How to live: A manual of hygiene for use in the schools of the Philippine islandsKnapp, Adeline
Science
How to live: A manual of hygiene for use in the schools of the Philippine islands
Knapp, Adeline
Hygiene -- Popular works
Every morning, the floors of our house must be washed with water in
which we have put a little kerosene oil; one or two large spoonfuls of
oil will be enough for a bucket of water. We should see that the washing
is carefully done. This washing with kerosene will help to keep
mosquitoes away. It also tends to drive out ants and other small
insects. Kerosene oil is cleansing, and helps to kill many of the germs
that breed in corners and cracks. If it is poured upon standing water,
it will prevent mosquitoes from breeding there. One ounce of kerosene
will spread out over fifteen square feet of water, and this fact is made
use of in some countries in getting rid of mosquitoes. It may be spread
over the surface of the water in cisterns without imparting any taste to
the water which is drawn from below for drinking purposes.
Persons who have consumption ought never to sleep in the same room with
others, particularly with children. Consumption is catching. The germs
which cause it are breathed out by the victim, and other people often
inhale them and contract the disease. A consumptive person should never
spit on the floor, and all discharges from the mouth should be
disinfected.
There are two other places about a house in the tropics where our arch
enemy, dirt, may hide and slay us, if we are not on guard against it.
These are the sinks and the cesspools, which receive waste from the
bathroom, toilet, and such places. No refuse matter ought to be thrown
out about the house, and no dirt should be allowed to gather on the
ground floor or in the court. We cannot be too careful about this; for
if dirt does gather in these places, it is sure to breed disease.
Decayed vegetables, fruit, and all leavings from the kitchen should be
carried away and burned, or buried, or otherwise disposed of where they
can do no harm. Even the water in which dishes are washed, or in which
we have bathed, should not be poured out on the ground near the house.
It should be carried as far away as possible and emptied in some waste
place.
There are few sewers in this country. Even those in Manila are scarcely
worthy of the name. Before long, steps will have to be taken to have
them in all cities in the archipelago; for there is great need for them.
The fact that there are no good sewers makes the question of cleanliness
about the house a grave one. If waste from the toilets is carried into
the cesspools, there should be plenty of running water with it for
flushing; it should be carried in pipes to the cesspool, and at least
once a day the water-closet should be flushed with water in which there
is some good disinfectant. If, as is so often the case, the closet is
merely an outhouse over a hole or vault dug in the earth, at least five
liters of a mixture of quicklime and dry earth should be put into the
vault every day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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