Why is it that disease spreads?-It has been found by scientists that certain definitive living bodies (germs) are the cause of certain diseases, such as tuberculosis, smallpox, typhoid fever, diphtheria, etc.; and other diseases must be caused by other undiscovered bodies, which will some day be known. These minute living bodies are active and give off poisonous material which destroys the tissues, organs, etc. of the body. When a person is ill, these germs are being continually thrown off in the waste materials of the body, in the spittle, bowel movements, sweat, saliva, urine, et cetera. If these products of disease are allowed to remain in a vessel, the carpets, floor, soil, etc., they dry and in the form of dust are blown about in here at the house, street or country road. If they come in contact with clothing or household furniture, they can be carried. Should a nurse or attendant upon a case be careless about disinfecting the hands are closing during or after the management of a contagious disease, he or she can become a common carrier by touching food, dishes, clothing, etc., used by other members of the family.
Water is a common carrier of disease, particularly typhoid fever, cholera, etc. Therefore to prevent the spread of disease every farmer, dairy man, occupant of a dwelling, factory, citizens of villages, cities and states, should see that they have a clean water supply free from germs and not contaminated by dirty water or refuse from a toilet, a pen, stable, etc.., which might contain germs carry from a patient or animal suffering from any of the contagious disease is. One case of typhoid fever along the edge of a mountain stream, carelessly managed, thus permitting bowel movements to be thrown into or washed into the stream by rain, pelting snow, etc., could cause an epidemic in every village which received its water supply from that stream or the reverence which it empty.
Milk can be a common carrier of disease, such as tuberculosis, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria, etc. Most states however, have protected the supply of milk by the enactment of laws covering the inspection of cattle, the erection of well lighted, clean and ventilated dairies, boiling and sterilization of all utensils used in its handling, even the wearing of sterile grounds by the milkers and attendants, cleansing of the cows utters before and after milking incurring and brushing the cattle and covering them with light blanket. Milk should be kept it even temperatures after being placed in sterile can prevent the formation of germs which will develop even in transit to the consumer in the country or by train or in the milk bottles prior to delivery. Railroads are compelled in some states, and should be in all states, to furnish refrigerator cans with highs and the dealers in the city should particularly during the warm weather, have a refrigerator or eyes in the delivery wagons to maintain an even temperature for all milk delivered.
There are some interesting concepts within the section some of these actually seem somewhat practical and you can get a sense of the evolution of thought and care that was starting to go into the maintenance of water supplies and especially the concept of moving milk producing milk and transmitting or delivering it logistically across long distances as people lived more in cities and away from the country away from the source of the actual cattle delivering the milk.
Its also somewhat surprising that as early as one hundred years ago they were concerned with milkers wearing sterile clothing. I have a mental image in my head of kids going out to milk the cow each morning for milk and parents that had little regard for the sterility of children's clothes as long as they did not spoil their Sunday clothes.
Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:
- Size, Shape and Location of the Heart
Size, Shape and Location of the Heart. –In this beautiful anatomical chart we obtain an accurate idea of the relative size, shape and position of that wonderful engine, the heart, his tireless efforts to keep the wheels of life and motion are truly surprising, and fill us with amazement at the prodigious work at daily performs. The heart is in your regular, pear-shaped hollow, muscular organ, placed obliquely in the lower in front part of the chest, between the two lungs and inclining to the left of the centre. the bases directed toward the spine and corresponds with the fourth and fifth dorsal spine bone, while the apex points between the cartilages of the fifth and sixth ribs on the left side. In this illustration the pericardium, or loose sac in which the heart is enclosed, is removed and we see the coronary artery with its branches distributed over the outer surface of the complex and restless organ.
This section wasn’t written to poorly, or maybe a better way to say this is that it seems to stood the test of time fairly well. Second sentence got a little bit wordy and again I would suspect a paid by the word contract, but in general this was fairly descriptive and fairly on point. You might notice the spelling of the word centre spelled with an ‘re’ as opposed to an ‘er’
I suspect that may be one of those variations in spelling that have occurred over the centuries. Otherwise it was fairly tame. The chart that they’re referring to his Chart 2 by the way.
- The Knee-Pan
The Knee-Pan.-The patella toward me pan is seen held firmly in position, giving greater strength and security to this important joint. Around the ankle is observe the annular ligament, finding the long silvery thongs or tendons of the muscles of the legs, thus preventing their displacement. It also towards security and string to the ankle joint, but not interfering with its elasticity in motion. The foot shows us the natural position in shape in which the toes should be when encased in a boot or shoe.
This section relatively speaking does a decent job of sticking to the facts and avoids excessive and irrelevant language like I avoid beer pong tables.
- Wonders of the Spiral Plate
Wonders of the Spiral Plate.-if this curious and artistic spiral play, which is seen to wine 2 ½ times around, could be enrolled and made to stand in an upright position, you would make a beautiful microscopic heart, that of a thousand strings, but of 3000 strings, and if it were possible to strike these delicate infinitesimal chords as we can the keyboard of an organ or piano, every conceivable variety of tone that the ear can distinguish would be produced and conveyed to the brain is the product of sound.
Well if you have been following this series on the ear with me, you are probably as happy as I am that the author is no longer talking about arches in the ear. maybe they ended up finding one of those Freudian drug rehab programs after all!