Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 58.djvu/248

240 the soil. The majority to be met with in air are derived from the soil. Their number lessens when the surface soil is moist, and it increases as the surface soil dries. In a dry season the number of air organisms will tend to increase.

Town air contains more bacteria than country air, whilst they become few and tend to disappear at high levels and on the sea. A shower of rain purifies the air greatly of bacteria. The organisms being, as I stated, mainly derived from the surface of the ground, their number mainly depends on the physical condition of the soil, and this depends on the weather. Bacteria cannot pass independently to the air; they are forcibly transferred to it with dust from various surfaces. The relative bacterial purity of the atmosphere is mainly, therefore, a question of dust. Even when found floating about in the air the bacteria are to be met with in much greater number in the dust that settles on exposed surfaces, e. g., floors, carpets, clothes and furniture. Through a process of sedimentation the lower layers of the air become richer in dust and bacteria, and any disturbance of dust will increase the number of bacteria in the air.

The simple act of breathing does not disseminate disease germs from a patient; it requires an act of coughing to carry them into the air with minute particles of moisture. From the earliest times great weight has been laid upon the danger of infection through air-borne contagia, and with the introduction of antiseptic surgery the endeavor was made to lessen this danger as much as possible by means of the carbolic spray, etc. In the same connection numerous bacteriological examinations of air have been made, with the view of arriving at results of hygienic value. The average number of micro-' organisms present in the air is 500-1000 per 1000 liters; of this number only 100-200 are bacteria, and they are almost entirely harmless forms. The organisms of suppuration have been detected in the air, and the tubercle bacillus in the dust adhering to the walls of rooms. Investigation has not, however, proved air to be one of the important channels of infection. The bactericidal action of sunlight, desiccation and the diluting action of the atmosphere on noxious substances will always greatly lessen the risk of direct aerial infection.

The physical agents that promote the passage of bacteria into the air are inimical to their vitality. Thus, the majority pass into the air not from moist but from dry surfaces, and the preliminary drying is injurious to a large number of bacteria. It follows that if the air is rendered dust-free, it is practically deprived of all the organisms it may contain. As regards enclosed spaces, the stilling of dust and more especially the disinfection of surfaces liable to breed dust or