St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-03-16


SEWER AIR.
The practical bearings OF this paper
upon the life and health of 50,0OO,WO
of human beings exposed here and in
Europe to carnations from sewage are,
it seems to me. so vitality important
that | propose to commence by giving
its salient points so closely condensed
that they may be glanced over by the
busiest reader. In the following pages,
then, assert
list. That according to the germ
theory of disease in the form for which
during the past fifteen years | have
been an earnest advocate, diphtheria,
typhoid fever, scarlet fever. and prob
ably other contagious diseases, are con
nected with, if not solely due to, the
development of spores or germs of
vegetable organisms III the human
body.
ID. That these germs propagate in
sewers and float to us on the sewer air,
penetrating into our dwellings through
water-c closets, sinks, stationary wash
stands, etc.
3D.. have just discovered the rea-
son our various ingenious traps fail to
protect us against these fatal sewer
diseases is that sometimes IA layer of
microcOccus and mycelium creeps along
the interior of the continuance until it
forms new depot of development in
the Shiny vegetable lining extended
into the inner or house side of the trap,
from which, without obstruction, its
deadly germs may be given off into the
very bed-chambers of its victims /;
therefore.
4th. The true method of Obviating
this danger is 10y sterilizing with slow
currents or drippings of solutions of
sulphate of iron, corrosive sublimate,
arsenic, carbOlic acid, etc, the whole
interior of our traps and waste pipes,
Just as the shores of the Dead Sea and
the banks of certain small streams are
Sterilizcd by mineral ingredients, or
poisonous metallic substances from
manufacturing refuse, with which their
waters are mingled.
cannot claim in support of my sec
und proposition that | have ever yet
propagatcd any of the disease pOisOns
in il sewer, and vet the innumerable
culture experiments of Koch, Klein,
PaStcur, II. e. Wood. and host of
their disciples, have so conclusively
shown that the conditions of algoid
growth are warmth, air, moisture and
heterogeneous matter, that | think there
can bc no reasonable doubt that prop
agation of disease germs does fire.
pucntly occur in sewers, where it is in
contcstable that their necessary physI-
cal conditions are all abundantly pres
cnt. have determined by direct OBJ
servations upon the gelatinous films OF
vegetable growth lining waste-pipes
communicating with sewers, the pres
cncc of mIcrOcOccus, bacteria and my
celIum, morphOlogically identical with
those of diphtheria, and of klein's pig
typhoid fever; and since the condition
of existence for the common forms OF
these low vegetable organisms and fOI
the disease germs are known to he sim
liar, it becomes. | think, certain that
in situations where | found abundant
algoid spores and mycelium, the dis
ease germs of diphthcria, typhoid
fever etc, could have propagated them
selves had they happened to find a
Judgment. Lastly, as direct evidence
from the clinical side of the question
we have such suggestive records as the
following stubborn facts "
DIR VIM. \. Thurstield of Birming-
ham, England, reports tracing, an iso-
lated case of diphtheria to temporary
exposure to ''sewer- gas in IA house OF
Il short line of sewer which he knew to
be specifically contaminated by diph-
iberia. This sewer, when Opcned and
examined by ii surveyor, produced in
him a severe diphtheritic attack. DR.
VIM. V. Heating details at length fOuI
cases of typhoid fever attributed to
severe gas from untraPpcd drain pipes,
and refers to cases of measles, scarlet
fever and diphthcria in two other fam
lies apparently from the same cause
DIR. &. w. Chamberlin of Hartford re-
latcS remarkable case of fatal erysip-
elias seemingly due to sewer gas from Il
waste pipe carelesSly left open beneath
the bed of the patient. DR.. George
Wilson quotes the account of twenty
out of twenty-five boys at Chaplain,
England, in IS29. who were attacked
with violent vomiting, purging and
fever within three hours after standing
over choked-up drain, watching the
workmen clean 1t out. Nor are these
isolated instances. for the medical jour
mails of America and Europe record
numerous similar examples of danger
Gus OF fatal effects from disease poisOns
in sewer air when inhaled by human
beings.
The most important fact mentioned
in my third statement was discovered
in purely accidental manner as
follows:
ON moving into new residence |
had all the stationary wash-stands
fitted with ball-traps of the most APP
proved construction. Noticing. how
ever, after IA few months, that the flow
of waste water through one of them
seemed to Ice impeded, unscrewed the
glass cup which forms the lower seq
ment of the trap for the purpose of re-
moving the obstruction, and was sur
priscd to find what appeared to be Il
fragment of thick black blotting paper
hanging from the vertical pipe. Or
further investigation discovered that
this was part of a continuous lining to
the upright tube of the trap, which
lining extended a little above the Ordi-
nary water level on the inner or house
side, and in order to determine its ma
ture | detached a portion for micro
scopical examination.
At first | did not appreciate the tire.
mendOus Importance of my Observa-
ton. but on finding, under Il power of |
30 diameterS, that the film was "A felted
mass of mycelium, bacteria, and mi
crococcus, realized at once that the
existence of such lining of vegetable
growth completely through the trap
from its outer to its inner limit ac-
counted for the penetration of disease
germs through the best of these con
trivances, and explained that frequent
and deadly entrance of sewer infection
through apparently tight traps which
has been the despair of plumbers, sani-