The times., 1892-03-18
II is astonishing how little attention peOple

1t is astonishing how little attention people
pay to the sanitary condition of their sur
rOundings. 1t is criminally careless. You
may be ever so cleanly about your person,
your house may be a model of neatneSS,
with floors that shine, and spOtless linen,
but if the slOp drain and the priyy vault are
within few feet of the well, you are most
uncleanly. If offensive, decaying garbage
is breeding pes Hence in the back yard, you
have still the rudiments of neatnesS to learn
and you may the penalty of disregard in the
loss of life very dear to you.
Bat enough of generaizing. Let us be
more particular and discuss a few points
plainly and practically.
One of the most important things to be
looked after is plenty of fresh, pure air to
breathe. What kind of a house do you live
in? Are your living rooms well ventilated
and airy, or is it one of these modern tight,
Theoretically sealed houses, warmed by
stoves, with no chance for a breath of fresh
air except as door or window is opened?
A log house with the Old-fashiOned fireplace
is many times to be preferred to such an ar
rangement, particularly if the house is heat
ed with coal stoves, where the coal burns
with carefully closed pipe to stop cOmbus-
ton and save fuel. Your sleeping room
perhaps opens into the living room where
the coal fire burns. Do you get up with a
headache in the morning? Do you feel
heavy and dull till you have exercised out
side for time? What else can you expect
if you breathe coal gas all night? What is
is the remedy? Ventilation. Open a hole
into the chimney at the floor to take off the
cold, foul air and keep up circulation.
How about your cellar? Under the house
of course, but how about the contents? 1t is
f,lI. t.lNI Nr ,sal, 4
caying and giving off bad odors, vitiating
the air in the living rooms? Such an arrange
ment is very hot bed for raising fevers.
Thousands of people die every year from so
easily remedied an evil as this.
How is your well? Good, of course. A
mans own well always is. 1t is curious how
| the ownership of thing betters its condi-
ton or even renders 1t superior to evil sur
rOundings. Nine times out of ten man
thinks his well, just because it is his well,
is far better than his neighbours, and can
give no better reason for his opinion than
that he owns it, and so i'm the pride of own
ership is blind to its defects and dangers.
The well must be far removed from
drains, privy vaults and barnyards. In fact
you must be absolutely certain that there
can be no communication between them
You may have an underground drain lead
ing from the sink in the house; vast
quantity of dirty water goes into it and
settles through the soil into the underground
currents of water. Can you see any good
reason why part Of it should
not find its way into your well to be
pumped up and used over again? 1t should
be entirely unnecessary for me to tell you
that such water is most unhealthy.
How far is your privy vault from the we'll?
Perhaps you think so or rs feet or at most
100 feet is a perfectly safe distance. It
might be and again ten rods might not i'll
sure freedom from contamination.
L know of a case where the water in a
well became foul. 1t was cleaned but still
smelled bad and so they determined to fill it
up. In removing thc stone they discovered
about 10 feet below the surface very small
spring that smelled very bad. They traced
it and found it was sewage from the vault
on the other side of the lot. AS a matter of
fact there is absolutely no safe distance so
long as privy vaults are used at all. Take
for instance case of typhoid fever. The
objections are emptied into vault consider
ed at safe distance, or more frequently
with no consideration of the possible results
at all, and you are surprised at having sec
0nd case of the fever in a month or so, may
be at neighbOr's quite distance away.
The germ Of typhoid fever will travel long
distances and still be ready for business.
There is case on record where the microbe
was traced from farmhouse under noun
tain some two miles, and infected city of
considerable size by communicating its water
supply. The germs will float down rivers
for miles.