The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1876-12-23

typhoid fever. Giphth"ria. and several
other malignant diseases. i that they
are propaganda from living germs. real
| seeds. though 50 minute rs to he iiivisi
! bile even with the aid of the microscope.
The germs are absorbed by water, and
ar" thence conveyed into the human
system. either directly or indirectly
/ THROUGH the milk of COWS which NAV
have drank of the water.
Bnt it is a popular impression that
contaminated water may be purified by
iilterlng. It may be of all the impuri-
ties that are pcrccrtihlc TO the eve or
taste but not ut all of these infinitcsi
nal germs.
Indeed. no water looks clearer or
tastes more ralatable than water taken
from some of the public drinking foun-
tains of London. which are found TO
contain moro dangerous foreign sub
stances than the contents of the city
drains
4 remarkable illustration in point has
been recently given by Dr. FARMLAND.
of England. in an address on the " Or
ganic Impurities of Drinking Water. "
We condcnsc IT from an account III the
BoSi0n Jouynoi Of ChemistV:
In Il small village of Switzerland. con
sisting of nincty-six houses. there had
never been. within the memory of man,
an instance of typhoid fever. All but
six of the families used the water of u
public spring: the remaining six used
we water. In August. typoid fever
broke ont. and continued to spread I'M
iii. bv the close of October. one hun
,i Il 90 rnI
children. had been attacked. All of
these. with the exception of two who
were taken near the end of the epidemic.
were of the families who used the spring
water.
On IL very careful examination of the
facts il the ease. it was learned. what
was before unknown. that the spring
though nearly mile from the brook
which flowed through the valley. was
actually red by it and that u short
/ time before the epidemic broke ont. .
there had been four eases of typhoid
fever in some farm houses of the valley,
from which the contents of the cess
pools found their way into the brook.
The most carefully conducted expert
monts proved that there was conncc
ton between the spring and brook. not
by any subtcrrancan passage, but solely
through the intervening earth. Thus
/ the water retained lis germs of disease
though passed through filter nearly II
mile wide!
Our readers will soc how unsafe it il
to have we'll i'll the vicinity of cess
pools. drains. and foul standing water.
We may add that during the prevalence
of fcbrilc diseases it may be we'll to
avoid drinking from wells in TIC infect
cd districts of closely packed cities.
MIR. GouGHS LECTURE. - In Mr..
Coughs lecture on Blunders, delivered
in Boston. he said
But let MS turn our attention to
blundcrs more serious in their results
upon society. Last year the people of
the United States paid 100. 900 retail Ii
uuor dealers $500 ,0O0. 900. besides 800.
600 900 for the crime and poverty and
huge machinery used to take care of
this traffic. do not believe in the war
fare of labor against capital or of capt.
tai against labor: but, with all my heart,
might, mind. strength and soul. | advo-
cate unanimous and persistent strike
against the liquor business. Strike
hard and strike home, warning not with
men. Int with the dcmorali2ng traffic.
Strike at il at home and at party re-
ccptions. Strike at the cut glass of the
moderate drinkcr and the rum jug of the
poor man: at the dccantcrs and whisky
TASKS: strike in the name of Justice. pu-
riiy and humanity: strike for the love
OF God in behalf Of the drunkar'ls of the
State: strike against it ut the ballot box
strike against it in your churches; strike
till You die, and by Gods helpyon shall
do something to repair the most awful
national blundcr of the nineteenth cen
tury."
AFRAID To TAKE BATH.-A hungry,
ragged. and unusually dirty looking
tramp went into the Fifth Precinct Sta
ton last night to inquire about accom-
modations for dodgers. Stationkccpcr
Dubois subjected him to the usual rig
orous cross-cxamination, during which
it was elected that the visitor had walk
ed from New York in seven days. He
was allowed to choose between a sup
PEERLESS night and suppcrlcss morning
in cell ut the station. or a warm
bed, supper and breakfast and II bath
at the night clearinghouse. "Youll
have to take Il cold-watcr bath if You go
there said Officer Dubois. Disgust
WAS plainly visible in the grimy features
of the tramp. Il can't take bath,
he said; ], had the chills and fever
when l was down South" He was told
again he would not get hot coffee for
nj fact hn IN. Il