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Home Sanitation and Hygiene

LOCATION OF BUILDINGS-DANGER FROM ARTIFICIAL HEATING SYSTEMS-WATER SUPPLY-DISPOSAL OF HOUSEHOLD WASTES -ELIMINATION OF FLIES Not many years ago disease was most often deemed the act of Providence as a chastening or visitation for moral evil. Many diseases are now known to be merely human ignorance and uncleanliness out on public exhibition. The sins for which humanity suffers in the common communicable (and many other) diseases are violations of the laws of sanitation and hygiene, or simply the one great law of absolute sanitary cleanliness.

The duty of supervising conditions affecting the public health is taken over by the community itself in the larger centers of population, but in many small towns and in the open country the chief responsibility for sanitary conditions in and about the home devolves upon each individual householder. Every symptom of preventable disease, especially diseases of the respiratory system (bronchitis, pneumonia); all fevers (typhoid fever, malaria, etc.); and all other communicable diseases (diphtheria, scarlet fever and the like) should suggest the question: "Is the cause of this illness any unsanitary condition within my control which can and should be remedied?"

Not infrequently landlords and parents shirk responsibility for illness due to unsanitary conditions upon the ground that the cost of the proper remedy would be prohibitive. Such conditions as dampness in cellars, or the pollution of air, soil or water supply by seepage from barnyard manure piles, privy vaults and open drains, are often thought to be determined for all future time by the location of dwellings and outbuildings and are believed to be incurable without greater expense than the owner can afford. Men are too apt to say under such circumstances, "What can't be cured must be endured," and to think that the members of their families must take their chance of sickness along with the other risks of life. Such a mode of reasoning is most reprehensible. As sanitary knowledge increases it will doubtedly be corrected by law. un- The most important asset not only of the individual and family but also of the community is not mere property, but rather the physical vigor of its members. The cost of bringing an average child to maturity has been estimated at from two to five thousand dollars. The value to the family of each of its adult members may be taken as their normal earning capacity for the average period of expectation of life. On this basis courts usually grant damages on death claims at the rate of from five thousand dollars upward. And the average of such awards appears to be steadily on the increase. Hence on the economic side alone, it is false economy to risk the loss of one or more lives worth five thousand dollars each and upwards, in order to avoid making improvements costing a small fraction of that sum.

Moreover, with the progress of sanitary science, additional stress is being laid upon the moral aspect of sanitation. Persons who should expose in open vessels solutions of strychnine, arsenic or other virulent poisons would be held guilty of criminal negligence if accidental death by poisoning should result. Yet some of the gases, liquids and microorganisms with which the air, soil and water supply in and about dwellings may become contaminated, are now known to be as fatal under some common circumstances as the most deadly poisons. The only possible excuse for permitting the existence of these nuisances is ignorance. And with the present rapid spread of scientific information that excuse will not much longer avail. Another generation will doubtless see laws passed holding property owners and heads of families responsible for illness resulting from preventable causes. Consider not alone the economic loss and moral wrong involved. Think of the pain and suffering of illness, the labor and anxiety of nursing, the expense of medicines and medical attendance and the cost of funerals! Above all must we regard the desolation and heart-break caused by the loss of those near and dear to us! When all these are cast into the scale, the expense of proper sanitation, however great, is clearly seen to be necessary and even negligible.

At first thought it might seem that information regarding the proper location and construction of the home and its appurtenances would be of value only to those who are about to build a new dwelling. And of course the founding of a new home affords the best opportunity to put the principles of hygiene and sanitation into effect. Yet perhaps majority of the entire population occupy rented dwellings and are free to remove from them at will. In all such cases a knowledge of the demands of proper sanitation is directly applicable to the question whether or not to renew the leasehold of one's present dwelling. In the event of a removal it applies equally to the selection of another home. Moreover, the conditions surrounding buildings improperly located may often be remedied by permanent improvements.

Or such buildings may be removed bodily to new foundations at an expense trifling in comparison to the original cost of the structures. If, however, necessary improvements to insure sanitation cannot be made, it is far better to sell property even at a sacrifice and remove from it, before sickness or death have brought about their inevitable loss. A knowledge of the laws of sanitation is also of vital importance in the selection of temporary homes, such as summer hotels, boarding places and summer camps. Indeed, so fundamental is this subject to human health and happiness that it should be regarded as an essential part of the fund of knowledge which is or should be common to every normal person.

