Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-07-09
CRY REFoRMERs.

tllSade pdfdue bHe SFoobS every ulSlllO LII
the sir with The most offensive and danger
o Is elIluvis. The Commercial of that city
calls earnestly for the use of air-tight iron
tanks on al night soil carts. That paper
says:
awe might spend sill the money il the
city under The direction OF able engineers
in tire ccnstruc ion Aof sewers, and there
would De no relief from the night-cart night
mare. The people who are contending that
sewers would, as we are building them, car
! " eff all the fifth Of the city, are idiotic.
Let us take the case on Fourth street. The
| d 3welling houses have water closets in the
rear. In order to connec. with the sewer,
the soil pines must be passed through the
house, from rear to front-a very costly
work, and one that is almost certain to be
| imperfectly executed, and then to endaOger
! the health OF the HOUSEHOLD"
This big sewer idea is an exact copy of
the clOdca MARINA constructed in Rome
| by Tsrquinius Priscus and Tarquinius Su-
perbus, some s. ven or eight hundred years
| before the birth of Christ. DR.. Anthem
describes This great sewer as haY-
ing done good service ''nearly thee
thousand years, 1" in his Classical Dictionary.
The cloaca maxima being the mother of all
known sewers, we may remark that it was
originally built more to drain the Pontine
marshes and swamp ground in the lower
part of Rome, than to carry off excremen-
titious matters from the city. This sewer
has three arches one over the other, each
rising ten feet, and inclosing base of if
teen feet. Kings have sailed through this
passage in very high back water from the
Tiber, and farmers have driv-
en- loads of hay thrf ugh
| the "big sewer" 1t is really more credit
able work of antiquity than the pyramids
Of Egypt, for while i is quite as durable,
it renders mankind valuable service every
day in the year for infinite centuries. The
sewer built mainly by Tarquin be
"proud" is as good as one can be, but there
is room for great improvement by discrim-
| mating as to what kind Of matter shall GO
into it. There is not only some difference
| in tea and coffee, but in other things.
! The great difference which exists In these
other things gives existence to cholera or
death-dealing pestilence in some cities, vii
lagos, families and places, while in other
families, villages and cities, no such In
fictionC are witnessed. Tits our labort to point
cut from study t5at goes back many years
the true cause of these great calamities, and
the reasons why many places have no
cholera. Spectators aggravate diseases.
The Cincinnati Commercial! states plain
Sc in these words:
awe pay our money, and we get nothing
| but false pretenses and the agGravation of
| puisances. Whas did those who wish to
| besewer the who'e town right away propose
| in particular when they were demanding
vast sums of money in the name of elm
! provements?" Why, six hundred thousand
| dollars for Deer Greek and Mill Greek sew
ers-great jobs In the extremes of the city,
! AID jobs that, finished, would never have
| stopped a Dight-csrt. The sewers are
| like the avenues and parks-tbey are
| planned for the purpose, not Of doing any
! thing for the public business, health or
pleasure, but TO find plausible excuses for
hesvy assessments aud taxation. If we had
one hundred miles of sewers, nine-l enths
Of them would be practically useless, and
the night cart NUISANCE would still roll on,
especially OF hot nights in ch ylera times"
We insist on the poipt that city may
have its sewers as large and perfect as he
coaca maxima OF Rome, and 1t viii never
kill are live seed Of cholera or of any
other parasite that assails mankind.
Suppose we have pound of human excrets
from cholera patient, alive with its spores,
and we mOisten this mass of pestilent vital
ity with a weak solution of the oil Of vit,iol
Or nuriatic acid? No one who is acquaint-
ed witt these les will doubt that it will
at ones destroy not only the seeds Of choi-
era, but any nits or maggOts flies that may
by chance be present in this fecal matter.
In his case the artillery Of chemis-
ny with its burning acids, kills
a. once all germs Of disease,
Digging deep drsiUs ard waliiug them in,
Looks like improvement, and costs heap
Of labor and money, but in sober truth, it
kills no enemy Of man, either vegetable or
animal. II does not destroy one poisonous
gas, while it is likely to generate a score of
new gases that Eeed not have existence.
The character of every possible gas in any
sewer or water closet, depends entirely on
the composition Of the mater dp0si:ed.
This fact is Q controlling element in cholera.
The public should seek its best and true
remedy, not so much in hard manual labor
with q profit on making underground
bitches to some contractor, as in cese and
careful analysis, made with the most per-
feet scientific instruments ia competent |
in caTeiessneSs, indifference aud ignoranco.
Money and heavy taxes do not cure these |
sources ofpestilence, because they never
reach the root Of the evil. II every msn |
saw clearly lghy pound of -four or corn |
meal makes better bread than pound Of fine |
sawdust, he wOuld then know row il hap |
pens that when & Ur, meal and meat 90 to |
privy vault, they produce millions Of choi-
era germs, not one Of which can grow on |
wet mass Of sawdust. Soma vegetable par
asites live on wood tissue, Others on gram
lie T, ca, but they are noS such as produce |
chills and fever, or pestileuce Of any kind.
10 the saEns way birds ana boys going
fishing, frd large fat grubs in old trees, but |
they are slow growers. ike the young of sew
eltceu year lccusls attached to the |
roots Of tCes under ground. |
The young Of blowing f:es grow very zap
idly, and must have rich food, consuming a |
dead horse in q short time. Cholera vital |
y is Of this ravenous Ct aracler, and may
Be starved 10 death as easily as a lion in a |
cage. Gnats and mosquitoes often form |
their numerous eggs from human blood d. |
rec, and then raise their small offspring on |
the refuse Of human food in filthy wafer. |
The city reformer, whose god is money, |
never studies natural phenomena. Ills |
Improvement" is a sham.