The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-05-20
Dry Earth, in its Sanitary Applications TO
Farm Houses and Village Dwellings.
BY TIE RT. REV. HENRY c. LAY, DID,. L.I. D.,
BISHOP OF EASTON.

CONTINUED
1t may be we'll Just here to dwell some
what more particularly upon the origin and
the perpetuation of typhoid fever. In the
opinion of some, it is never self original
ing. 1t has always a cause, and this cause
is oftenest foul air or else foul water, the
founess being due to the decay of organic
matter.
The late Prince Consort died of typhoid
fever 1t is said that just beneath the win
dow in the library at Windsor Castle where
he spent much of his time reading, a leak
in a sewer allowed the poisonous gas to
escape, which deprived England of that
illustrious example of domestic virtues.
The Prince of Wales subsequently barely
ease, while his attendant died Of it. Its
origin was distinctly traceable to defective
sewerage in the country house where he
was a visitor.
DR.. Anstie, a high authority, says in his
:" Notes on Epidemics:' GO We have known
whole family to be made seriously i'll, and
more than one of it's members to suffer
from unmistakable typhoid fever, owing to
the decomposition of the dead body of a
single rat behind wainscot or beneath a
floor The putrefaction of animal refuse
around our houses and the neglect to cleanse
or disinfect privies may well originate it.
DR.. E. NJ. Hardcastle, of Trappe, Tai
bot county, mentioned to me this case: A
company of lumbermen from New Eng
land, some thirty-five in number came to
that county in the Winter and obtained
lodging in the house of private family.
The oysters of the Choptank being an I'M
accustomed luxury, they consumed them
so freely that eighteen cart loads of shells
were left. These shells were thrown in a
heap near to the well.
About the beginning of July, typhoid
fever appeared in the family. The first
patient died. Presently the other mem
bers of the family were one by one attacked,
and became dangerously i'll. \ young man
aud a young woman who came to nurse
them sckened also.
The physician finding that they were
likely to die, enlisted the help Of the neigh
bors. and removed them to a house which
happened to be vacant mile or two dis
tant. Removal from the purifying matter
of the oyster shells sutliced to ensure their
recovery.
In this case the oyster heap was offensive
to the smell, and moreover there was ready
drainage from it into the WELL
Thus it appears that typhoid fever may
originate where there was none before,
from putrid exhalations. How careful we
should be to Danish from the neie hborhood
of our dwellings, all animal matters liable
to decay.
Once originated, this disease spreads
with rapidity and is conveyed to persons
who had not been exposed to the same in
huences which induced it. 1t is conveyed
from one person to another, in the opinion
of the best authorities, by means of germs.
BY this they mean that some morbid ele
ment actually passes from the body of the
sick man into the body of his neighbor.
Hence the Importance, if we would arrest
the spread of this or any other contagious
disease, of thoroughly ventiating the ali
and cleansing the clothes and furniture OF
the sick chamber, of care on the part OF
attendants to wash their hands before eat
ing, and, in general, of all precautions
which may diminish the risk of taking into
the skin, the lungs or the stomach, as the
case may be- the morbid something which
is given off by the sick man.
But it seems to be we'll established that
the most direct method ofspreading typhoid
fever in family is just this: Let the dis
charges of the sick man be carelessly thrown
into the privy, allow a little time for them
to be dissolved and distill into that shallow
well near by, let the family drink the water
in which these focal particles are hid, and
the epidemic is well established.
DR.. Parkes, in his g Practical Hygiene
fourth edition, Philadelphia, 1878, page
A., has collected large number of testi
monies to the introduction of typhoid fever
by this agency: every polluted water had
been used for years by the inhabitants OF
Nunney, when a person with enteric fever
came from a distance to the village, anC
the excreta from this person were washed
into the stream supplying the village. Be
tween June and October, 1872, no less thar
seventy six cases occurred out of popula
ton of eight hundred and thirty-two in
stream water habitually or occasionally
All who used filtered rain or well watel
escaped, except one family, who used thu
water of we'll only four or five yards from
the brook. The case seems quite clear
first, that the water caused the disease
and secondly, that, though polluted will
excrement for years, no enteric fever ap
peared until an imported case introduced
the virus"
Cholera is propagated in the same way
The books relate a very remarkable illus
tration which occurred in St. James, West
minister, in the year 1854. The district il
question might be marked off by circle
whose radius would be two hundred ant
ten yards. The first fatal case happened
at the end of July. 1t increased gradually
and in few weeks suddenly "exploded.
On the 31st of August there were thirty
one fatal cases. On the following days t,
September Sth. the deaths numbered sew
orally 131, 125, 81, 80, 26, %, % and IA.
Dr. Snow, who had specially studied tn
modes of communication of diseases fount
out that all these suffers used the water o
certain well in Broad street, esteemed TO
its sweetness. 1t was subsequently provet
that there was leak from a house drail
into the well. At any rate the parish au
thorities, at DR.. Shows suggestion, removed
the handle from the pump and the choler
ceased by the end of October.
| A more striking illustration, perhaps,
that afforded during the same epidemic b.
the unequal mortality in a part of Londo
supplied equally by two water companies
OF the customers of one company tire