National Republican., 1880-10-08
rHE CGUsns or TYPHOID FEVER.
sumo Things Which Need Attention IN
Uu.l,!uutnu

Sumo Things Which Need Attention In
Washington.
| The prevalence aud mnlignnncy Of typhoid
fever in the city OF New York has led to a
thorough investigation Of the causes by
the New York board of health. As
Washington is not without reasons for n
similar Investigation it will be well for our
citzcus to know some of the facts elected by
the New York inquiry, the result of which
has been anything but reassuring Some
years ago there were great many wells IN
| New York and many cases of typhoid fever
were traced to thes9 wells, and they were
| found to have become contaminated from cess.
pools aud closets, which dripped into them,
aud one by one they were closed up. In this
| city our people cling to strcct-pumps, with all
their filthy and fatal possibilities. 1t is true
| we have had an inspection" aud an analysis
of water from them, with some queer reports
about bad water" "usable water" good
water" etc We would like to know just
how much filth goes to "usable" water and
how little TO good" water. We do not be-
| licve that there has yet been u scientific
analysis of the water Of the public wells in the
District and we do believe that there is not u
pump in the built part of the city which is fit
| for drinking.
| By far tho greatest amount OF sickness in
| New York was traced TO faulty plumbing aud
bad sewer connections Every attention was
paid to this by the board Of health, aud the
employment Of traps became general through
out the city. Gas, however, was generated,
| and the only way to prevent the traps them
selves from becoming source of poison was
| by vcntiatiugpipes to carry OF the gus. Tho
| board ordered that in each house Il large yen-
| tilatiug pipe, connected with every closet and
sower trap in tho building, should be run up
through the roof above the surrounding build
ings. This was found to he of incalculablo
value and was great relief.
| The present investigation of the board has
led to some different causes, just us common,
however, us the above. In many localities in
| New York the sewerage is open or above
| ground, and refuse matter Is run OFF through
cutters ut tho sides OF the street. The results
| of this in West street particularly, were very
apparent. saloon keeper a strong, healthy
man, was in the habit of takiug his chair 10
the edge Of tho sidewalk, backing up against
the lamp.post and reading for hours. Ho con-
traeted chills and fever and finally died with
all the typhoid symptoms This led to iuves-
| tigation, and il was believed that his death
was due TO tho odors and emauatiOns from
| these cutters. There were a good many cases
! ia the same street, and three or four pcrsun'
! fell victims to the same disease. This
caused another investigation for although il
was believed that the cutters might have
| been responsible for tho first case, il could
| The investigation resulted in showing that
the waste pipes running from the sinks to the
cutters were coated very thiClly with grease
! This had declyed and was sending forth
poisonous gases and nOXious vapors that were
moving down the inhabitants. This was
found to be tho case in every house eX.
! amucd.
The pouring orboiling lye once n week into
the kitchen sinks will greatly aid ia prevent
ing the aggregation Of grease in the pipes
This should be attended to by every house.
holder where the sense Of smell detects bad
odor from tho sink. The same poured down
the bath and closet pipes will do good.
OF course, the board finds in its iuvestiga-
tion many local causes for typhoid fever. The
above causes, however are to be found in abun-
dance in every city, aud we would especially
draw attention Of our board of health to il ut
| this season olthe year. 4 thorough inspection OF
suspected districts will do no harm, and may
save much sickness. There are many sus
picous localities in this city that 1t would cor
tainly be beneficial to glance ut.