Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-09-30

we'll The water vas itself pure, but was
turbid from suspended matters, consisting OF
the debris Of ants, chlorophyll, minute
cellular and bTaEched algse, monads, poly
gastriea, aud minute particles of sand and
clay. When filtered the water was quite
harmless.
DISSOLVED ANIMAL ORGANIC NATTER
The opinion is very widely diffused that
dissolved and puirescent animal organic
matter to the amount OF three to ten grains
per gallon may produce diarrhRA.
FGTm GASES.
Water containing much sulphuretted by
drogen will give rise to diarrh9s, especially
II organic matter be also present. In the
late Frsneo-hexican wars the French troops
suffered at 0rzaba from peculiar dyspep-
STA and diarrh9a, attended with immense
disengagements Of gas and enormous eruc-
tations after meals from the impure water.
Dissolved mineral matters, il passing q
certain point, produce diarrhea.
METALLIC IMPROVISATION OF WATER.
Occasionally animal organic matter acts
In an indirect way by producing nitrates and
nitrttes, which act on metals.
DR.. Baedsker, physician of Witten, and
others, report cases Of sickness produced by
impure water. The water was found TO
contain considerable quantity Of copper,
which seemed to be in combination with
some organic matter, and the solution was
aided by the large amount Of nitrates
which are produced by the passage OF ex-
creta into the water and subsequent oxida-
ton.
Dysentery, also, is decidedly produced by
impure water And this cause ranks high
in the etiology OF dYsenterY. Several OF the
British army surgeons refer to this cause.
Pnngle does so several times, and Donald
Munroe, in the campaigns in Flanders and
Germany. In the West Indies, Lempriere,
In 1893, noticed the increase Of bowel COM
plants in Jamaica In the month Of May,
After foods the water was bad aud turbid,
land loaded with dirt and filth. Davis
treatise on the Walcheren Fever mentions
as a curious fact in reference to the West
Indies, that ships crews, when ordered to
Tortola were invariably seized with iuxes."
The dysentery at Walcheren in 1904 was in
no small degree owing to the bad water.
The epidemic at Guadalupe in 1S49, re-
corded by Cornuel, seems also quite con-
elusive as to the effect Of impure water in
causing it.
In 1850, at Prague, there we're many cases
OF dysentery clearly traced to the use OF
impure water.
On the west coast Of Africa (Cape Coast
CASTLE an epidemic of dysentery was traced
by Assistant Surgeon Cakes, Of the British
army, to the use Of impure water. That Ia
the East Indies a great deal Of dysentery
has been produced by impure water is a
matter too familiar almost to be mentioned.
The impurities which thus produced dys-
entery appear to be Of the same kind as
those which cause the allied condition, diar-
rh1a; suspended earthly matter, suspended
animal organic matter, sulphates and chic
ride Of lime, and magnesia, nitrate OF lime
and ammonia, etc.
AFFECTIONS OF OTHER MUCOUS MEMBRANES
BESIDES THE ALIHEETARY.
Little has been done to trace out this point.
At Prague, after the severe food OF 1850,
bronchial catarrh was frequent, probably
caused chiefly by the chills arising from the
great evaporation; but 1t was noticed that
/ bronchial catarrh was most common where
the drinking water was foulest, and pro-
dueed dysentery.
That some Of the specific diseases are die
seminated by drinking water is a fact which
has only attracted its due share Of late years.
MALARIoUs YEVERs.
Hippocrates states that the spleens OF
those who drink the water Of marshes
become enlarged and hard, and Rhazes not
only asserted this, but affirmed that it gene
rated fevers. Little attention seems to have
been paid to this remark, and In modern
times the opinions Of Lancisi, that the afr
Of marches is the sole cause Of intermit-
tents, has been 30 generally adopted that
the possibility Of the Introduction Of the
cause by means Of water, as well as air, has
been overlooked. Still it has been q very
general belief among She inhabitants OF
marshy countries that the water could pro-
duce fever.
Henry Marshall Topography Of CeYlon)
says the feVers OF the country is attributed
TO the use Of impure water. DR.. Bettington
Qndian Annals, 1856 states that it is "nOto-
rious that the water produces fever and af-
fections Of the spleen" In the Landes (of
southwest France) the water from the ex-
tensive sandy plains contains much Vegeta-
BILE matter, which 1t obtains from the vege-
table deposits, which bind together the
siliceous particles OF the subsoil. 1t has a
marshy smell, aud, according to DR.. Faure,
produces intermittents and Visceral engorge-
ments.
At sheerness the use Of ditch water,
which is highly impure with vegetable
debris, has been considered to be one of the
chief causes OF the extraordinary insalu-
brity. At Versailles, sudden attack Of
ague in regiment Of cavalry was traced to
the use of surface water taken from a
msrshy district.
One very important circumstance, says
Doctor Parker, is the rapidity Of develop
ment OF the malsrious disease and its
fatality when introduced by water. 1t is
the same thing as IN the case OF diarrhUa
cause must be In larger quantity in the
water, or, what is more probable, must be
readily taken up into the circulation and
carried to the spleen, than when the case
enters the lungs.
TYPHOID FRvKR.
The belief that typhoid fever can spread
by means OF water as well as air appears TO
be also entertained by competent observers.
The fever at Gottingen in 1850 was at
tributed in part to the use of impure water.
In 1922 Walz affirmed that an outbreak of
"typhus" (typhoid) in Rhenish Prussia was
caused by impure water. In 1S4S Richter
published an account Of an outbreak Of
typhoid fever which occurred at Vienna,
due to impure water. In 1928 a severe
outbreak of yellow fever took place at Croy-
den and was thoroughly investigated by
many competent observers, and 1t was shown
by DR.. Carpenter of CroYden, that It was
partly, at any rate, spread by the pollution
of the drinking water.
In 1856 DIR. Routh published pamphlet
of cases arising from the use Of impure
water. In 1859 DR.. W. Budd published two
very conclusive cases of this sort. In 1860
an outbreak of typhoid fever occurred at
the Convent of the Sisters of Charity at
Munich, traced to the use of water impreg-
mated with much organic matter.
The propagation Of typhoid fever In Bed
ford would certainly appear, from Mr..
the medium Of the water. That water may
be the medium of propagating typhoid,
thus seems to be proved by sufficient evil
dence; and it has been admitted by men
who have paid special attention to the sub
ject, as Jenner, w. Budd, Simon, and other
distinguished physicians Of England and
France.
CHOLERA.
DR.. Muller of Hanover, DR.. Snow OF Lon
don, DIR. John Marshall, DIR. Dundas
Thompson, DR.. Ackland, DR.. Aitken, and
many others, In papers drawn up with great
logical power, the various Indian medical
reports, and reports made to the British
Government of outbreaks of cholera in
Great Britain, contain most convincing evil
dence that the poison of cholera may, and
does, often find its way into the body
through the drinking water.
WILLOW FEVER.
As, like dysenterY, typhoid fever and
cholera, the alimentary mucous membrane
Is often found primarily affected in yellow
fever, there is priOri probability that the
cause is swallowed also in this case, and
that 1t may possibly enter with the drinking
water. Boudin (Traite de Geo., ct de Stat.
Med. 1850 quotes a case from Rochard in
which French frigate took In water st San
Sage, where yellow fever prevailed. Several
days after yellow fever broke out with such
violence that two thirds of the crew were
attacked. "And the proof that the only
cause was the water" says Rochard, "was
that the persons living with the Captain had
with them water from Europe, and all of
these escaped.n