Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-10-04
NO. 40.

surface water from your nelBhbOrS s 6nk-drain
or back door, where all kinds Of slops gar
bngo and excroment are thrown year after
year and allowed to fermcnt and soethe
in July and August sun, giving rise to a
miasmatC air that deyastRtes the household
with diphthoria or some Other putrid disease
and miasmatic poison that sinks into the
earth with the water, 10 be transported 10y
those hidden streams messengers Of death)
to your well or the far-away household with
faultless sanitary surroundings still this is too
frequently the case.
Some Of the most fatal .epidemics Of ty-
phoid fever that ever visited England were
traced to milk the poison being conveyed in
1t TO the unsuspecting communities by the
milkmen. The ash pits Gan appendagc and
n part Of the English privy) of the dairy farms
were situated so near the water supply that it
| became contaminated with sewage, and two
persons having died ON one of these farms of
| typhoid fever, the sewage from the ash pit
contained the germs of the disease, the water
thus contaminated was used to wash the pans
and possibly to adulterate the milk, thus one
! of the most wholesome and essential articles
of diet became the medium for the diffusion
of a most dreaded disease.
The pig sty may be clas5ed with the privy,
| il being as near as cousin if not twin brother.
| Slaughter houses, unless tho greatest pre-
! cautions are observed, are prolific in the pro-
! duction of animal miasm of a very virulent
| character. An illustration OF the effects of
animal miasm was recently seen in a neigh
boring State. A large tomb containing thou
| sands of dead bodies was so foul from their
| decomposition that yentilators were put in
the vault; Immediately the neighborhood was
| flooded with the most horrd SMELLS putrid
diseases of various kinds peryadod the once
| healthy section for several seasons, until the
cause was discovered and removed, immedi-
! ntcly the gOidemicg of disease ceased
! The practice of leaving dead sheep, lambs,
calves, dogs and other animals on the surface
of the earth is very pernicious and has been
! practically illustrated in Granada the yellow
fever stricken city of all the south.
Our best authorities are agreed that yellow
fever is invariably produced by filth. The
main sewer crossing the city of Granada be-
came obstructed and to repair it, it was
cessary to uncover considerable portion of
| it it was found filed with carcassos Of dead
dogs, cats and rats the sun pouring its heat
| ed rays on these remains filed the atmos-
| phere with stencil and disease, and within
one week seventy Of the two thousand inhab-
itants (31 per cent? sickened Of yellow fever
and fourteen died in one day (seven-tenths of
| one per cent.
The dangers of stagnant water and the So
called dry mill ponds in hot weather are pat
| ent to all.
Wells without covers are dangerous, BUSH
| els of leaves finding access thereto and many
small animals aid in impregnating the water
with dsease-producing elements.
The fact of the increased prevalence Of
| diphtheria in our own country of late may
very likely be due, in part at least, to the
more artificial way of treating children, its
more common victims For it is a shameful
| fact, that as a result of modern fashion few
children now, among all classes have proper
| clothing or covering for their limbs, and q
still smaller number take their food with strict
regularity, abstaining from it between meals
as well as from candies, raisins, nuts and 9TH
er injurious and ndigestible trash as they
should.
The disease once produced by any of the
above causes may spread by contagion, infec-
tion or incubation. Contagion is the act or
process or transmitting disease from one
person to another by direct or indirect con-
tact. Infection is that which infects or caus-
es the communicated disease. Inoculate is to
communicate disease to person by insert
ing infectious matter in his skin or flesh.
70 prevent this disease, as well as other
putrid febrile affections, children and adults
should take proper food with strict regularity,
should wear suitable clothing, the arms and
legs of children being well covered and pro-
tected; should sleep in high, dry and clean
apartments be kept cleanly in person and
dress should avoid all unwholesome and in-
|
tagion from cases of the disease
Sink-drains should be rendered as perfect
as possible, privies placed remote from dwell
lings and kept thoroughly cleaned, hog-pens,
stables and barn-yards should be kept clean
and thoroughly disinfected, the drinking wa
ter should be pure, and only proper food
should be taken with strict regularity by all,
old and young, nothing being indulged in be-
| tween meals except for children from one 70
| n1I Ia. 4Ia
rule, and gluttony, as well as intoxicants, in
cluding tobacco. should be avoided.
A radical reform in these respects and an
avoidance of the polutions in and about dwell
lings, barns and outhouses with proper sew
erage would greatly diminish the number of
cases as well as the malignancy of this and all
other putrid diseases
Such a rational and proper course, perse-
vered in for a reasonable time, would doubt
less render them extinct, or some of them at
least.
The disease being present the sick should
be isolated in high, dry, airy, cleanly room,
| with southern and eastern exposure if pos
sible. The least possible furniture and no
carpets. rugs or mats should be in the ROOM
The bedding should be kept thoroughly clean
and well aired. Ventilation should be reduc-
ed to a system and insisted upon. Disinfect-
ants carbolic acid sulphurous acid gas, chlor-
ide of lime and chlorine gas being among the
best should be freely used in the sick room
and chamber utensils.
All neighbors except such as are needed to
care for the sick, and only when needed
should frequent the premises. Public funer-
ais over the remains of persons dead of diph-
liberia are believed to be a frequent cause of
its transmission and should be prohibited
Fumigation by burning sulphur, or other
agents. in the closed rooms after the termina-
ton of the disease in given house, tends to
purify the apartments and prevent recur-
renee of it.
If all interested in this matter would, in
stead of regarding it as a visitation of God,
set about inquiring into and removing the
causes, very much might and would thus be
speedily done to eradicate this disease. For,
though God has established laws that control
results, He has not directed nor ordained that
nuisauces and polutons should be left where
they will tend to produce disease.