The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-12-18
Sanitary Science.

mittee, in handing over to the Stocl
holders the building. said it was the fir
structure, erected in Lancaster count
for purely hygiene purposes. In tn
course of his address he made some il
teresting statements bringing up the dal
| ger of burial, which may be read wit
profit by all classes of citizens, as they hay
application
Within the corporate limits of Philade
! phia during the last twenty years thel
have been deposited beneath the soil oyt
4eo, 900 bodies, at an average weight of Il
pounds, making the enormous amount c
$1,000 tons of accomplishing human re
mains, satureting thss lower strata, cor
Eliminating the wells and springs, Will
the gases arising through the porous so
produce a like saturatibn Of the air above
From this same city comes the dali
lamentation of polluted water the ali
thorities are censured for dereliction o
/ duty, while the populace are daily depositinj
the remains Of their dead loved ones alon.
the banks of the Schuylkill, upon the higl
bluffs above the water works, there to de
cay, and byfiltration send their poisonou;
products downinto the stream and through
its waters back to the near and dear ones
left behind. Probably you all remember
the effect of this water upon visitors tc
the Centennial Exhibition in 1876; how
one-half were effected with what they very
appropriately termed the Centennial di.
arrhCea, one of the most intractable dis.
eases We ever treated.
Washington Square, New York. was at
one time tie Potters field, and after be-
ing abandoned, in 1906, it was converted
into a public square. FolSyears following,
it was impossible to rear children on the
ground floor of houses in Ahe vicinity, so
impure was the air near the ground If
the air near the ground was rendered so
impure, what must have been the condi-
tion of the water under the surface !?
There are frequent occurrences, even in
our midst, illustrating these processes.
Within a few weeks three articles have
appeared in the daily press. referring to
the condition of a cemetery in the neigh
boring town of Columbia, wherein the
coffin, scarcely covered with earth, emitted
stencil most foul and poisonous. Dr..
Park, in his work on hygiene, stated that
he found no grains of solid matter to the
gallon of water which percolated through
graveyard Lancaster, owing to location
and rolling surface, is afforded excellent
drainage and comparative freedom from
surface contamination yet Prof Baker
shows the fact by analysis, that water
taken from one of the highest points of the |
city contains 1886 grains of chlorine, 1921 |
grains Of solids in the gallon, with large
per cent of nitrates. In cities like New |
Orleans, where there is no surface drain
age owing to fairness, the amount of con- |
tamination must be greatly increased. !
The water soaking into the earth forces !
3ut the gases, thereby rendering the at
nosphere likewise impure. But it is use
ess to multiply references to cases Illus I
rating the pollution OF air, ground and |
water by the decomposition Of bodies
placed in the ground. All intelligent per-
ions will admit that there is great danger
20 be apprehended from that source.
There is another and greater danger
rom Illumination to be found in the fact
hat all contagious diseases are produced I
" virus peculiar to each, composed of
minute germs. The investigations of Pet
Koch, Playfair, Carpenter, Ew-
art, Sir Henry Thompson, Tyndall. Hulk
ey, Pasteur, and others, are well known
% medical men and scientists, as demon
trating beyond a doubt the existence of
hese germs.
2 Let us pause a moment and consider the
'xtent of these Investigations. In 1886
Mr.. Charles Darwin read a paper before
he Geological Society of London, in which
le proved that in all pasture lands. every
'article of the superficial layer of earth
different subsoils, had passed
through the intestines of earth-worms.
The worms in dry weather descend deep
nto the earth, and after eating earthly
natter. and separating the digestible por-
Ion, they come to the surface and expel
he remainder in little coils OF heaps, at
he mouth of their burrows. These little
leyaSions you all probably have noticed,
nd this fact by no means trivial.
Mr.. Darwin found in one place depth
Il more than three inches Of this worm
mould having accumulated in fifteen years,
nd in another instance during period of
lightly years, a mari bed had been covered
0 the depth of thirteen inches. Pasteur
howed that this earth-mould contained
he specific germs which propagated the
attic disease known as splentc ferc, He
aving examined it with microscope,
ound the same parasite or germ in the in
estines of the worms, and in the mould at
he mouth OF their burrows, that he found
n cattle infected with this disease. lie
hen took a portion Of the contents of u
FORM found of the surface pf the ground
fhere COW had been buried two years
efore at the depth of seven feet and he
injected the matter into guinia pig, pro-
ucing the disease and finally the death of
he animal.
Experiments cannot be had in the case
f man :; but the conditions are the same,
nd the results must be similar in cholera
+ any other contagious disease. 1t is a
act that these worms did bring to the sur
ace the poison i'll this particular instance,
rom depth of seven feet and this thing
5 being repeated everywhere. Pasteur
lso found that this worm-mould on the
urface, being dried by sun and wind, was
catered far and wide over the grasses
aten by healthy animals, which soon ex-
Iibited signs of the disease. We may also
mention the fact brought to light by Koch,
# Germany, Ewart and Carpenter Of =
England. that the dried blood of r
Elected with this disease having
'erized into dust and kept
ears, has reproduced the
'culating healthy animals
POINTS out the serious tn
# disease, like any oth
nant and unchaN6
,ening in fay