The conditions essential to proper sanitation are simply an abundance of sunshine, pure air and pure water, with necessary shade in summer, or, negatively, freedom from pollution of the air, soil or water supply with noxious micro-organisms (germs) or other poisons. Within the dwelling, artificial heat and light must be provided by means which give off into the air a minimum of the noxious products of combustion. And these must be promptly removed by a proper system of ventilation. To accomplish these results attention must be given to both the location and construction of the home and its necessary outbuildings, and to the installation of suitable systems of heating, lighting and ventilation, water supply, drainage and sewage disposal. These will be the topics under consideration in the present chapter.

LOCATION OF BUILDINGS If a house stands on low damp ground, or if there is swampy or wet land in the immediate vicinity, sickness will follow as sure as night HOME SANITATION AND HYGIENE follows day. It is far better not to build at all than to occupy such a location unless the site and all adjacent pools or swamp are first improved by efficient drainage. Moisture in and about the foundations of a home adds to the humidity of the atmosphere. This makes the occupants more susceptible to both heat and cold. Swamps or pools of standing water afford breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Thus in many localities they condemn in advance members of the family and their guests to attacks of debilitating malaria.

If, however, a house stands in a damp spot which cannot be drained, it should at least be lifted well above the surface of the soil on dampproof posts or other foundations. Or the cellar, if there is one, should be made thoroughly damp-proof.

These steps with proper artificial heat will aid in protecting the family from the ill effects of excessive humidity.

Relative Position of House and Other Things. - The danger from lack of proper drainage is greatly increased if the moisture in the soil is polluted by seepage from any sort of nuisance. No such conditions should be tolerated. Even the choice of a proper site for the house where the soil is porous and there is good natural drainage will not protect the health of the family if the stable or other outbuildings are so located that there is a gradual seepage of polluted water through the ground into and around the foundations of the house.

Nor should there be an open sink drain contaminating the earth adjacent to the foundations. Not infrequently buildings of prosperous farmers are so placed that the land slopes from the barn, stable or pigpen toward the dwelling. In addition to constant seepage through the soil, a flood of filthy surface water during heavy rains flows toward and around the house and cellar. The inevitable result is illness which is most often attributed to other causes.

It must also be borne in mind that the underground strata of the soil do not always coincide with the surface condition. Thus there may be a gentle elevation between the farm buildings and the house which would appear to protect the latter from soil pollution. Yet below the ground there may be a shelf of hardpan covered with a layer of loose sand and gravel dipping direct from under the barn or stable toward the foundations of the house. All such conditions must be carefully observed and studied.

The object is to so locate the buildings that the drainage from the outbuildings occupied by animals cannot carry pollution toward the house.

Air Drainage.-Next only in importance to a well drained soil is the question of air drainage. C. G. Hill says: "A hollow, however porous and well drained the soil, will prove a cold and frosty spot in winter, a hot and sultry one in summer. A site too closely shut in by timber will lose what it may gain in shade by the absence of free circulation of air.

Every breeze will be cut off during the sultry days of summer and in winter the absence of sunlight will be a drawback. All things considered a gentle hillside slope offers the greatest advantages. If the highest land is to the north or west little The more is to be desired. prevailing breezes must also be considered and the outbuildings or any fixtures or places which may become sources of offensive odors should be located well to the leeward of the house." - Shade and Shelter. While the house should stand in direct sunshine and be exposed to thorough ventilation from prevailing winds, the shelter of a strip of timber or a windbreak to the north and west is very desirable, especially in cold climates. This helps to keep the house comfortably warm in cold weather with economy of fuel. It. also adds to the comfort of live stock and of those who are obliged to care for them. Every owner of a' home should take pride in improving the lawn and grounds and planting suitable shade trees. Yet the choice of a site for a new home, other things being equal, may well be determined by the presence of one or more fine old trees already capable of yielding the shade which is SO grateful and necessary in summer.

Arrangement of Rooms. - When possible, the living rooms and work rooms of the house should be on the east side so as to receive a good share of sunshine. This side is also advantageous for sleeping rooms so that the morning sun may stream into these rooms and upon the beds before they are made up. Nor should they be made up too early. Moreover, this side of the house does not receive the intense rays of the afternoon sun in summer, nor is it exposed to the prevailing winter winds. Artificial heat also tends from the west toward the east side of a building.

The latter has therefore the advantage of being cooler in summer and more sheltered and warmer in winter.

Vestibules, halls, stairs and the least used rooms may sometimes be so placed as to afford protection to other apartments. All these considerations are of course equally as important in choosing a house for rental as in building a home for one's own occupancy.