Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-12

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Each disease ne named has its specifi
germ, and all can be prevented by tn
destruction of the germ. Typhoid feve
germs will produce that fever, but no other
and dipththeria germs will produc
dlphtheria, but nothing else, precisely a
oats will grow oats, but not wheat or bar
ley" This view the doctor urged in hi
paper.
A NATURAL WATER FILTER.
To assure the healthfulness of Allegheny
river water at all times it must be filtered
and then boiled There is but little alu
minum, or clay, whichever you choose tt
call it, in the bed or banks of the ALE
gheny. Sand is neither a disinfectant mol
an antiseptic to any great extent. To make
sure it should be filtered before boiling, al
if you boil coffee or tea in water you make
an infusion that preserves the germ, or may
preserve it. Boiling should be continued
for some time to make sure that germs are
| destroyed There is no doubt that alumi-
mum, or clay. is both a disinfectant and an
antiseptic. If it does not destroy in all
cases, 1T at least covers the germs and car.
ries them away in the current of river.
Monongahela river water carries large
amount of aluminium in solution, and con-
sequently the drain of cesspools into it does
not work the mischief that it does in the
Allegheny river, as disease germs are either
destroyed or absorbed by the clay, and the
water thus purified.
All this and much more may be found in
the doctors report on the Southside water
supply years ago, but most of those of us
who are not doctors need line upon line and
precept upon precept before we can be in
duced to apply our knowledge practically,
and even doctors, as a rule, are prone to
neglect not only sanitary precautions, but
frequently to live as though they were as
average.
BECK'S RUN A SCOURGE.
Experience as we'll as science proves much
of what has been asserted above. About
1873 there was an epidemic of typhoid fever
on the Southside. Intelligent search de-
veloped the fact that previous to violent
rain storm there had been two or three cases
of typhoid fever on the banks of Beck's run.
The rain cleansed the cesspools along the
run at the expense of the health of the peo-
pie below. The food from the run was
pumped into the Southside water BASIN,
the infuent pipes being so near the
mouth of the run that the water
solution could absorb, precipitate, or disin-
feet the typhoid. Experience has shown that
two or three miles OF a flow in the Mouonga-
hela effectually destroys those germs, es-
pecially poisons from dead animal tissue,
which, as rule, form the breeding ground
of the disease germs. While Lawrenceville,
Allegheny City and Sewickley are almost
constantly scourged by typhoid fever the
Southside has only had two epidemics in 20
years, and these were traced to poison
washed down from Beck's run.
In this connection it would be wisdom to
ascertain whether the Monongahela Water
Works Company has really placed its in
fluent pipes so that the water it pumps is
not contaminated by the filth from Beek's
run. The company claims to have done so,
but there are some people who profess to be
skeptical on the subject, and recommend
that the Board of Health make assurance
doubly sure by an investigation.
MISSOURI MUD DIsINFECTING.
People who have seen the Missouri river
know that much of the time it carries about
all the clay on its turgid bosom that it is
possible to carry without becoming a mere
mud trough, and it is also we'll known that
people who drink its water exclusively are
never troubled with typhoid fever If you
drop lump of alum into pail filled with
it the sediment is in a short time precipi-
tated, and the water becomes as clear as
that caught directly from the clouds in
clean vessels.
Well water in cities and towns generally
is impure, and where it is used for drinking
purposes typhoid fever generally prevails
There is now no doubt as to the cause. The
water percolates through cesspools. in which
it is not purified by being mixed with clay
McKeesport has had very little typhoid
fever since her water works were built and
she began to use river water- Said DR..
Wood: ''If lived in thickJy populated
town where I could get nothing but well
water to drink would stir clay into it be-
fore use, and then let it settle"
DIR. Wood corrects prevalent misappre-
hension as to the supposed unhealthiness
of stencil, and in this respect agrees with
our Supreme Court. He says the piles of
dirt found on streets and elsewhere, as mere
dirt, are not detrimental to health, and ''the
statement that ammonia generated BY the
decomposing filth and found in drinking
water is noxious needs revision; the state
ment is not likely true, but the presence of
ammonia in such cases is pretty
conclusive evidence that while the decom-
posing filth was generating ammonia it was
also generating disease germs" The opinion
that stencil arising from decaying matter is
a cause of disease is fallacy. The fungi,
or germs, the cause of disease, have not the
odor of filth, if they have any, and the bad
smell ought to be as benefcent as the sense
of pain which warns us of imminent harm.
The sun breeds both blessings and curses.
DIRT WON'T PRODUCE DISEASE,
but if dirt be sown with few germs. or
disease breeding fungi, they will grow and
spread mischief incalculably, sowing fungi
in other filth and developing new centers
of contagion. Dirt piles should
be removed, not because they are
dirt piles, but because they afford
ground for the breeding of disease germs.
Garbage heaps will not breed cholera in
because there are no cholera germs
in the city, but they might breed typhoid
fever germs and others indigenous Frost
kills yellow fever germs, and if the disease
reappears in this country it is because fresh
germs are brought from some foreign source,
when every spot of filth in the Gulf States
will become their breeding ground. "Wheat
and disease germs may be grown in the same |
dirt pile if planted therein, but neither will |
grow anywhere unless planted. If the spe-
cific germ that produces typhoid fever were
(and it would have bees long |
ago if patent to the Senses as is wheat) that |
scourge would disappear, and all the filth in |
The world would not raise it out of its eternal |
grave. The same is true of all germs, and |
true of the diseases produced by them"
"But," said an auditor, "how did these |
germs originally develop?"
The doctor ran1;ad Tn the effacf that xrLax