Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-11-23

The writer leaves to the intelligent and OBJ
serving reader the application of DR.. Simon's
remarks in regard TO English usages to the
conditions prevailing in towns and country
places in America. The recognition of the
truthfulness of the description given as ap-
plicable to our own shortcomings in this re-
spect and the realization of the dangers ut
tendant upon such condition of things
ought to arouse not only individuals but
communities, TO a proper sense of the duties
which they owe to themselves as well as to
their neighbors, in the matter of proper sani-
tation of dwellings and their surroundings.
To quote Dr. Simon again: in order to re-
duce that vast quantity Of preventable dis
ease which has its type in enteric fever, and
in relation to which each individual case Of
enteric fever which occurs ought to be re
garded as having an important local siguifi-
canoe, the one essential condition is cleanli-
ness. That local sanitary authorities, pro-
ceeding to act upon this principle with clear
intelligence of what cleanliness really means,
and with sincere resolution to enforce it in
their respective districts can within a. few
years reduce by some tens of thousandF the
annual mortality OF England is, l think, at
least SO artain as that such ought to be the
aim of their -1encen
In certain districts cesspool5 should either
be abolished altogether or 50 reconstructed
and guarded as to be as little of nuisance
as possible either TO the users or their neigh
bors Privies with Enclosed vaults should be
abolished and pail system, or something of
nature approximating TO it, adopted. The
local authorities should undertake, through
their boards of health, the removal of excre-
mental and cesspool matters. 1t would be
cheaper to employ two or more men and
carts to do this than to pursue the present
method of hiring n man to do the work at
excessive rates Then the matters, frequently
removed and composted under the system
suggested, would have a manurial value
which the contents OF privy vaults, as now
allowed to remain through stages of ferinen.
tation, cannot have.
SOMETHING TO BE LOOKED AFTER
While in Medford, the writer encountered
gang OF men who were engaged in cleaning
out a cesspool vault. He asked one OF then
where they disposed of the matter they
carried away oh" he replied, we take i,
away up in the woods in Winchester. anC
dump it there" Noting the look Of surprise
on the face of his questioner he added
There is place there where we dump it
and q man there takes care of it." This re
minded the writer Of his own experience il
Revere, where for two seasons he was ANNOYED
by the foul exhalatious coming from refuse
privy matters which were dumped not fal
from his house on some vacant land near thu
public highway, until one night he caught
the parties in the act, and so frightened then
with the prospect of fine land other con
siderations" that they did not again repea
the nuisance Now the board of health o.
Medford have duly authorized man t
clean out the cesspools and privies of theil
town Do they follow him IN the disposal O.
the filth he removes' 1t is safe to say they
do not.
But in the neighborhood where this offa
is disposed Of there ara watersheds or supply
basins for several large communities, an
such matter emptied on any of them must
in its soluble parts at least, which would in
clude the germs Of disease if they were pres
ent, find its way eventually into the water
supply, with the attendant results of Suct
pollution os the health of the users This il
another strthg argument in favor of III,
town authorities undertaking the removal q!
well as the proper disposition of excremenr
and cesspool matter, Then a strict systerr
of privy construction or adaptation should
be enforced People should not be permitted
to be nuisance to themselves or their neigh
bors. They should be made to bear the ex
pense Of such alterations or new coustruc
tons. and they might thus be taught Il
value them more Frequent removal, espe
cially in the warm season, should be enforced
No man or householder should be allowed t.
do his own scavenging or to clean out hi
vaults or cesspocls and spread their content
over his grass or garden land. If cesspool.
are permitted, the kitchen drain should ter
inmate in a separate cesspool from the sol
pipe of the water closet. In thickly settled
districts no wells, except those driven through
the clay and receiving their supply OF water
beyond the posi- bility Of surface con amina
ton, should be allowed to exist, and all ex
isting old fashioned wells should be filed in
House traps should be inspected from tim.
to time, and every outlet for fIidS from
houses should be trapped. No cesspool O.
vault should be ventilated into a kous,
chimney.
House sanitation Is most largely within tn,
| control Of its occupants One of the mos
important aids of house cleanliness is thor
ough ventilation. As this cannot usually be se
cured by ordinary methods, 1t can at least b.
aided by giving all the rooms in the hous
every fine day a thorough air bath. Sun
/ shine should be invited rather than excluded
| Who IS not been disagreeably affected b.
going into certain houses and being met witt
/ a rank filthy atmosphere, loaded with tn
exhalatiOns from human bodies and lungs
which have become so persistent by lack o
proper ventilation as to Impregnate not onl'
the air, but the carpets, furniture, curtain
and bedding of the house, and even the cloth
! ing of the occupants, which gives publ
notice Of the fact every time they boar
a horse car or steam cart Many PEG de g
| into the country or down to the seashore il
the summer months, shutting w their house
closing them against light and ventilation
In a short time the water remaining in tn
kitchen and water clo-et trap dries up, leay
fng a free massage for the foul odors fror
sewers or cesspools. Then the microbes tax
possess on, ard reTel in the humid atmos
phere Of the August DAYS
Bv the LIST Of September the family retur
from the country and occupy their house.
They have not, as a rule, taken the prs
! caution To have theT house thorough
aerated for few days before their return
Perhaps not a window IS raised Can 1t
wondered at That with such unhealthy SUI
roundings, one or more OF the children or tn
adults fall sick in day or two, and that-nc
realizing the dangers of home-the cases c
typhoid fever thus developed are said to hav
been brought home from The counuyi Their
is no manner of doubt that eases of typhoi
have been imported from summer stoppin
places, but how many are produced in til
way mentioned are rarely or never suspected
Milk is another fruitful source of typhoi
contagion, but just to what extent it
answerable is not quite certain, A milkma
does not, except in rare cases, raise the mil
he supplies, which is derived from a numbe
of sources and usually mixed, any one {
which supplies, ii It furnished infected mill
would render dangerous the other supple
with which it was mixed. The milk suppl
should be carefully looked after, and tt
places where it is produced should be visite
by competent men and inspected with r.
gard to their sanitary appointments. -Bosto
Herald
LOCAL NOTICES.