The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-03-06
;Wke Eartn%
OGDEN FARM PAPERS.
BY GEORGE f. wARING, JR.
From the american Agricu,turist.

From the american Agricu,turtst
have long thought that a part of
one paper of this series might be ad-
vantageously directed to some of the
details of the sanitary arrangement of
farm houses as to any other Winter
topic, and surely no other is of nearly
so great Importance. Health, so far as
it is affected by proper arrangements
for disposing of refuse or organic mat
ter, is more dependent upon the direct
Intervention of individual householders
in the country than in towns. On a
farm, the circumstances and conditions
under which the family live are entirely,
or almost entirely under the control of
the farmer himself, while in towns every
one is more or less affected by the cir
cumstances attending his neighbours
mode Of life; therefore, while calami-
ties Detailing those in towns may be to
certain extent beyond their individual
control, much of the death and disease
from which the farmers family suffers,
results from causes for which he alone
is responsible, and which he might have
removed. Nothing is more common
than for every death and every case of
sickness to be ascribed to the workings
of an inscrutable Providence By far
the greater proportion of the affection
to which mankind is subject, comes not
by the act of God, but by the act of
man himself The range of what is
called preventable diseases is now
known to be very wide, and all such
diseases it should be the first duty Of
man to prevent Much Of this-that
to which I especially wish to ask atten-
tion-is not only preventable disease,
but is disease that is called into exist
ence only by the act or by the neglect
of man, and it is not too much to say,
(after the thorough Investigations of the
subject that have been made by sanitary
authorities), that there has never been
a case of typhoid fever that was not
almost directly caused by the ignorance,
or by the criminal neglect of some person
whose duty it should have been to pre-
vent it, Such disease never comes
without cause, and its cause is never
anything else than organic poisoning
arising from decaying organic matter,
or from the spread of the infection
directly from a patient suffering from
the disease.
Typhoid fever has many names, all
of which are suggestive of its origin.
1t is called drain-fever," sewer-fever,"
"cesspool-fever, ""night soil-fever, ""foul
well-fever," etc, and it is NEVER caused
except by the introduction into the sys-
TEN of the germs of the disease-which
can originate only through the opera
ton of neglected organic wastes, or by
communication through the lungs or
stomach by means af foul air or foul
water, or of germs arising from the per-
sons or from the excreta of typhoid
patients. So far as its contagion is con-
cerned, ample ventilation of the sick
room, and the immediate removal or
disinfection of the faces are ample pre-
ventives. 1t is not contagious as small
pox is, but its spread is caused by the
action of germs which infect the local
ity of the patient, and extend more or
less widely according to the precautions
used to confne it. There is not neces-
sarily the least danger that the disease
will attack even the constant attendant
of the patient, if proper care is taken.
This part of the subject may, perhaps,
be left to the control of the physician
who has charge of the case but with
the farmer himself must rest the entire
responsibility of the ORIGIN of every
FIRST case breaking out in his house
hold. This is certain and thoroughly
well-established fact, and there attaches
to him the full measure ofguilt for every
such case. This is responsibility for
which the community should hold him
strictly accountable. 1t would really be
as correct to ascribe red-handed murder
to Providence as to attempt in this way
to console ourselves for fatal attack of
typhoid fever. We are taught that we
shall not cleave our. child's skull with
an ak, and that if we do, death will
surely result, but we are no less abso-
lutely taught that we shall not poison
our child's blood with the foul emana-
tons of our house drains, and with the
contamination of our drinking water
wells, lest the same fatal result follow.
We may ignorantly load the water with
which our families are supplied with
lead poison, and so be without the guilt
of intention; or we may ignorantly
poison our wells by the infiltration of
infected organic matter, and in this case,
as in the other, be acquitted of the
charge of criminal intent But in these
days, when SO much has been published
concerning the origin of diseases of
this class, however free we may be of
all criminal intent, the serious charge
of criminal neglect must surely lie at
our door
Now, all this may seem very savage
talk to put into paper intended for the
perusal of the intelligent farmers of an
enlightened country, but any one who
will give attention to the subject, will
confess that it is precisely the sort of
talk which is most needed, and which, if
well needed, will produce the most bene-
fetal results in every quarter of the
country. There are other diseases, re-
sulting some in death and some only in
illness and its consequent loss of SER
vice, which come more or less under
the same head, but typhoid fever is so
universally prevalent in country houses,
is so fatal in it's effect, and is so readily
prevented, that it constitutes the most
conspicuous type of its class, and is
most entitled to consideration 1t NAV
be assumed, without hesitation, that
whenever pronounced case of typhoid
breaks out in an isolated country house,
or when any form Of low fever occurs,
though it may fail to assume distinct
typhoid character, there is in that house.
or abont it, or in connection with its
supply of drinking water, some accu-
mutation Of neglected filth, some pile of
rotten vegetables in the cellar, some
overflow from barnyard, some spot of
earth saturated with the Stops of the
kitchen, or some other form of impurty
to which the origin of the disease NAV
be distinctly traced. The SPREAD of
fynh old ic l.