Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-02-04
THE POISONING OF WELLS.
[Rural NeX-Yorker.l


in hundred Of diseases in rural dis
tricts are the result of poison absorbed
into the system either from the stom
ach or the lungs The blood is manu-
factured in the digestive organs from
the food, passes in great part through
the liver, and all of it through the
lungs, in both of which it is filtered
and purified, and in the latter it i,
brought directly into contact with the
air which is breathed by inspiration
and is subjected to any deleteriou:
matter which may be contained in it
As the food and drink are the materials
of which the blood is formed, any un
healthy or poisonous influence at this
prime source, of course poisons the
stream; and as the function of the
lungs is to aerate and purify the blood
anything wrong in the purifying ma.
terial interferes with this important
vital process.
But we propose only to call atten.
tion to what we believe to be the most
prolific source of rural diseases, ma.
larial, functional and organic in their
character. This is the water supply
A case in point appears in our column
of inquiries and answers, and we have
taken the trouble to illustrate it for
the purpose of showing distinctly how
wells are poisoned. In this case a
cesspool eight feet deep receives the
excreta of family, the wash from a
bath room, water closet and sink
included. Thirty or forty gallons a
day, equal to nearly $4,000 gallons, or
1000 cubic feet per year of the most
poisonous kind of filth, are poured into
this pool only eight feet deep, and, of
course, soak into the soil and saturate
it. Twenty feet only from this deadly
sink is the well which is probably sew
eral feet deeper than the ceesspool.
The drainage from this cesspool will
flow then in every direction in q circle
of twenty feet radius only, before it
pours into the well For each foot in
depth of this area there are about
l,2O0 cubic feet In year the 1000
cubic feet of waste will completely fill
this space of twenty feet around the
well to q depth of more than a foot
and half, and in two years to depth
of three and half feet. But two
things cannot occupy the same space,
and this filth will then be distributed
over much larger quantity of ground
in proportion to the ratio of solid soil
to the small interstices, or spaces
among the gravel, in the mass. Taking
this ratio as only ten to one, the 1000
cubic feet of waste will saturate 10000
cubic feet of earth in one year.
1t is true that the soil near the
cesspool will retain the largest portion
Of the solid matter, and the first water
which reaches the well will be filtered
to some extent. But it is only a
question of time-the lapse of which
will depend upon the nature of the
subsoil-how long or short time will
elapse before the poison pours undiluted
into the well, and from it into the
stomachs of the unfortunate and unsus-
pecting victims If bed of clay lies
close to the bottom Of cesspool, there
will be no escape downwards, and the
period required to reach the well will
be probably six months. If the soil is
grayelly and the waste sinks down.
wards, there is an absolute certainty
that stream Of water which flows
into the well will be reached sooner or
later.
A similar frightful certainty, slowly
but surely approaching in thousands
Of cases, threatens in time to sap the
life of unsuspecting people, who will
by and by exhibit every symptom Of
insidions but fatal disorder. The hectic
cheek, swollen glands, dry hot skin,
disordered digestion, bilious derange-
ments, headaches, tremors, diarrh9a
dysentery, cutaneous eruptions, tumors,
coated tongue, foul breath, and all the
varied symptoms by which blood
poisoning first becomes apparent and
the final deadly typhoid and malignant
fevers are predicted, alarm the con-
sciousness, while the source of the
very poison itself is hourly used to
allay the fever and thirst occasioned
by it.
We do not desire to be sensational
or to make too much Of this. The
danger exists and it is everywhere.
The case before US, to which we call
the closest attention, is by no means
an unusual one. In fact, there are
thousands that are greatly more dan
gerous than this, and every person
who cares for his own health and that
of the loved ones whom he shelters
from harm with tcnderest care, should
see to it that this prevalent source of
danger is eliminated from his house
hold and remember that decomposing
organic matter as The most deadly Of
all potsons.