The most scrupulous care should be exercised wherever food is stored or prepared. The kitchen is in reality a laboratory; in it either intelligently or ignorantly are formed chemical compounds which have a far-reaching effect upon family health. From the standpoint of health no other room in the house is so important. It should be bright, airy, and easy to clean. In cleaning kitchen tables and woodwork water should not be allowed to soak into cracks and dark corners, carrying with it particles of food for the nourishment of bacteria and insects. Linoleum, if used to cover the floor, should be well fitted at the edges to prevent water from running underneath. There should be neither cracks nor crevices in wall or floor, and no dark corners or out-of-the-way cupboards in which dust, food particles, and moisture can accumulate. Such conditions not only attract mice and roaches, but furnish favorable soil for the development of moulds and fungi which by their growth affect food deleteriously. Waging a constant warfare against the development of bacteria constitutes a large part of good housekeeping. All cooking utensils should be thoroughly washed, scalded, and dried before they are put away; the use of carelessly washed dishes is bad. Enameled or agate ware which has begun to chip should be discarded. Dish-cloths and towels should be washed and boiled after using, and if possible dried in the sun. Every place in which food is kept should have constant care. The refrigerator is particularly important. Its linings should be water-tight, and the drain freely open at all times; otherwise the surrounding wood will become foul and saturated with drainings. At least once a week it should be entirely emptied and cleaned in the following way: The racks should be thoroughly washed in hot soapsuds to which a small amount of washing soda has been added, rinsed in boiling water, dried and placed in the sun and air. All parts of the refrigerator should be washed in the same manner, especially grooves and projections where food or dirt may lodge. The drainpipe should be flushed, the whole interior rinsed again with plain hot water, thoroughly dried with a clean cloth, and left to air for at least an hour. The drainage pan should be washed and scalded frequently. Food showing the slightest evidence of spoiling should be removed from the refrigerator at once. Even more attention should be paid to the hands of the cook. They should be washed always before handling food, and always after visiting the toilet, using the handkerchief, or otherwise coming in contact with nose, mouth, or other bodily secretions. Theoretically coughing and sneezing ought not to occur in the neighborhood of food, especially of food to be eaten raw; and persons with coughs, colds, or other communicable disease, however slight, ought not to handle food. If this rule were observed in practice, more persons would go hungry, but fewer would be sick.