Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1880-05-04
THE POISONING OF WELLS.

It is probable that ninety cases in
q hundred Of disease in the rural dis
tricts are the result of poison absorbed
into the system either from the stomach
or lungs. The blood is manufactured 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 is brought directly into contact with
the air which is breathed BY inspiration,
and is subjected to any deleterious mat
ter which may be contained in it. As
the food and drink are the materials Of
which the blood is formed, any unhealth-
full 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 material, interferes with
this important vital process.
But we propose here only to call atten-
ton TO what we believe to be the most
prolific source of rural diseases, malarial,
functional and organic in their character.
This is the water supply. A cesspool,
eight feet deep, receives the excreta of
family, the wash from bathroom.
water. closet and sink included. Thirty
or forty gallons a day. equal to nearly
Is, 900 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 several feet deeper than the
cess pool. The drainage from this cess
pool will flow then in every direction in
circle of twenty feet radius, only before
it pours into the well. For each foot in
depth of this area there are about 1000
cubic feet. In year the 1000 cubic
feet of waste will completely fill the space
of feet around the well, TO depth Of
more than a foot and a half, and in two
years to depth of three and half feet.
But two things canno, occupy the same
space. and this filth will then be distrib-
uted over a much larger quantity Of ground
in proportion TO the ratio Of solid soil to
the small in,ers,ices, or spaces among the
gravel. in the mass. Taking this ratio
as only ten to one, the 1900 cubic feet
of waste will satura,e 10000 cubic fee,
of earth in one year.
|, is true that the soil near the cess
pool will retain the larges, portion of the
solid matter. and the first water which
reaches the well will be filtered to some
extent. But j, is only question of time
the lapse of which will depend upon
the nature OF the subsoil-how long or
shor, time will elapse before the poison
pours undiluted into the well, and from
il into the stomachs of the unfortunate
and unsuspecting victims. II bed OF
clay lies close 10 the bottom Of the cess
pool, there will be no escape downward,
and the period required to reach the well
will be probably six months. If the soil
is grayelly and the waste sinks down
ward, there is the absolute certainty that
a stream Of water which flows into the
we'll will be reached sooner or later.
A similar frigh,ful certainty, slowly
bu, surely approaching in thousands OF
cases, threatens in time to sap the life OF
unsuspecting people, who will BY and by
: xhibit every symptom of insidious but
fatal disorder. The hectic cheek, swollen
glands. dry hot skin, disordered diges-
ton, bilious arrangements, headaches,
tremors, diarrhGa, dysentery, cutaneous
eruptions, tumors, coated tongue, foul
breath, and all the varied symptoms by
which blood poisoning first becomes APP
parent. and the final deadly typhoid and
malignant fevcrs are predicted, alarm the
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 dangerous than this, and
every person who cares for his own health
and that Of the loved ones whom he shell
tiers from harm with tenderest care, should
see to it that this prevalent source of
danger is eliminated from his household;
and remember that decomposing organic
yrattar a tha vnoat daa die or ell y,o;aope