The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1877-02-16
The Doctors Can't Agree /.

The discussion of the diarrhoea question
before the medical society continued until
dark Thursday evening, and was partiei-
pated in by Drs, Truesdale, Plummer, Gait,
Gregg, Cowden, Craig, Bernhard and
Mckee, of Rock Island: Lyford, of Port
Byron; Dawson, of Moline; and Bell and
Baker, of Davenport. Drs. Truesdale and
Plummer presented statistics, accompanied
with interesting illustrations, which show
almost beyond the possibility of doubt
that impure water is the cause of the dis
ease, while the very few cases in persons
not using the hydrant water do not dis
prove this fact for the water they used
may have contained the same poisonous
matter drained from privy vaults, cess
pools, etc, into their wells.-or they may
have drank of the hydrant water while alb
sent from their houses.
No attempt was made by any one to de-
ny the irrefutable fact that sewage poi
son produces diarrh@a and fever; nor
could those who opposed Drs. Truesdale,
Plummer and others do anything but give
their opinions, unsupported by any proof
DIR. Cowden read paper showing results
of his examination of the water, at various
times, and showed that while sewage
poison would and probably had produced
the disease, the very same kind of poison
was present at times in the atmosphere and
helpedproduce the same effect. He referred
to the long duration of cold weather, to the
piled up privy vaults, to the excrement ac-
cumulated over the ground, to the absence
of rain, and to the fact that in peculiar
conditions of the atmosphere people are
affected in the same manner as from i'm
purities in the water.
Without coming to any conclusion the
society adjourned to Thursday, March l al
he same place at l p. m.
The water is said to be improving, anG
as the water improves the disease de-
creases. For hundreds Of miles above us
the river has, for many weeks. been frozer
| tight as drum, giving no chance for all
and the purifying oxygen to act upon the
the water and oxidize its poisons. And a
this point, instead Of an open shore, as il
usual, and the advantage of the curves il
the river, thus giving the water poisoned
by sewage opportunity to come in contac
with the shore and become purified, the
river has been, all along our shore, dow
to the pumping works, for many weeks
frozen solid to the bottom, so that whel
the poison from more than 20 places alonl
our city front enters the channel it is takeI
as straight to the conduit as it could be i
carried there in one large water main, an,
with as little chance for contact with tn
air or for the admission of the purifyin
oxygen. AS the river rises and the ic
breaks up on the shore and the water
exposed to the air it becomes purer, and tn
disease decreases. When rains come. t.
purify the surface of the ground, AM
change the air, we may hope for furthe
Improvements. But we shall always b
liable to a recurrence Of our present ex
perience as long as we obtain water fror
the present location. For permanent
good water we must ultimately lcok to tn
north side of the Island, where it come
booming and boiling and thrashing owe
the rocks for 20 miles, with little chanc
for much filth to ever enter it, and wit
t great opportunities, by air and rapi
notion for ii to become purified if any fit
does enter it, Scarcely an instance ca
be found in the world, except in Rock 1
D land, Of city taking its water supp
from below its sewerage, 1t was 4 hug
mistake to do so,-and that mistake mus
some time. be corrected. The pride
+ opinion of the Ring who made this mistak
and of their friends who are disposed
t find apologies for the mistake. can not pr
vent it--nor can We see why there need
any feeling about the matter The tru
g is what we seek-wthout fear or fay
from anybody.
A merchant down town sells more