This department has been asked to state how far there is danger in books that have been handled by | others especially those in circula ton in the public libraries of the state The librarian making this in quiry was following a method of disinfection that was exceedingly la borious and less effective than eX posture to sunlight and air, which ! ranks very high.
 Recently Dr. Laubach of the labora- tory of hygiene and bacteriology at Johns Hopkins University reports on a study made of badly soiled and torn books in constant circulation i for several years among Baltimore children in whose homes the sani- tary conditions were far from good. The conclusions are on the whole l quite reassuring the bacteria found were mostly innocent of any evil in l tentions and even the varieties thai were expected to adhere to paper were difficult to find. It was known | that some of the books examined came from homes in which there were cases of diphtheria, yet all at 1 tempts to isolate the bacillus of diphtheria from the books were without result.
 The Popular Science Monthly pub | lished a few years ago a bacteria: l study of soiled paper money by 2 competent bacteriologist, which was l equally reassuring. These studies l do not, of course, neative the idea that both money and books may at l times convey disease; but they do l prove that the danger is a remote 1 one.
 1 Probably the most effective and practical way of reducing this dan ger to a minimum is for some CO operation between the health offi- cers and the public libraries to be arranged, by which the librarian would be promptly notified of the occurrence of contagious disease and so make sure that books from the 1 family quarantined were not returned to the library until disinfected. In some cases the books should be de- stroyed
 The London Lancet publishes an article entitled "The Risks from l Tuberculous Infection Retained in Books" from which we quote, there is probably no material risk in volved by the reissue of books re- gently read by consumptives, unless the books are obviously soiled Even then the risks are very slight"
 For those who wish to avoid even an attenuated risk is may be stated that direct sunlight and diffused daylight are the most efficient tion of books, and can be utilized by anyone in the home.
 Another Hazard in Being GirP'
 Every year many children lose their lives by burning. In this coun- | try statistics from which practical l conclusions can be drawn are not | yet available but in England the figures are not only available bu. doner'a ble I'D to four years of age the deaths of boys and girls | do not vary widely, the girls being slightly in excess. But from four to five there are more than twice as many girls as boys, and from five to ten this disproportion in- creases, from ten to twelve eigh' times as many girls as boys lost their lives by burning. These sta tistics deal with burning from hay ing the clothing catch fire, not with deaths from burning buildings.
 It is at once evident that some cause must exist for these surpris-
 ing figures, and it is sufficiently probable that it is due to the diff ferent type of clothing worn by the two sexes. This reason for simpli- flying the dress of growing girls may be added to the arguments already urged, viz, increased comfort, better hygiene and economy.
 How Long May We Reasonabl,
 Expect to Live
 A life table prepared by the New
 York City health department ano based on the inhabitants of New York City is exceedingly interesting It is a study of the statistics for the three years, 1909-1911. In 1882 Dr
 John S. Billings prepared some
 what similar table for the United
 States bureau of the census. The years covered in Dr. Billings table
 were 1879 to 1881, a three-yeal
 period. The two tables are just
 thirty years apart and comparisons are therefore instructive.
 A child under years of age 5(
 years ago had a life expectanc~ ol
 41 years and at the present time
 the expectancy of such a child is
 shown to be 52 years. There has
 been, therefore, an increase in life
 expectancy of approximately II
 years According to the last com
 piled table the expectancy decreas:
 quite rapidly for every five-yea
 period after the five-year age perioC
 until we find that adults from thu
 age of 25 to 30 years have at presen an expectancy of life of 34.3 year
 and 30 years ago such adults had al
 expectancy of 326 years. The in