The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-12-05

I ammohlh 70 sUUlOs results Wnicn brihg lhls
sampie within the limits Of Wh0lesOmeness,
as those limits are usually arceFted BY
sanitary ANALYSIS. tits impossible t. pre-
dicaie from those results the aotua' cOndi-
n OF the waters at the time OF their col
leetions: but they show definitely that the
water in the lake, and hence that from its
local watershed, contained originally less
q5antity OF organic matter, or what is less
likely q more readily destroyed oTgaHic
Iaiter than the inflow from the Mississippi
river.
This opens up the question of the nature
! OF the organic matter in the river water.
One Of he chief points in the sanitary anal
ysis OF wator ussd for dietytic purposes is
the detection of any SO Fags inflow that may
be present. This has frequently been ef
iected in the case of polluted wells and
ciste ms, where the dlution is limited
Here The results are invaluable, because
/ they eali Tor such a survey of the surround
ings Of the water supply as will EXPOSE the
source o. the sewage contamination. We're
the polluted inflow recogD liable on inspee-
ton, chemical analysis TO determine its
presence you'd be unnecessary. The de-
lection OF human excreta in river wafer
is matter Of greater difficulty on
account Of the pse-existing impu.
lily a Gt the stream, the sxten, Of
place, and The rspidity Of the changes due
TO mechanical, chemical and vital agencies
during the progress OF its flow. But if in
the case of wells and cisterns, chemical
analysis be needless whom the polluting in
flow is manifest, it is equally needless,
under. similar circumstances, in the
case Of river water. The veil is cor demDed
| unhesltattDgly By sanitary authorities and
chemists, and the same rue ought 10 hold
with regard TO the polluted river. The small
amount Of CAPT al invested in dangerous
| well frequently protests aeaintt its alb ndou-
ment, on the gr0und that the water has been
| used tor long period With ut having caused
| iniury to It's consumers. The dangerous
90 &c V.at asaka Ia.
waters may do, not in what theY have done.
| II is well known that small quantities of
sewage from q healthy human system may
be present in water without iniuriously az
feeling those who make u'e Of it; and
further, the filtration TO which the sewage is
subjected in its progress TO the vel re-
Quently exercises go powerful an influence
90 the organic matters, that they are com.
| pletely destroyed, and are recognized in the
water only by the harmless Inorganic con-
stituent, with which they are associated, or
into which hey have boon anslormed. such
| as chloride ofsOdiu IN, OF ammonia, or even by
| the nitrate5 into which the latter lie ultimate
| ly converted. water Of this character may
be used for years with impuniiy; but all
| sewage matters do not como from the healthy
hun.a an system, and observation and expert
ence have shown that the fgsal excreta If
ssme specific diseases con tain the contngia Of
| those diseases, aud that these, instead OF be-
ing destroyed like the organic matters Of
hea thy deposition blythe agencies at werk
during filtration, are capable Of resisting
these powerful influences and of entering
the we'll in full possession Of their powers
for evil A we'll or oistern is dangerous,
| therefore, not because sewage enters it, but
because an infected sewage may enter il.
| In this country typhoid foyer is the most
| dangerous and prevalent disease which is
| thus propagated. Its attacks are often in
sidious. and wells having q sewage connec-
| ton frequently become infected and form
the center of a local epidemic, the fret cause
| oil which may remain unknown. tf
Although. well water may contain sew
| age, yet be harmless save as to future posi-
| bilties, river water which contains sewage
must always be regarded as a source Of pres
| ont dams or whom used rs drinking supply.
| The contributors to the sewage inflow Of a
| river are so numerous, and typhoid fever so
continual aud extensively prevalent, that
tho outflow from the sewers Of a populOus
citv cannot be safely assumed TO be unin-
footed. The fact that the sewage of a city
enters river above the point suggested as
the intake Of water supply. should suffice
| to set aside the proposition irrespt ctive Of
chemical analysis or any other considera-
ton. The capital invested by certain
municipalities and corporations in intro
supply from sewage polluted river inter
| feres with practical action based upon these
considerAtisns. 1t has been urged that sew
age 10 harmless, as evidenced by the long
process es taking place in q running
stream suffice to remove or destroy the
sewage aiter course of lew miles,
so that the most delicate method Of
chemical analysis fails TO detect its presence.
