wishing to impart protective health information
to high school pupils, the book also should be useful as a class text as
well as a guide.

The war, which has caused the withdrawal from private practice of
thousands of physicians and graduate nurses, makes it peculiarly
important to the nation for every adult to have sound knowledge as to
how to prevent contagion and epidemics, especially by precautionary
attention to home and local sanitation. With nurses becoming more
difficult to secure, the safety of the family demands that some member
in each household know enough about elementary nursing to make a patient
comfortable and to carry out accurately the instructions of the
physician.

The work of revision, based upon the latest knowledge of hygiene,
sanitation and methods of home-nursing has been done by Miss Anne Hervey
Strong, Professor of Public Health Nursing, Simmons College, under the
personal direction of the author and the National Committee on Red Cross
Nursing Service. The material has been painstakingly read by Dr. H. W.
Rucker and Dr. Taliaferro Clarke of the United States Public Health
Service, and Lieutenant Colonel Clarence H. Connor, Medical Corps,
United States Army. Indebtedness to Dr. H. M. McCracken, President of
Vassar College and Director of the Red Cross Junior Membership, for his
valuable suggestion as to adapting the book for high school use as well
as for the assistance rendered by his Department, also is gladly
acknowledged.

J. A. D.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I wish to express my gratitude to those who have so kindly helped in the
work of preparing the present edition. Thanks are especially due to
Professor Isabel Stewart, Miss Anna C. Jamme, Professor Curtis M.
Hilliard, Professor Maurice Bigelow, Miss Katharine Lord, Miss Josephine
Goldmark, and Miss Evelyn Walker.

A. H. S.

CONTENTS

PREFACE v

INTRODUCTION xi

CHAPTER I

PAGE

CAUSES AND PREVENTION OF SICKNESS 1

Communicable diseases, 1. Micro-organisms and bacteria,
1. Parasites, 3. Structure and development of parasites,
4. Bacteria, 4. Shape, 4. Size, 5. Motion, 5.
Multiplication, 5. Spores, 7. Distribution, 8. Protozoa,
8. Visible parasites, 8. Transmission of pathogenic