Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 83, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1910 — Ironing as a Germ Killer. [ARTICLE]

Ironing as a Germ Killer.

To mere man, uncultured and unashamed. the flatiron seems a thing of evil. Its use renders the house uninhabitable one day out of seven; it distracts woman’s attention from the allimportant matter of preparing food. In shameless conspiracy with starch, it renders clothes uncomfortable, turns napkins into slippery boards and banishes sleep from beds. Civilized man is a slave of the ironing board, and the boiled shirt is the emblem of his degradation. Now, the scientists tell us that ironing has an important function as an antiseptic; that the hot iron Is one of our leading germ killers. This instrument of torture may have a temperature of 266 degrees, and that, they say, is more than enough to satisfy the most fastidious bacillus, In places where sterilizing devices are not handy, surgical dressings may be ironed with great advantage, and In a recent experiment clothing which had been worn by diphtheria patients was completely disinfected by the use of a hot Iron. , ~ Ixmg suffering man will note with relief that the scientists have said nothing In defense of starch. There has been no vindication qf the boiled ihlrt.—Success Magazine.'