(We invite all men in the University to submit communications on subjects of timely interest, but assume no responsibility for sentiments expressed under this head.)

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Since there seems to be, in connection with the present campaign to stimulate interest in the construction of a swimming pool for the University, the desire to induce more students to use the pool in the Cambridge Y. M. C. A. Building, it seems only right that a warning should be given to the users of this pool concerning the unsanitary conditions that existed there last year, and, as far as I know, are likely to continue this year.

In the first place, there is little or no care taken to see that the swimmers take a shower before entering the pool, so that it is not at all infrequent that swimmers take their wash in the pool instead of in the proper place. Not even so much as a printed notice giving instructions as to the proper order of procedure appeared after a diligent search on my part. It sometimes happens that fellows go in with light clothing on, thus making of the pool not only a bath-tub, but a laundry-tub also.

In the second place, the drainage and purification system is present in name more than in fact. The troughs at the side that are made to drain off the sur- face water as it splashes up into them are broken in one place, so that the water that flows into them at that end of the tank flows back into the pool again, bringing with it the phlegm that has been spit into the trough by the swimmers. On one occasion I noticed that all the troughs were filled to overflowing, and asked the attendant how it happened that the drains were allowed to become stopped. In reply he treated it as a matter of light importance, and, worse yet, of frequent occurance. Under such conditions I have seen the walls of the tank coated with slimy scum along the water-line, and the water itself so milky that the bottom could not be seen.

Needless to say, one takes great risks with his health in swimming in such a breeding-place of disease. In one case that I know of, abscess of the ear developed, and in another, pinkeye, keeping the victim from making any preparation for mid-year exams, and leaving his eyes in such a condition that for two months he could not use them at all by artificial light.

The Boston Y. M. C. A. pool is noted to be much cleaner, and is easily accessible from Harvard square. It would be better for one really desirous of a swim to spend the extra time in getting there in order to insure himself of reasonably clean conditions.  P. D. WOODBRIDGE '17.