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109
probably in poorer-class houses the most satisfactory method is to have
the rooms renovated throughout after the walls and woodwork have
been washed down with a reliable disinfectant solution. Formaldehyde
in gaseous form may be used in cases where it is deemed unnecessary
to strip the walls, followed by washing of floors and woodwork ; and it
is always advisable to have disinfected by steam the bedding, carpets,
mats, clothing, and articles which cannot be disinfected at home by
boiling and washing.
During the course of the complaint,rooms should be cleansed with
dusters damped with a disinfectant solution, and walls may be rubbed
down with dough, or rooms much occupied may be disinfected with
formaldehyde at such intervals as may be required.
Workplaces, &c.—Greater care seems necessary in workshops and
other places where people are likely to be thrown into contact with
consumptives for some time. Notices cautioning against "spitting," to
hang up in such places, have been prepared, and a considerable number
have been issued, but there is need for greater cleanliness in many
workshops, warehouses, offices, schools, &c. In some places the floors
are sprinkled every morning with some disinfectant; this ought not to
prevent them from being washed out regularly.
Public-house Floors.—Statistics show that persons employed in publichouses
are specially liable to consumption, and it has been suggested
that this is induced by consumptive persons who frequently spend a
considerable part of their time in public houses and spit on the floors.
The sputum of such persons contains quantities of the infective germ,
and as it dries these germs may be disseminated through the air in the
form of dust (especially when the floors are swept out), and inhaled by
other persons. In order to test the possibility of this, I obtained
permission to take, after closing time, some samples of the expectorated
matter on the floor of the public bar in a house in a district in which a
number of deaths from consumption have occurred. These were
submitted to Professor Klein, who informs me that he found the
organisms in active condition therein. I have suggested the desirability
of the floors being sprinkled with some fluid disinfectant at closing
time ; this would in a measure prevent the sputum drying up and might,
if used in suitable strength, destroy the infection before the time for
opening the house in the morning. Not only is the tubercle germ by
itself difficult to kill but the disinfection of sputum is comparatively
difficult to accomplish on account of its tenacious nature and its
albuminous composition; a satisfactory method of dealing with such
floors would be to have them thoroughly scrubbed or mopped out with
a hot solution of washing-soda (½ lb. to 3 gallons of hot water), to
which a reliable disinfectant might be added. Experiments are being