This fallacy Of those arguments may easily
be understood from what has been already
said. L. is not tho excrementitious matters
of health that are dangerous, but those that
and although the organic matters Of healthy
sewage may be deposited or decomposed into
inorganic substances in their prOgre 8 with
the onward flow of river. there is no evil
dence that the contagion of typhoid fever is
| destroyed in this manner. On the contrary,
since the powerful influences operating
| during the process Of iltr ion through the
soil into we'll fails to destroy tbs typhoid
oontagion though capable of reducing non
specific organic waters to the inorganic oOn-
dition, il Is ipconceivable that the weaker
influences, which, operating in a running
stream, fai even 20 remove tho nOn-speei6c
matters, shou d be efficient in destI Dying the
less destructible contagion.
Typhoid fever may often be forced in the
| circuit OF an injected well voter supply; but
it Is dificnlt to rec gnizc its propagation by
| sewage in an extensive system Of municipal
supply. This difficulty origin tes in the fact
th AZ a transmission by the drinking water is
not the only means by which typhoid. fever
is propagated. The disease may aiiie de
4 nevO, according 10 some observers, taking
| its origin in certain obscure exhalations
| from soils that have less moisture in them
than those which exhalo malarial or
| psludal IL huence; 1t ia directly contagious
according to others, although this is not a
general belief; It is indirectly contagious by
means of clothing or other articles soiled
with the excreta of an infected person, or by
exhalation from the 30 Is or sewers which
| are charged with infected discharges. Hence,
whom q case of fever occurs in a certain To-
cslity from q transmission by the water sup
ply secon 1ary cases may spring up around it
and obscure the testimony as to the propaga-
tion # the disease by he sewage polluted wa
ter. Thus II may be shown ny municipal
statistics that the foyer does not prevail spe-
cially along the lines Of systematic water
supply, but is generally distributed over the
city. Again, there are few cities in which
well water is not used to some extent, par
ticularly in the suburbs; and other statis-
tics may show that the fever prevails less in
the line of systematic supply from q
river which contains sewage than In the
suburban districts. but this merely shows
the influence Of concentration in well watsr
as comDared with the dilutien Of the oonta.
gion in he large and ever changing volume
of the river. 4.,
But although it is dificultto trace the pro-
pagation of typhoid fever in city TO use the
Of river wbter containing sewage II isinter-
estinE and instructive TO know that those
cities, which obtain and preserve a pure
water supply by q careful selection of a
drainage area aud vigilant guard against
It's cOntamlnAtl0n Dy soWagob NAYS y remark
ably less death rate from typhoid fever than
tho that are careless in this respect an
make use of a river water into which the
sewage of the up or settlements flows with
cut re- striction. Brooklyn and Long Island
| has perhaps the best water supply OF any city
in this country. All of Its wells have been
closed and the gen eral supply is protected
! from the In hoW Of sewage. During the past
| ton years this city had an average ann ual
death rate from typhoid fever of little
over q tOen in every 10000 Of It's
| inhabitants. New York, which de-
rived its supply from a larger area than
Brooklyn, and which in consequence OK.
perienoes greater difficulty in preserving
| that area from contam mating influences,
had an average annual rate during the de-
cade. London, England, had q rate OF %
| and here ais every effort is made to preserve
| the water supply In a state OF purity, In
| q ties known TO have q sewage inflow into
the rivers which furnish their water the rates
are higher. Boston, VIII ch acknowledges Q
somewhat COMMUNICATING supply, had rate
| Of IS; Cincinnati, supplied BY the Ohio
| river, g.; Philadelphia, by tho Sohuylkill,
6; and 80 for,ythers. The medical history
OF Baltimore. Md, presentsa slrik ng illus
| tration of the decrease Of deaths from this
| fever, following the closure Of sewage pol
luted wells and the introduction Of Tree
supply OF water from an area susceptible Of
being we'll protected from anEerous con-
Denominations, Its rates fell from so aud ~ in
| 1866 and 1867 to, AZ during each Of tho past
| two years; from an annual avorago OF Tb.S