Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-04-04
HN6iEhIC INVESTIGATION

HYGIENE INVESTIGATION.
Some important and interesting facts rclat.
'ng to hYgienic science, relating especially
to the origin Of cpdemics ia cmanatons
from the soil, are given in a valuable PAPER
furnished to the Connecticut State Board of
Health by Prof. George A. Smyth. p. IL.
d., formerly Professor of Chemistry in the
University of Vermont, which has beer. re.
Gently printed with the proceedings of that
Board.
After speaking of the origin of hygiene as
al experimental science, which he places at
very recent date, Prot. Smy'h sels forth
the present condition Of The science, aud the
importance of the prosecution Of hyeicnc
investigation in our own country by means
OF properly equipped laboratories aad by
gienic institutes, which are ACCOMPLISHING 50
much Tor the publ" health in other lands.
Prof. Sdyjh states that t!G theory That
i-icctious diseases arr chiefly communicated
lY drinking water, has been strongly COM
battcd by The German scientist. Pe,tcnkofer
who is called. "ihe orator Of expcrimental
hygiene !!c contends that the Causes Of
tao epidemic prevalence Of such diseases Ms
cholera, abdominal typhus, etc., are 10 be
found in the soil, AID that it is only through
Investigation Of all the phys;c .,und chemical
conditions of the soil That their causes can
he iinally be brought 70 light.
Su5pec,ilg that the v1ryin- conditions of
The sol. as regards the amount Of moisture
which / contained, influenced materially tbo
local and temporal distribution Of cholera
and other epidemic diseases, Pcuenkofcr
began, IN Munich, the investigation of the
movements Of the sub-soil or grounl water,
determining periodically its fluctuations, and
comparing them with the mortality statistic,
Ct various diseases.
The result of these experiments was Che
discovery, as he believes, If an intimate re-
Iat!on between the movements of the ground
water and the fluctuations OF infections die
case the sinking Of the ground. water bcing
followed by an increase, the Using by q cor
responding diminution in the death.rato
Pom it, Believing again that the decom.
positlon OF the organic matter Of the soil
night hs7e an important bearing on the or.
igin oil epidemic diseases, aud that the de.
termination of the gaseous products of the
1tcompositions would furnish clu, to the
relations If any existed, between the organic
impurities OF the soil and the epidemic
prevalence OF disease, Pettenkolcr entered
upoa prolracted Investigation Of the gases
"'lhn The soil, directing his attention esne-
c.aIIy t. the determination Of the carLo,,ic
E'lL Inc Grsl results Of these iDyrstip,.
lions, laid before the Blyarian Acadcmv ot
Munich in 1870, aad published in 1877
showed That our atmosphere docs not t.r
initiate with the surface Of lhe Garth bpt ~,
teuds below it. forming a grounJ.air richer
ic Oxygen than The outer attnosnb,r,
Experiments proved that this ground oir
had much to do with the transmission of tbo
germs OF disease by the soil. The study
"' lhese questions was quickly taken up bv
others, and by the researches of bvpenic in
Vestigators in several different Euronoor
countries 1t was, says Prof. Smyth, clearly
saown hat diseases Of the so called mjas.
ua.H ana Neutrality-suspicious. types. as
ma'arla, enteritis, typhus, and cholera arc
largely under the controlling influence of tho
soil, are dependent both on their local ond
temporal distribution on its varying copdi-
ucns' and are governed more especallv nv
The am mt distribution, and manner of do
oon'pos.'ioh OF Its containing organic mat.
urs' lhey are thus all in a sense filth
diseases" ''''n
The most striking results OF these exncr
iments, perhaps, are to be found in n com
parison which German by the name y,
fodor instituted between his soil oxneri.
men's and the mortality statistics of cn,or,io
which In It's summer ravages yearly sweens
away so many thousands of lives esnecjollv
of children.
me fluctuations Of this disease in Bndo-
pcslh went hand in hand, during tho fo".
years OF fodoi's observations. with Tho no
GEES OF decomposition Of the organic mstter
IN inc SOL, and lett no room for donht tho,
mo ctiac outbreak was controlled by the
pu.ioIncllve decomposition taking place in
b tnT uppri sGLi strata This view is in entire
haIlnohy with the character of the dieeoso
and me theory of its origin, viz thar C ot y
puIrid infection. The necessity of a tboronrb
governmental study of the soil in all lis rcIa'
LIONS 70 health, could hardly be shown in n'a :,
stronger light than by the discovery that
summer sum- dlarrhnal complaints probably bsve s
tnelr source In the soil, and ihat H. a, ro
caused cause Gy an unknown something which is
y ssun Oh from the soil resulting from uut.
which, ;s ,s atecompositons in it upper layers
air nv tbe ean n up INTO the system, from the
1000 and drink by the organs Of Digestion ,roin
ino exact nature OF these emanatlons from
the soil, however, remains yet to be deter
mined by hygienic research. Prof. sm;ytb
suggests that the decomposiions of orpani,