Bacteria in Daily Life. Frankland Grace C.

space of six years in certain Paris hospitals, whilst Solowjew records 1,880 cases as occurring in the space of four and a half months in the St. Petersburg city hospital. Solowjew made a special study of the bacterial contents of dust collected in hospitals, and states that 41·8 per cent. of the samples examined contained disease germs. The degree of infection possessed by dust in such surroundings must, of course, depend upon the degree of cleanliness which characterises the management of any particular institution; and such investigations as the above can only help to emphasise the immense importance of common cleanliness and the reasonableness of taking every precaution possible in the disinfection of utensils, etc.

      Some years ago Messrs. Carnelley, Haldane, and Anderson carried out an elaborate series of investigations on the air of dwelling-houses in some of the poorest parts of Dundee. The samples were taken during the night, between 12.30 a.m. and 4.30 a.m., and in their report the authors state that the one-roomed tenements were mostly those of the very poor; "sometimes as many as six or even eight persons occupied the one bed," whilst in other cases there was no bed at all. As regards the number of bacteria present in the air in these one-roomed houses, an average of several examinations amounted to sixty per quart; in two-roomed houses it was reduced to forty-six, and in houses of four rooms and upwards only nine micro-organisms in the same volume of air were discovered.