DUST

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 56, 8 March 1919, Page 10

DUST

HARMFUL AND OTHERWISE

INFECTION IN THE MOTES.

"Dust" is the subject of a well-written article in the Lady's Home Journal of America; -The writer holds that so far as germ life in the floating dust out of doors is concerned, the danger probably has been somewhat exaggerated. The spores of germs are present, it is true, but the fully developed ■' organisms are present only in very moist weather; and these, . with few exceptions,,, "are not disease bearing. But; spores brought' into the house Dy air currents rhay find lodgnient in places where they will develop. - Certain it is that the germs' of tuberculosis are frequently present in house .dust. One cannot separate the'germ life.from the rest of the dust of the household:; a> better way is to remove all the dust that cannot be prevented. The dust that bears danger is ..that., which in out of the way places. . The greater part of the'dust that enters the house is not blown in; it is "tracked" iiir-For this the dust of the street is only indirectly responsible; dust tracked into the house comes-directly from tlje sidewalk. Tf one walks.a few rods on a flagstone pavement- arid .then Bteps. on.1 a piece of black: cloth, an imprint of the shoe in dust adheres to the cloth...- Each square inch of the imprint contains from 1000 to 5000 dusi particles. .. „

' ;■. DUST INDOORS. ; i:V; Some dust is created in _c; house. For ai considerable part, of this," the stove or the heater is responsible. "Mainly it. is the result of the careless handling of ashes. The cooking process is"hot» without blame in. the creation-of dust, and thecharacter of th 6 dust is!.unusual. Almost' all: fatty substances: contain 'more or less water. Butter and its substitutes and meats contain a considerable proportion. . "' .'.,,'•"

Almost always, when, they .are, put ;into the frying-pan, there is more or- less "sputtering," The sputter is caused by the explosive formation of steairi from the water mixed with the fat. /This.in turn shoots minute globules>of '.'fat .into the air. In time the kitchen walls about the cooking range, are pretty well var-nished.-with oily- substance. . It likewise creates an : odour which is attractive to flies and cockroaches. .■';.: ...■'." .-,.'.'

A ,very serious case of the dust created indoors concerns sleeping rooms. After two or three d-iys of undisturbed service on the bed,.a sheet when shaken will throw off an almost imperceptible cloud of .dust. "Woollen blankets, longer in service, become very dusty; and the mattress is apt to be covered with a yellow white coating so fine and floury.that it adheres to anything it touches.?,' This substance is epidermis or skin." The rubbing of the body against the bed clothing removes it from the body, and the mattress collects it.- Dust of this character is slightlyV oily and therefore does not fly so readily as oi> dinary dust... ...':,. ..,': Almost always lint from the bed; cloth; ing is in evidence; and the fluffy sub: stan(^ that gathers in nooks and corners of the sleeping rooms consists' of lint saturated with scarfskin. The condition of the body which sheds scarfskin'freely is riot necessarily due to any lack of clearili-, riess; the shedding of soarfskin is a nori mal process in healths; it is apt to be .excessive in feeble health. "When it isl the result of disease, hqwev'er,'body dust may be infectious. .■•.'". -

NO CAUSE FOR ALARM;. Now, the dust problem in the household is not one to cause hysteria. People have always breathed dusty air. The presence or dust in the air is not necessarily a forecast of disease; the absence of it, however, is not likely to harm any one. The largest particles of flying dust I cannot reach the. cell wall tissue of the'1 lungs, therefore they, cannot injure it. , The very smallest particles m»y enter the lungs, but they are expelled again. Those that enter the lungs may ,be harmful, but fortunately not-many lodge within lung tissue.

Even the worst charges that can be laid to the horse manure content of flying dust is the fact that it has occasionally contaminated city water supplies, and that it. is apt to be found on foodstuffs carelessly exposed on street stands. It is merely nasty —not poisonous per se. But one cannot get tiway from the fact that wind-blown dust is exceedingly undesirable, no matter how harmless if niay be. And one cannot get away from the fact that it may. n_t always be harmless ; it may carry the germs of contagious and infectious'diseases. As a menace to public health it may be ranked with the plague, of" the house fly. The housekeeper can do much in the ■matter which, on the surface, seems almost hopeless. If the walk leading from the street to thehouse is kept clean, not much dust will be tracked into the hall. A door mat of wool, or of fibre j does nSt remove,much of the dust from the soles of the shoes. _ rubber mat, \ oh the other hand, catches a great deal;of. it... And if the mat be wiped once or twice a day with a, cloth,that is slightly "oily, it will clean the sole's amazingly well. The oiling of hardwood and of polished floors renders them almost dust proof. The dust flies scarcely at all from an oil-. Ed floor when swept. The troublesome dust spots on such floors come/from the dust that is driven through the rugs by tramping feet. It is not only driven through the rugs-r^it is forced into the surface of the varnish. These spots require careful treatment; they may need washing with, turpentine as well as a good rubbing, with oil: