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Show DISEASE AND DIRT ARE TWINS By DR. A. S. BARNES. IMrt mid disotiso nro npt to go to-Kothcr, to-Kothcr, Lmt until lately no one knew wliy. Totliiy we know tlint dirt nntl iliseaso often arc closely connected, because dirt generally Is not merely dead earth, but rather n kind of living liv-ing earth, crowded with unseen and almost countless germs of microbes, some of which are dangerous, and even deadly. Dirty streets are dangerous because the dirt In this case tuny cling to shoes or other articles of footwear and be carried from the streets into houses where, cither as fresh dirt or more often as dry dirt (dust), it may find its way to foods or other articles, which either enter or touch the mouths of members of the household. Street dust also is dangerous when dried up or pulverized or turned into dust which may be readily lifted and blown about, thus finding its way perhaps per-haps directly into the mouths of human hu-man beings or through cracks or crevices or. open doors and windows into human habitations, and finally Into human bodies, with articles of food or drink. Oust Causes Many Diseases. The connection between street dust and a number of diseases now Is clearly clear-ly established. It Is claimed that cut of 40 experiments on animals, the germs contained in city and dust caused infectious diseases In 32 cases. Dust may so lower the vitality of the mucous membranes by producing an Irritated eonlition' of the respiratory respira-tory organs that the development of disease is made easy from the germs deposited thereon. Street dust consists of ashes, ground-up steel, Iron, stone and as-phaltum as-phaltum ; house and store sweepings, pollens of plants, excrements of horses, dogs and birds, dried sputa, dead pulverized insects, pulverized earth, plaster and cement, earth from street excavations, soot from chimneys, debris from fruit stands, garbage and even human excrements, which In crowded regions frequently are voided by children or adults in alleys and ill-lighted ill-lighted streets. This filth is being whirled into our faces by the wind, by motor and street cars and other vehicles, while we walk or drive; Into our homes, offices, 'factories, 'fac-tories, theaters, churches and stores where meats, fish, fruit, vegetables, breadstuffs, cake, pastry, candies, confectionery, con-fectionery, etc., form a final resting place for this germ-laden filth. It also settles on walls, carpets, curtains, clothes, and then is set freshly into circulation with each and every dusting dust-ing and sweeping. Germs Plentiful In Food. It-fs-still easier to understand why water which contains dirt or excreta may be very dangerous, because in no way are the germs of disease more readily taken into the human body than with food and drink. Dirty milk is dangerous because the dirt most often found in milk is manure ma-nure or else dirt from dirty barns, or .dirty utensils, or dirty milkmen who have handled the milk with dirty hands. Dirty hands are dangerous, as human hands go so very readily almost everywhere, and thus only too easily, become dirty children, for example, ex-ample, having soiled their hands, may perhaps the next minute put their fingers fin-gers upon their faces or into their mouths, and thus carry dirt, and with that the germs of disease directly into the body itself. Frequent washing. of-the of-the hands is a great sanitary safeguard. |