The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1877-01-23
TIE DiARRHuA Epidemic.
Is TT CAUSED BIZ IMPURE WA
TERq
Opinions of Dr's Gait, Plummer and
Truesdale.

Mayor Butler, in accordance with the
suggestions of THE ARGUS, is taking
measures to ascertain whether the river
water pumped through our water
mains is the cause of the prevailing cpl
demic, and at the special meeting of the
council, last evening, by his invitation,
Dr's. Gait, Plummer and Truesdale were
present and were invited to give their
opinions as to the cause of the prevailing
complaint, diarrhea, which has afflicted
our people for the past three or four weeks.
DR.. Gait stated that he had not given
the matter very careful study but from
what he had seen he did not attribute the
cause of the disease to the impure water Of
our water works. as people living outside
of the water limits and using no river
water, and one family living above Moline,
and people at several towns on the line Of
the Peoria road, were suffering with the
same complaint He did not think the
refuse from the gas works was the cause,
but thought large amount of sewerage
might cause the disease.
Dr. Plummer then stated that he had
given the matter careful study for some
time, and he was free to express the
opinion that the impure water from our
water works was the cause of the disease.
He said the river, when winter first
opened froze out few rods from our
shore very solid; that the running ice
in the channel got crowded I'M
der this shore ice land he now
understood that, for some distance from
our shoreand to the channel the river, it was
frozen to the bottom; the water from our
sewers five in number) was warmer than
the water in the river and it cut way
directly through this shore ice to the
channel, and this mass Of filth was
carried rapidly down stream and directly
over the mouth of the conduit and was
pumped into our water mains; that in the
summer time, Notwithstanding the large
amount of sewerage, he did not think the
water would cause the complaint as the
water would then be in the open air, and
the action of the wind and the eddy lust
below the Peoria round house (now frozen
to the bottom) would be such that the
water would be so purified before it reached
the water works that it would not produce
diarrhea, At the present time there is
not an air hole between any Of the sewers
and the water works and the filthy matter
is carried rapidly down the channel to the
conduit, and he considered the flow from
any one of our sewers, as the river now is,
poisonous enough to produce the disease.
. He said the water works superintendent
had told him that the water was pumped
directly from the river through the con-
duit, and he asked what could prevent
some animal being sucked to the mouth OF
the conduit and held there untiit dec9m-
posed? He had found pieces of fish
come from his hydrant at his residence,
In all cases where river water was not
used, and where people had the complaint
he had found that they drank water from
wells dug IN lime stone; that the wells
t were very low, and he believed that it was
surface water, and may come from some
cess-pool. Where water was used which
had come from wells dug in gravel he had
> not found a single case of diarrhma-the
5 gravel acting as filter.
DR.. Truesdale then stated that he had
: given the matter some thought bat he haG
not had time to fully investigate so as tt
remove all doubt as to the cause, but, al
though some features Of the cases he hac
' seen seemed to contradict his theory o.
. the disease, still prep0nderance Of cir
/ cumstances led him to believe that tht
impure water from the river was thu
! cause Of the disease. The disease wa,
{ either atmospheric or local; if the former
. it would be in Davenport and Moline as
d we'll as here, but he had enquired from
the leading physicians of both cities anC
a found only one case in Davenport, am
. that man resided in. this city. But h,
!
: which he had attended were inside tb,
o water limits He accounted for people Il
other cities, away from any river, having
V the same disease, by saying that peop
were constantly travelling from one plac
to another, that it would often becom
epidemic and people weuld become fright
ennd or alarmed oud soon tho diSaaC
e though local, would spread over the en-
# tire continent or the world.
;, He also gave about the same theory a
- Dr.l Plummer in regard to the sewerage c
is the city flowing directly to the conduit an
}, being pumped into the water mai Us befor
it became purified to such an extent tina
it would not produce the disease-an
said that nothing was so poisonous to th
the health as the mixture of nigh
S, soil with the water used for domestic pul
le poses. He closed by recommending tn;
y a committee be appointed to thoroughly il
~ vestigate the cause of the disease and thu
/, an analysis of the water be made.
The water works committee, (Mayt
= Butler and Aldermen Carse and Davi
and Drs. Gait, Plummer and Truesda
lg were appointed a committee to investiga
s. the matter and report at the next reguli
meeting. The next regular meeting wi
be February 5th rather a long time f
'y people to wait for relief-especially if Il
"a