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.

Thorough cleaning of rooms involves soap, water, sunshine, air, and
elbow grease, just as it did before germs were discovered. Cleaning
means actually removing dirt and dust, not merely stirring it up to
settle again; consequently dry sweeping and dusting are ineffectual.
Vacuum cleaning, and sweeping and dusting with damp or "dustless" mops
and dusters are good. Deodorants and disinfectants do not take the place
of ordinary cleanliness.

Dust does not carry living disease germs to an appreciable extent; the
fact is now well established that diseases formerly thought to be
transmitted by dust or even supposed to travel directly through the air,
are carried on tiny particles of moisture and mucus expelled in coughing
and sneezing. This mode of transmission is called droplet or spray
infection; it is one of the most active agents in spreading certain
kinds of communicable diseases.

Nevertheless dust in motion is harmful; it irritates the lining
membranes of the nose, throat, bronchial tubes, and lungs, even causing
tiny wounds through which