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information will be welcomed and any help that this department
can give will willingly be afforded. The disinfection of the
premises at the termination of the case will also be undertaken.
The following copy of a leaflet prepared for circulation to
consumptive patients, gives in simple language some particulars
of the disease, and also the regulations they should observe to
prevent the spread of infection :—
PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
Suggestions for the guidance of consumptive patients:—
1. In the early stages, many cases of consumption are
curable.
2. It is certain that the material (or " phlegm ") coughed up
by persons suffering from consumption contains the
seeds of the disease.
3. The phlegm, therefore, should not be swallowed, such a
habit may lead to consumption of the bowels.
4. Consumptives should not, when indoors, spit on the floors,
but should spit into special spitting cups (or pots) half
full of water. The phlegm is most dangerous when it
dries and becomes dust.
5. The spitting cups should be emptied into a bright fire or
into the pan of the water closet, but never anywhere
else, and especially not into the dust heap. Out of
doors a pocket handkerchief may be used, but all soiled
handkerchiefs should be boiled for at least five minutes
when they are being washed.
6. The room in which a consumptive lives by day or night
should be well aired, and the windows should be thrown
wide open as soon as the patient leaves it. The windows
should always be kept a little open at the top,
both day and night. The chimneys should not be
stopped up, but should be freely open for the passage
pf air. The floors of the room should be kept very
clean, and great care should be taken that no dust