Every morning, the floors of our house must be washed with water in which we have put a little kerosene oil; one or two large spoonfuls of oil will be enough for a bucket of water. We should see that the washing is carefully done. This washing with kerosene will help to keep mosquitoes away. It also tends to drive out ants and other small insects. Kerosene oil is cleansing, and helps to kill many of the germs that breed in corners and cracks. If it is poured upon standing water, it will prevent mosquitoes from breeding there. One ounce of kerosene will spread out over fifteen square feet of water, and this fact is made use of in some countries in getting rid of mosquitoes. It may be spread over the surface of the water in cisterns without imparting any taste to the water which is drawn from below for drinking purposes.
Persons who have consumption ought never to sleep in the same room with others, particularly with children. Consumption is catching. The germs which cause it are breathed out by the victim, and other people often inhale them and contract the disease. A consumptive person should never spit on the floor, and all discharges from the mouth should be disinfected.
There are two other places about a house in the tropics where our arch enemy, dirt, may hide and slay us, if we are not on guard against it. These are the sinks and the cesspools, which receive waste from the bathroom, toilet, and such places. No refuse matter ought to be thrown out about the house, and no dirt should be allowed to gather on the ground floor or in the court. We cannot be too careful about this; for if dirt does gather in these places, it is sure to breed disease.
Decayed vegetables, fruit, and all leavings from the kitchen should be carried away and burned, or buried, or otherwise disposed of where they can do no harm. Even the water in which dishes are washed, or in which we have bathed, should not be poured out on the ground near the house. It should be carried as far away as possible and emptied in some waste place.
There are few sewers in this country. Even those in Manila are scarcely worthy of the name. Before long, steps will have to be taken to have them in all cities in the archipelago; for there is great need for them. The fact that there are no good sewers makes the question of cleanliness about the house a grave one. If waste from the toilets is carried into the cesspools, there should be plenty of running water with it for flushing; it should be carried in pipes to the cesspool, and at least once a day the water-closet should be flushed with water in which there is some good disinfectant. If, as is so often the case, the closet is merely an outhouse over a hole or vault dug in the earth, at least five liters of a mixture of quicklime and dry earth should be put into the vault every day.
Milk of lime is one of the best disinfectants for use in this country. It is cheap, and it not only disinfects waste matter, but destroys bad odors. It is powdered quicklime dissolved in water, about one liter of quicklime to four liters of water. Another very cheap, but reliable, disinfectant is made by dissolving three drams of mercury bichloride with three drams of ammonium chloride in a bucket of water. This mixture can always be kept in the house and a tabo or two of it thrown down the closet seat whenever the latter is used. It must be kept where little children cannot meddle with it; but a child need not be very old to be wise enough to use it when necessary and not to meddle with it. Children, as well as grown people, should feel in honor bound to take good care of the house and to fight against dirt and disease when these attack it.
The bathroom and water-closet of our house should be kept as clean as can be. They should be swept and washed every day, and no soiled clothing or towels should be allowed to lie about. Our enemies, the mosquitoes, are very fond of hiding about soiled clothing or that which has been worn and is not soiled enough to be sent to the laundry.
Soiled garments should be washed as soon as possible after they are taken off. Right here lurks one of the greatest foes to health in this country. People are too careless about the way their garments are washed. The clothes often lie for several days in baskets or bags before going to the laundry or being washed. This is bad, as germs breed quickly among them. It is harmful for clothes to be washed in pools or canals. The water of standing pools or even of the canals in the city is, more often than not, full of disease germs.
Clothes drying on the Ground.