New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-09-09

themselves at home. The wonder IL that tue
parsimopy or Ignorance OF Landlords 40
not prove fatal to guests more OFTEN than
they do The question is, literally, one OF life or
DEATH and there need be, therefore, no iaise
lelcacy about discussing it.
New light is thrown upon the Rye Beach
affair by The Medical Ne'cs, whose editor has
made a personal study of the local conditions,
and seems to have discovered the real cause OF
the peculiar type of fever which has been
known there. not only tins year but in previous
years. His description of the place Will tit
many another seaside resort, which may DO
well to learn lesson from Rye Beach. The
boarding-houses grouped about Rye Beach,
Boar's Head and Hampton are farm-houses en-
larged into boarding houses, or they are larger
houses built on the same plan, with modlnca-
tions to suit guests. There are also cottages
and fine Queen Anne hotel, some pf these
being drained into the ocean, but most OF them
having only ordinary outhouses. The cottage
in which cases of fever were most numerous
was new aad beautiful and had entirely mod
ern sanitary appliances The house was
drained into vault twenty feet distant aud
thirty feet deep. The well furnishing the
water supply was not more than twenty feet
from the vault and had the same depth. soon
after the use of the water began, peculiar
taste and odor were noticed, and when sickness
began the water was at once suspected. by
this time the smell was unmistakable. The
vault was emptied and cleaned, and the house
drainage diverted by pipes into the ocean
Then the we'll was pumped out, and even a
worse condition of affairs discovered than had
been imagined. Poisonous matter, powerfully
offensive, Ouzed up from the bottom OF the
well, in such quantity as to preclude the IDEA
that it could all have come from newly built
vault Ii was found that the drainage OF the
neighboIng cottage had been conducted Tor
several years to a manure heap under the stable
and on the surface of the ground. AS an ex-
animation OF the earth seemed to show, the
liouid material had been percOlating through
the soil, not having OveTflowed and, 1t is sup
posed. had accumulated somewhere in reser-
voir of poison, which was tapped when the new
we'll was opened only thirty feet away.
Preaching on this text would be words
wasted. How many summer hotels and board
lighthouses there are where shallow wells are
SINK near outhouses, it would lie hard to say,
because these are the rule rather than the ex-
ception. A slight investigation on the part OF
pleasure seekers will, in many cases, show
them whether the water supply is likely to be
contaminated, and little wholesome avoid
ancr will soon cause the proprietors OF hotels
and boarding-huuses to take precautions Tor
the health of their guests. Snch policy
would guard against some of the more OBVIOUS
sanitary dangers of such places; though it Is
true that there are often others which APP
pear in unsupported quarters. and which 1t
seems difficult if not impossible for the new
conner to guard against. But in these cases,
also it will usually be found that some one has
neglected bis duties as decent citizen, and SO
brought suffering and death to others.