The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1886-07-14
SEWAGE AND WATER SUPPLY.

at the regular monthly meeting of the
Mercer County Medical Society, on Tues
day of last week, DIR. Horace G.. Wetherill,
formerly of this city, read carefully pre-
pared paper on "Sewage and Water Sup
ply" Much of his paper will apply
equally well to Lambertyille, and we
therefore give tho following interesting
resume:
He treated the subject quite exhaus-
lively, showing how the first settler on
the present site of Trenton found the
water supply pure and wholesome, and
had no difficulty In getting rid of his
waste. In the course of time, as popula-
tion increased, the streams became pol
luted and the soil glntted with effete mat
ter, and the necessity for sewers apparent.
He continued Eventually, however, a
state Of things is brought about which
forces the truth home in such q way as
to permit no further postponement. And
too often is 1t only at this late day, and
after ghastly penalty has been paid by
the friends we have buried, that the need.
ed action Is taken. We have done away
with onesource of danger-the water sup
ply-but continue in tho short sighted
course SO long followed and wait for some
terrible experience to teach the folly of
casting our refuse, filth and excretions in
to our very door yards, to slowly soak into
soil already supercharged with the &C.
cumulations of many years. What Is the
natural result that forces us at last to
conclusion that this is wrong and must
be set right at any cost ? Foul smells
are perhaps the only unpleasantness APP
probable by the sense, and, indeed, even
these shey NOV oe psesoas. Rat tho sani-
tartan traces many of the fatal maladies
of children to emanations of this kind,
and there is no doubt that the impaired
vitality, nervous exhaustion, conditions
Of anemia, lack of energy, as well az much
of that fashionable and now well-known
scape-goat of bad temper and laziness,
called malaria, are due wholly or in part
to the fact that we live in, and breathe
into our bodies, these foul effluyia. 1t is
this mainly that has made quinine
household remedy and this generation
one of quinine eaters. Even could we
put into our streets In single night the
system of sewers these conditions force
us to admit we need, we must live on in
atonement for the delay already charge
able 10 us, aud each year pay penalty to
death till time has at last granted us i'm
munity. There Is every reason why we
should go to work at once to SGT this mat
ter right We have no right to rear an
other generation in such an unfavorable
atmosphere and leave them such legacy
of disease and death. Sewers we must
have some day, and the sooner we cast
our disease-breeding substances from us
the sooner will we cease to reap the un.
happy harvest.
1.-THE serious Importance of this mat
ter of clean soil for habitations and, at
the same time, the desirability OF a dry,
well-drained soil, have brought about
wholesome changes In the construction of
the newer portions Of many old Cities
and in newly planned cities Of tho West.''
The Doctor then directed attention to
the well-known, complete and excellent
sanitary system adopted in the construc-
ton of the town of Pullman, in Illinois,
where the death rate is only per 1000
inhabitants, against over II in Trenton.
"To us now In Trenton, he continued,
"this Is now the question of the day
shall we have sewerss Certainly there are
few who would say no, If the question of
cost could be set aside, as the necessity Is
too apparent, and those who who would say
no on this account only, need the terrible
teaching Of some epidemic to drive them
panic-strioken and alarmed from their
sordid position. The plan of
Rudolph Herring for system of sewers
for the city of Trenton is unquestionably
q good one, insomuch as it leaves no part
of the city unprovided for, and In that il
also provides for an outlet into the river
at point where its discharge can by no
means reach and contaminate our water
supply, and where 1t will be more easy to |
conduct the sewage when necessary into |
the low lying sandy lands below this city,
which are SO well adapted In position and
of soil to receive and dispose of |
it. We should congratulate ourselves on
the advantageous geographical position of
our city with regard to this matter.
"Just few more words in conclusion
from that eminent sanitary engineer,
George 4. Warning, In regard to the privy
vaults as repository for sewage, with bis
opinion as to its influences on health. He
says:
at is curious, 10 examining the recon-
mendations of public health officers and
the requirements of local boards of health,
to observe the uniformity with which this
most important subject is passed over
with the prescription that the vault shall
be tight, sometimes that it shall be vault
ed over, and sometimes that 1t shall not
be within certain small number of feet
of a boundary line or Of drinking water
we'll.
"These prescriptions are most absurd. |
II Is safe to say that of the millions of |
privy vaults in this country, not more than
hundreds are really tight; that still |
smaller number are SO vaulted over as to
prevent the free exhalation of the gases
Of decomposition that those that are SO
vaulted over are in all respects OF worse
sanitary effect than those which have freer
with the air, and that
their possibilities of evil reach many
times farther than the limits of distance
usually required to intervene between
them and the well Of the neighboring pro-
perty. They are always the seat
If the foulest, and even Of the most dan
yerous decomposition. They faint not
,nly the air and the soil, but the water of
he aoil which Ooes an often IN fead nur |