The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-01-23

'No " NiIdilllclS DcCN cell lllc
layers of soil convey the contents
to long distances. If the earth
IS compact clay, the process is
slow; if loose gravel. sand, or
rocks with seams, it is more
rapid.
It is well known 10 farmers
that water will flow through the
soil horizontally, far enough to
bring the water of the soil into
drains when they are two or
three rods or even more
apart. If therefore the water
from impure source within a
rod of the we'll, (Which is deep
er than a drain and will extend
It's drainage further,) the water
will freely flow towards it, and
pass into it. For a time the
soil may absorb the Impurities,
but when it becomes saturated
there is nothing to prevent the
water of the we'll from becoming
heavily contaminated. Instan-
ces are recorded where water
from the sink spout has flowed
forty feet through soil and pol
luted the water of wells.
1t may happen that while all
the family remain in health, the
impurities from vaults may not
produce positive sickness; but if
any one happens to be attacked
with the epidemic, those impu-
rites will then become a deadly
poison. In this way whole fam
lilies are sometimes Frustrated,
and the disease, which spreads
only through the poisonous in
huence of the bad water, is sup
posed to be contagious, and
wrong mean for prevention are
resorted to.
DR.. II. O. Hitchcock of Kala-
mazoo, Mich, who has given
much attention to the subject,
insists that no vault without a
cemented bottom and sides
should be allowed within four
rods of a we'll supplying human
beings with water for drinking
and culinary purposes. He adds
that Sin the villages and cities
Of Michigan, and ever in the
country, there hire hundreds and
thousands with deep, uncemen-
ted and full vaults, within TWEEN
ty or thirty feet of wells, the
sources Of water for hundreds
and thousands of families. No
wonder that statistics record so
many deaths from zymotic and
low diseases ofa typhoid type"
Where the soil is gravelly and
porou,, and rests on an impervi-
Gus hardpan, or has horizontal
seams and assures, even SO great
a distance as four rods, would
be insufficient, and it is hard to
say under such circumstances
what the distance should be.
The French government, in the
early part of the present centu-
ry, forbade digging wells within
twenty rods OF cemeteries, and
ordered those to be filled which
were nearer.
The Michigan Health Reports
furnish a large number of in
stances where typhoid fever was
brought on by the pollution Of
the water of wells from barn
yards, and in such cases the dis
ease was arrested, or new cases
prevented, by the discontinue
ance of its use. In one instance
typhoid occurred in a family
that used water from a "driven
we'll" thirty feet deep, and sixty
feet from barn and vault, the
soil being porous sand and gray
ell, and the ground sloping to-
wards the we'll. Such wells af-
ford strong protection against
surface water, but In this case it
settled down outside the pipe
and entered below.
An extraordinary instance Of
the conveyance OF disease to a
distance Of one mile, partly in a
stream of water, and partly by
the water soaking through po-