_Problems.--How may we improve our home conditions of living?_ _How may we help improve our conditions at school?_ _How does the city care for the improvement of our environment?_ _(a) In inspection of buildings, etc._ _(b) In inspection of food supplies._ _(c) In inspection of milk._ _(d) In care of water supplies._ _(e) In disposal of wastes._ _(f) In care of public health._ LABORATORY SUGGESTIONS _Home exercise._--How to ventilate my bedroom. _Demonstration._--Effect of use of duster and damp cloth upon bacteria in schoolroom. _Home exercise._--Luncheon dietaries. _Home exercise._--Sanitary map of my own block. _Demonstration._--The bacterial content of milk of various grades and from different sources. _Demonstration._--Bacterial content of distilled water, rain water, tap water, dilute sewage. _Laboratory exercise._--Study of board of health tables to plot curves of mortality from certain diseases during certain times of year. The Purpose of this Chapter.--In the preceding chapters we have traced the lives of both plants and animals within their own environment. We have seen that man, as well as plants and other animals, needs a favorable environment in order to live in comfort and health. It will be the purpose of the following pages first to show how we as individuals may better our home environment, and secondly, to see how we may aid the civic authorities in the betterment of conditions in the city in which we live. [Illustration: How I should ventilate my bedroom.] Home Conditions.--The Bedroom.--We spend about one third of our total time in our bedroom. This room, therefore, deserves more than passing attention. First of all, it should have good ventilation. Two windows make an ideal condition, especially if the windows receive some sun. Such a condition as this is manifestly impossible in a crowded city, where too often the apartment bedrooms open upon narrow and ill-ventilated courts. Until comparatively recent time, tenement houses were built so that the bedrooms had practically no light or air; now, thanks to good tenement-house laws, wide airshafts and larger windows are required by statute.