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amount of traffic, whether horse or mechanical. In crowded and poor neighbourhoods
more dust is found, and the poorly-clad and ill-shod children carry more dust
in their clothes and boots; other things being equal, the newer the school the less
the dust.
Dust particles are composed of organic and inorganic material, and range in size
from minute indeterminate nuclei to easily recognised pieces of wool, cotton,
feathers, horse dung, vegetable spores, siliceous and sooty particles, etc., and being
relatively much greater in bulk, attract micro-organisms and form a nidus for their
preservation and growth.
The effect of the dust-allaying oil is to leave a fine film of oil on the surface of
the floor. This weights dust particles falling on it and so prevents their rising into
the air. At the same time, the flooring becomes darkened, while the surface is made
more slippery and tends to stain absorbent materials which come in contact with it.
As will be readily understood, such slight slipperiness and the tendency to stain
gradually pass off as the oil is absorbed by the wood and gets worn off the surface; so
too does the effect of allaying the dust, though the dust-allaying properties of the
preparation were still efficient at the end of the three months’ trial.
The condition of the wooden floor prior to the application determines the
resulting colour, and to a certain extent the slipperiness. When the flooring was
new and clean, a pleasing dark reddish-brown colour resulted and the slight slipperiness
present was in the direction of the grain of the wood, and was not of great
account, but when the flooring was old, uneven and dirty, the resulting colour was
distinctly drab, and had a damp greasy appearance which has a depressing effect
on many teachers, while the resinous knots which stand out do not absorb the oil,
and form points of great slipperiness.
That less dust is found in the treated rooms was the unanimous verdict of all
the teachers, school keepers and cleaners; from personal observation there was less
dust on window ledges, tops of cupboards and on light-shades, etc., in the treated
rooms than in the untreated rooms; pieces of white paper were experimentally
exposed for varying periods in comparable places in treated and untreated rooms,
and invariably the treated rooms showed a thinner layer of dust, many teachers
stating they could leave books and papers exposed in the treated rooms without fear
of their being soiled by dust; a few stated that their hands and faces and linen were
cleaner at the end of the day; several who were subject to sore and irritating
conditions of the throat and nose stated they had found much improvement since
their rooms had been treated. The amount of dust raised in sweeping the treated
rooms was markedly less, in spite of the fact that in oiled rooms a hard bass broom is
used as against the soft hair broom used in the untreated rooms. The heavier hard
bass broom entails much harder work on the cleaners, but the majority of those
questioned preferred sweeping the treated rooms on account of the lessened dust.
The dust in these rooms instead of rising in the air is pushed along in pellet form
in front of the broom.
At the first visit to some of the schools pieces of absorbent materials—cloth,
papers, etc.—were placed on the floors of treated rooms and when slight pressure
was applied faint oily stains resulted. Towards the end of the term this soiling
effect had almost passed off. Many of the scholars’ paper-covered books showed
oily stains as the result of lying on the treated floors, and two sewing mistresses
found that any materials which fell on the floor became soiled, while two drill
instructresses prohibited the girls from sitting or lying on the hall floor from fear
of soiling their clothing.
Slipperiness was most apparent in the early part of the term—that is, shortly
after the application of the oil. Fifty-three teachers out of 66 stated that the floors
were more slippery. One infant in Hackford-road fell while drilling and fractuied
his left femur; several cases of minor sprains and accidents were reported, and