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The Pocket-Knife a Nuisance

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 30, 1908

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 5.

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The Pocket-Knife a Nuisance

By ARTHUR C. LOGAN

ARTHUR C. LOGAN
The ordinary pocket-knife may very readily become a nuisance. It is not only generally filthy, but is virtually an instrument of infection, and may very readily become a means of producing or transmitting disease, being used for first one thing, and then another, without disinfection or cleansing. Doubtless, few people have ever taken this into consideration, and yet the unclean pocket-knife is one of the agencies in the transmission of disease that should not be overlooked.
Think of a man’s using his pocket-knife to clean the finger-nails, that, perhaps, have been digging in the garden, or some pile of rubbish, containing disease germs; then he gives it to some other member of the household to pare an apple with, or to use for some other such purpose! Of course, it has been cleaned, apparently; that is, wiped off; yet the germs are there, which can not be detected with the naked eye.
Again, this same instrument, that has been used for some foreign purpose, will be used to extract a splinter, or to dissect some portion of the human flesh; thus lockjaw may ensue, or blood-poisoning may result.
The best way to cleanse a pocket-knife, that has been used indiscriminately, is to pass the instrument through a flame, ten or fifteen times. Another way is to boil the instrument a few minutes. Thirdly, it may be soaked in a disinfectant liquid. Of course, with an instrument that is delicate or easily marred, due caution will have to be used. The size of the flame may be regulated according to the proportions of the instrument to be cleansed.
If the knife has several blades, it is well to have the different blades assigned to different purposes.
The best plan is to have two pocket-knives,—one for the dress suit, and one for the working suit,—using the blades only for their special offices. Fruits or nuts should never be pared nor eaten with a knife that has been used to sharpen pencils, unless it has been thoroughly cleansed.
Deadly germs may lie concealed in the nail niche, used for opening the knife, or secluded about the hinges, or inside the slot. A good plan to get rid of the dirt and germs about such places, is to soak the knife in kerosene or benzine. Of the smaller blades, one may be used for cleaning and trimming the finger-nails, and another for extracting or removing foreign substances from the flesh.
Where skins are to be removed from animals, the domestic pocket-knife should not be used, if it is possible to use any other. Where the whole blade is utilized, greater care should be exercised to disinfect the whole knife after it has been used.
Fresno, Cal.