Shallow wells are to be condemned, as a rule, because of the likelihood of surface drainage (Fig. 169), and water from springs should, for the same reason, be used with caution. Deep wells that are kept clean usually may be relied on to furnish water free from organic impurities, but such water often holds in solution so much of mineral impurities as to render it unfit for drinking. The presence in water of any considerable quantity of the compounds of iron or calcium makes it objectionable for regular use. [Fig. 169] Fig. 169—*Sources of contamination of cistern and well water.* Illustration shows liability of contamination from surface drainage and from entrance of filth at top. *Hygienic Housekeeping.*—However carefully a house has been constructed from a sanitary standpoint, the constant care of an intelligent housekeeper is required to keep it a healthful place in which to live. Daily cleaning and airing of all living rooms are necessary, while such places as the kitchen, the cellar, and the closets need extra thoughtfulness and, at times, hard work. Moreover, the problem is not all indoors. The immediate premises must be kept clean and sightly, and all decaying vegetable and animal matter should be removed. Home sanitation consists, not of one, but of many, problems, all more or less complex. None of these can be slighted or turned over to a novice. *Destruction of Infectious Material.*—At times the housekeeping has to be directed especially toward hygienic requirements, such an occasion being the sickness of one of the inmates with some contagious disease. Unless special precautions are taken, the disease will spread to other members of the household and may reach people in the neighborhood. Not only must great care be exercised that nothing used in connection with the sick shall serve as a carrier of disease, but germs passing from the patient should, as far as possible, be actually destroyed. All discharges from the body likely to contain bacteria, should be burned or treated with disinfectants and buried deeply at a remote distance from the water supply to the house. After recovery all clothing, bedding, and furniture used in connection with the sick should be disinfected or burned. The room also in which the sick was cared for should be thoroughly disinfected and cleaned; in some instances the woodwork ought to be repainted and the walls repapered or calcimined. The purpose is, of course, to destroy all germs and prevent, by this means, a recurrence of the disease.