The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1885-07-10


ton with pipes carrying foul sewage.
Warm-air furnaces should not take
the air from the cellar. but have large,
well-constructed fresh-air boxes taking
. supply of air from outside. prefera-
bly, from the sunny side of the house.
The inlet of the cold-air box ought not
to be located near the surface, and care
should be taken not to let any garbage
or filth accumulate anywhere near the
opening.
A sanitary inspection would be in
complete without detailed and thor
ough inquiry into the condition of the
house plumbing. but want of space for
bids our referring to it at length.
THE wATER-sUPPLY.
Two subjects of great importance in
the case of country homes. and imme-
diately connected with each other, re-
quire particular consideration-the wa
ter supply and the disposal of the
household wastes. A public supply is
seldom available, and drinking water
must usually be drawn up by buckets
or pumps from q well on the premises.
sunk to only shallow depth. and often
liable to be contaminated from surface
washings or by careless dipping into it
unclean vessels. 1t sounds like a truism
to say that wells supplying drinking
water must be most scrupulously
watched and kept free from contamina-
ton; yet how seldom is proper care
bestowed upon this matter? The drain
which carries the liquid wastes from
the house to cesspOol often passes
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unusual care and forethought by ex-
perienced workmen it's imperfect joints
and broken pipes will allow the slops
to leak into the soil. from which they
pass by filtration into the well.
But the most frequent and
most dangerous cause of con-
tamination of wells is the teaching
cesspool-that vast receptacle of de-
composing organic matter from the
household, thoughtlessly located more
often than not in close proximity to the
well. A teaching cesspool is at best a
make-shift and an unsanitary device.
1t is much safer to establish q rigid
rule that wherever neighborhOod
must depend on wells or springs for its
water supply teaching cesspools must
not be tolerated at all. In any case,
before permitting the water from well
to be used in your household have
sanitary examination made by COM
petent chemist. If this reveals any pol
luton by sewage, use rainwater for
cooking and drinking purposes. With
the exception, perhaps, of the smallest
houses, the rain falling upon the roof
Yields water sufficient in quantity for
all ordinary household purposes; and
If common precautions only be observed
in collecting and storing it rainwater
is perfectly healthful Care should be
taken to have the roof and cutters
clean. and the first washings, contain
ing dust and some organic matter,
ought always to be allowed to run of
on the surface by q cutoff or separator.
worked by hand or arranged to act
automatically. The cistern for storing
rainwater should be built thoroughly
tight, and be protected against any
possible pollution. 1t should be venti-
lated and thoroughly cleaned every
cistern must never discharge into any
foul drain-pipe or cesspool. 1t is good
plan. which adds only trifie TO the
cost. to build q partition of bricks with
loose joints, dividing the cistern into q
large and q small compartment
which dividing-wall will act as
. filter. In summer it is . good
precaution to boil the water first, next
to cool it with ice, and aerate it before
drinking. The proper way is to have
water-coolers with outer and inner
chambers-the outer for the melting
ice, the inner one for che pure water.
Drinking-water may be purified by
means Of household filters; but if such
are used, they must not be left in care
Of thoughtless servants, since they re-
quire to be frequently cleaned, other
wise their purifying action ceases, and
the filtered water soon acquires . bad
taste, due to the organic impurities re-
tanned in the filtering material. If a
tank is arranged to supply plumbing
fixtures, it should be located in the
attic in some accessible place. pro-
tected against entrance of dust or YER
min, and ventilated by suitable open
ing into the outer air. This tank must
never be used to supply the water
closet bowl. which latter always re
quirss special hushing-cistern.
PRoPER DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE.
Concerning the best way Of disposing
Of household wastes. and of avoiding
the cesspool nuisance, the sim should
Be. first. TO remove them from the
house and Its immediate vicinity IS fast
- practicable, and next to utilize them
Is much IS possible for agricultural
purposes. The upper layers Of the
earth have the power OF destroying
within : short time the noxious
elements Of al buried organic
matters, because the oxygen Of the
atmosphere has free access to the
pores Of the soil near the surface Of the
ground. A good substitute for the
leaching cesspool in the case Of smaller
country houses b . tight sewage
tank. 10 which the liquid house
WASTES arc delivered, and from which
they msy b pumped BY means Of an
ord nary garden-pump. with hose At
tached. ard distributed in the vege-
table garden. This may sometimes be
Objectionable where the garden il near
the house r the dimensions Of the
cesspool are large and the sewage d
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