The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-10-04

privies, cesspools, foul bitches, or the
like, into streams, springs, wells, or
reservoirs, from which the supply Of
water is drawn, or into the soil in
which the wells are situated-a danger
which may exist on a small scale (but,
perhaps, often repeated in the same dis
trict) at the pump or dip-well Of a pri-
va:e house, or on large and even vast
scale in the source OF supply of public
waterworks. ' !
And, secondly, there is the danger of
breathing air which is foul with efiuyia
from the same sorts OF impurity. ---
To guard against these dangers, au-
thorities are instructed to execute at
once the following sanitary works:
l. Immediate and searching examin-
alton Of sources of water supply be
made in all cases where the source is
in any degree open to the suspicion of
impurity and the water both from pri-
vate and public sources should be ex-
amined. Where pollutionis discovered,
everything practicable should be done
to prevent the pollution from continu-
ing; or, ifthis object cannot be attained,
TO prevent the water from being drunk.
2. simultaneously there should be
immediate thorough removal of every
sort Of house-refuse and other filth
which has accumulated in neglected
places; future accumulations of the
same sort should be prevented; atten-
ton should be given to all defects OF
house-drains and sinks, through'which
offensive smells are let into houses;
thorough washing and lime-washing of
uncleanly premises, especially of such
as are densely occupied, should be prac-
ticed again and again. ..
3. Distinction should he very freely
and frequently employed in and round
about houses wherever there are recep-
tacles or conduits Of filth, wherever
there is filth-sodden porous earth,
wherever anything else in or under or
about the house tends to make the at
mosphere foul. In the absence of per-
manent safeguards no approach to secu-
rity can be got without incessant
cleansings and distinctions, or without
extreme and constant vigilance against
every possible contamination Of drink
ing water.
The circular also advises in regard to
individual cases as follows:
"Too much Importance cannot be
attached to the precauton of thoroughly
disinfecting without delay all discharges
from the stomach and bowels of persons
suffering under the disease, as well as
all bedding, clothing, towels, and the
like, which such discharges may have
imbued and, OF course, neither chole-
raic discharges, nor any Stops which
may contain traces Of them, should
ever (even when supposed to be disin-
fected( be cast into any position from
which they may get access into drink
ing water.
The circular concludes with the fol-
lowing very important statement:
at is important for the public very
distinctly to remember that pains taken
and cost incurred for the purposes to
which this memorandum refers cannot,
in any event, he regarded as wasted
trouble and expense. The local condi-
tons which would enable cholera, if
imported, to spread its infection in this
country are conditions which, day by
day, in the absence of cholera, create
and spread other Observation-Disclosures
which, as being never absent from the
country, are, in the long run, far more
destructive than cholera; and the. SAM
,ary improvements which would justify |
a sense Of security against any appre-
hended importation OF cholera would,
to their extent. though cholera should
never reappear in England, give amply |
remunerative results in the prevention
or those other diSaasnc "