Wichita eagle., 1888-01-05
THE GERMS OF DISEASE
LURKING IN THE CUTTERS AND
RUTS OF CITY STREETS.
Miasm EGgendered by the Suns RAYS.
Poison Breathed by the Children of
the Poor-That Physician Says of
Dirty Streets.

Poison Breathed by the Children of
the Poor-What 4 Physician Says of
Dirty Streets.
NIf one member is SICK" writes ST. Paul,
''t6e whole body suffereth." Aristocratic and
high toned quarters cannot insure themselves
from the fatal consequences attending an en-
vironment of filth and squalor. of offal and
garbage. Luxuriously appointed parlors,
plate glass windows and long prayers viii not
bring an Immunity TO typhoid pneumonia,
diphtheria, cerebro-spinal meningitis, typhuS
fever, Asiatic cholera or the Russian plague
When reeking cesspools surround one on
every side il is a vain thing for even the
rigidly righteous TO exclaim, Soul take
thine ease" Ten righteous men might have
saved Sodom from the fire and birthstone
visitation, but two clean avenues and few
well swept streets will not secure a like i'm
muniey from the nliasm engendered by the
suns rays from the all pervading filth The
germs OF disease Turk il every gutter, Eide in
every street hidden. Even when the tons of
garbage IS removed the ruts and joints Of the
pavement will be saturated with 81 putrescent
organic mire, which will yield a constant
supply Of noxiouS miasma.
In hot and dry weather these nauseating
deposits pass into the atmosphere in the form
of deadly vaporS and lethal organisms, which
not only poison our lungs but sow the seeds
OF disease and death. ANY one WHO will care
fully observe the ground when .he pavement
Is removed for any purpose will perceive n
black layer Of earth saturated with sulphur
cited hydrogen, which bears eloquent witness
TO the infection of the sub-soil by the soakage
OF these regularly recurring winter contami-
nations.
vAPORS FROM THE CUTTERS.
Fapors, still more noxious, Of course, than
those from the roadsbed, rise from the gut
tiers, the sub-soil OF which is impregnated
With the most deadly organic poison And
over these cutters thousands of the children
of the poor play during the summer and in
hale the niasm into their tender lungs The
consequences are recorded in every year,.
mortality report Eighty per cent OF the
infant population of New York city live in
tenement houses, and according to the report
OF the state board Of charities. one-half of
them do not survive their second birthday.
An elderly medical gentleman, III CONVEX
satlon with the writer recently, remarked:
"Diphtheria, typhoid pneumonia and typhuS
fever are diseases Of comparatively recent
development III New York. They are the
direct result of dirty streets and Astounding
filth. When [ began practice in New York,
after attending the hospitals in Paris and
London, ten years passed-aye, more than
ten years-without my seeing a case of fever.
Except the imported ship fever there were no
fever cases of any kind III this then healthy
city. One day DR.. Griscom astonished the
profession by inviting them to call and see
four cases OF this character in the New York
hospital, on Broadway, then under his super
intendence. Today these are the principal
diseases and the most fatal diseases the prac-
ticing physician has to combat "-B T. Valen-
tine iii Herald OF Health