New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-04-06
The I'll Effects of Innpura WATER.

| A letter from Munich to the London Medical
| Times and Gazette contains some information
which may be of interest to such of our citizens,
living il the crowded districts of cur city, as per-
sist in the of water from the city wells. A
disease very similar to that alluded to in the cor
respondence occurred in this city recently:
At the present shall only give you an account
of the epidemic jnst mentioned which took place
in their convent. From June to the com
mencement of September last, only two cases of
typhoid fever occurred there but from Septem-
ber 10 to October 4, at time when the convent
was inhabited by one hundred and twenty persons,
thrtyone persons belonging to the order fell i'll in
rapid succession, partly with gastric symptoms,
partly with real typhoid fever. Fourteen were
cases OF typhoid fever, of which four died, This
sudden and numerous increase of the sick list took
medical men so much the more by surprise, as at
that time the general sanitary condition of the
town was excellent, and typhoid fever extremely
rare. 1t was, therefore, almost certain that this
outbreak had its origin in exclusively local condi-
tions, and on careful examination it was shown
that the water used for drinking having been con-
taminated by putrid matter was the cause of the
epidemic.
The local conditions were es follows: The Con-
vent of the Sisters of Mercy adjoins the General
Hospital. In the spring of $50 a well was dug
here, twenty feet deep. This well is distant only
two feet from the wash house in which the linen of
the patients is washed and it is surrounded by five
sewers, which serve to collect the water flowing
away from the wash-house. These sewers are con-
nected with each other by means of canals, and
the water contained in them gradually leaks into
the surrounding earth. This water muddy, had
an offensive smell, and formed considerable sedi-
ment; and as these sewers are only from twenty
to thirty feet distant from the well, of course the
earth being porous, the liquid contained in the
sewers mixed with the water OF the we'll. In order
to prove this, the contents of the sewers and the
water OF the we'll were subjected to careful mic
roscopic examination by cur microscopic, DR.. Hess
ling. He found in The sediment of the liquid con
tanned in the sewers all sorts of substances both
vegetable and animal, in state Of dceomp isiton.
Some of them were still distinctly recognizable in
their primitive form, but by far the greater part
was already deritus.
This deritus appeared in flocky, dar-green
coagula, and very small Jumps, some OF which con-
tanned anorgafc matter, such az sand grains of
line etc. which seemed to form their nuclei The
liquid and the detrtus both contained a large
amount Of carbonate Of lime; and on adding some
sulPhurc acid to it, a very strong smell, as Of foul
eggs, was emitted, even from the small objects Sc
lected for mcroscopcal examination, besides
which newly formed organic elements, algm aud
spores, Vbrinnes, monades and culpndes were OBJ
served, which whirled in rapid motion across the
field The water of the well did not form sed
lnent, excepting few molecules if, however, Il
few drops examined under the microscope,
the same elements were observed az in the water
taken from the sewers, only-sH renin ref6o--n
homm pnthic dilltion. This especially the case
with the tocky coGgula of detrus, the spores and
vibri0nes. 1t was, therefore, proved that the
water of the well had been contaminated with the
contents of the sewers. Professor Pettenkofer,
who made chemical analysis Of the water, found
far greater quantity of organic ingredients, Of lime
and Of nitrates in it, than contained iu cur
usual drinking water. The water of this new we'll
| used to be conducted by means of a pump into n
reservoir, which situated under the roof of The
Wash-house where it was used for washing.
From September II to %, last. when the epi-
demG began, it conducted into the baths and
the kitchen OF the hospital and the convent by
means of pipes, as, in consequence of the bath
house being in course Of repair there an in
sufficient supply of water. Orders were given that
it should only be used for the baths, for cleaning
and cooking? while the necessary drinking winter
| was furnished by two wells, which are situated in
the courtyard between the hospital and the ehu-
| vent and which are in a very satisfactory condi
1ion. But, although the inmates OF the convent
| had thus been warned, it turned out, on close in
| qury, that the water from the contaminated we'll
| which was carried in the evening from the kitchet
| of the convent into the bedrooms of the Sister:
| for washing had also been used by them for drink
| ing, and every ore who had fallen i'll aoknowl
| edged having drnnk of this water. II it is takel
/ into consideration that the beginning 0f the cpl
| dentio was synGhronie with the drinking of thi
water, and that this contaied putfid matter 5fror
the dirty linen Of the patients The suppnsition
q certainly justified thatthe poisonous qualities of
were the canse Of the typhoid fever, which is fl.
ther proved by the circumstances, that with Il
aiseoutinuance Of the use of shis water tie eL
demic also ceased.