Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-30


inmates had the disease. Other families
living side by side with these thus affected,
drinking a different water, did not have the
disease, and the pupils in a boarding school
next to the one referred to eXcaped alto
gether, although subject to all the same
conditions but the one that there was a
different water supply.
In the autumn OF lsGo typhoid fever
suddenly appeared in the Convent OF the
Sisters of Charity. in a small town in
France. OF 10 inmates fourteen had ty-
phoid fever and four died. The village
was in good sanitary condition and there
deep surrounded by soil saturated with
the leakage from ,he laundry of the es-
Establishment supplied water not intended
for drinking purposes. All the persons
water. The epidemic ceased with the clos
ure of the well 1t was a local outbreak
due to a local cause and ceased with the
removal Of the cause. Revue de Therap.
Med. CHI, Paris, lS62, p. 2U3)
"A severe form of typhoid fever appeared
suddenly in an orphan asylum at Gran
Vile, in England, In May. 1879. and thirty
five out Of $50 inmates developed the dis
ease. The asylum was in the country, far
removed from sewers, and there were no
cases in the neighborhood: there must
have been a local origin. The well water
used was clear, colorless and TO all ap-
pearances above suspicion, but II was found
to contain impurities on examination. The
well was in the court yard two feet from a
eesspool six feet deep and received the
waste from the house. The order was given
that this water should no longer be used.
Other cases occurred subsequently, each
person thus taken admitted she had disc.
beyed the order and drank the forbidden
water. The pump was removed and the
fever disappeared.
In the village Of Hawkesbury, in Eng
land, containing go inha bitants, there were
lib cases Of typhoid fever In the spring and
summer of 1872. There had been no fever
here before. A man Ill with typhoid fever
arrived from Bristol in February. 1872. The
excretions Were thrown into a Cesspool If
teen yards from q well of drinking water
used by some OF the villagers The first
cases occurred in families who used this
water. The starting OF tie epidemic could
be attributed TO no other cause. There was
no direct exposure and the use Of the well
water was the only common influence to
which they were all exposed. British Med
ical Journal. January IL. 1ss0)
Experience of other Cities.
In this brief statement all the various
steps by which the conclusions were reached
have not baen given, but in each case the
facts were very carefully gone into. gener-
ally by trained government officers, and the
wells were found at fault only after every
other possible cause had been excluded This
experience has been so often repeated that
now the first thing done in an epidemic of
typhoid fever is to examine into the purity
of the water supply OF the house or locality
affected, and where this supply can be made
pure the disease is arrested. In the case of
cities this publication has to be done on a
large scale. but the results are even more
striking. Typhoid fever is becoming and
hin many cities has become a rare disease
by the abandonment Of impure river or well
water and the substitution of water which
is above suspicion The recent experience of
Chicago is very instructive.
Much Of he drinking
through iron pipes which extended from
LOO TO 1000 feet only out into the lake
and which was contaminated necessarily
by the sewage which poured in enormous
Quantities into the lake. The mortality
from typhoid fever was much greater thai
In Washington. BY the running of tun-
nels two miles out into the lake a ,nre
supply OF water has been secured. With
the partial completion OF these works the
mortality has been reduced % per cent and
there was not single ward Of the city
which did not show a substantial reduc-
uon. There was a general Improvement
IN the death rate with improved water sup
ply without any local exceptions whatever
QReport Of Reynolds, Commissioner OF
health OF Chicago and Hazen, chemist OF
the water department Of worlds Columbian
expositionD
The instances Of the Improvement in
health OF cities from the abandonment OF
the use of wells are too numerous 10 mem
uon. vienna, Munich. Frankfort and Ber-
lin are cases in point
1t is the duty Of the people of Washing
ton TO show no division of feeling or opin-
Ion about this matter; II is the interest of
us all, as parents and citizens to push
forward the demand for good sewerage and
pure water as necessary to our Individual
and collective welfare"