THE CITY OF SYRACUSE, N. Y. 
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY 
BUREAU OF HEALTH 
DIVISION OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES Sweeping and Dusting 
y* J N SWEEPING a room raise as little 
1 dust as possible, because dust, when 
J 1 1 
£ „„_O4 breathed in, irritates the nose and 
throat and often sets up catarrh. Some of the 
dust breathed reaches the lungs, making portions 
of them black and hard and useless. 
If the dust breathed contains the germs of 
consumption—tubercle bacilli—which come from 
consumptives spitting on the floors, the risk is run 
of getting consumption. If consumptives use 
proper spit cups and are careful when coughing 
or sneezing to hold a handkerchief over the nose 
and mouth so as not to scatter spittle about in the 
air, the risk to others of getting the disease by 
living in the same rooms with the consumptives 
is inconsiderable. 
To prevent making a great dust in sweeping 
bare floors, use moist sawdust. When the room 
is carpeted, moisten a newspaper, tear it into 
small scraps and scatter these over the carpet. In sweeping, brush these scraps of paper along 
with the broom and they will catch most of the 
dust and hold it fast, just as the sawdust does on 
the bare floors. Do not have either the paper or 
the sawdust dripping wet, only moist. 
In dusting a room, do not use a feather duster, 
because this does not remove the dust from the 
room, but only brushes it into the air. 
Use soft, dry cloths to dust with and shake 
them frequently out of the window; or use 
slightly moistened cloths and rinse them out in 
water when finished. In this way the dust can 
be gotten out of the room. 
In rooms which have bare floors, in houses, 
stores, shops, school-rooms, etc., all dust can be 
easily removed after it has settled, by passing 
over the floor a mop which has been wrung out 
so as to be only moist, not dripping wet. 
DAVID M. TOTMAN, 
Health Officer.