Democratic Sentinel, Volume 21, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1897 — Don’t Put Coin in Your Mouth. [ARTICLE]

Don’t Put Coin in Your Mouth.

It is possible to catch a whole string of diseases through holding money in the mouth. A scientist says that a man who carelessly puts a penny in his mouth subjects himself to greater danger than if he were exposed to the bitterest weather without clothing. Scientists w'ho have been testing coins find that, as a rule, the germs that find lodgment on their faces are powerless to harm human beings unless they are able to penetrate the skin and get into the blood; but In cases of consumption and one or two other of the more deadly maladies, the organisms may be given a foothold by being inhaled into tie lungs. In cold weather there are frequent cracks and small abrasions on people’s lips, and there, of all places, the germs find the best opportunity to reach the blood. Shopkeepers who are in the habit of handling coppers should be careful to wear gloves if their hands are cut or scratched.