Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1899 — Home Poisoning. [ARTICLE]

Home Poisoning.

It is very desirable that the conditions under which food may become poisonous should receive more practical consideration than they do. A wellknown physician has called attention to some glaring defects in the location of food store-rooms, which are worthy of attention. In house construction the position of the pantry is too often treated as of minor importance. In some houses the space under the stairs or some equally unsuitable and inadequately lighted and ventilated place is thought good enough for the purpose. In a great number the pantry is a small offshoot from the house, the celling, floor and walls often being damp, owing to faulty construction; in some of these matters are rendered worse by the water taps being placed therein without any provision being made for carrying away the droppings from the tap or overflow from vessels into which the water is run. One of the most frequent entries in his inspection notebook is “defective* yard pavement,” permitting soakage of filth into the soil underneath. Not only is the soil thus rendered a good breeding ground for pathogenic microbes, it also supplies those conditions requisite for Increased virulence.