The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-10-24

the attention of the authorities, and tn
Massachusetts State board Of health IL
vestigated the whole matter. 1t wa
found that it required about elght hour
for the water to travel from the Lowe
outfaII to the Lawrence intake. If thi
water was pumped Immediately into tn
reservoir the supply would certainl
reach the citizens within six or ten days
Let US bear in mind that the weathe
was cold, the temperature being only
few degrees above the freezing point
The report of the State board of healtl
was TO the effect that the fever at Law
renee was caused by that at Lowell, anC
that that at Lowell was caused by thu
filthy stream before referred TO, nOtwith
standing the low temperature. To tes
the vitality OF the germs the board Of
health inoccuiated the Lawrence water
with Eberth's bacillus (the typhoid fever
germ and surrounded the bottles con.
tanning the saturated solution with ice
and kept them in this condition during
the whole Of the experiment A cubic
| ceutimeter was withdrawn each day and
| tested.
On the Goth day only II remained. OF
course this represents only one case, but
it can be taken as good illustration of
| others. 1t has been often asserted that
no chemical analysis could detect any
contamination Of the Thames water Is
miles below the lowest sewer outfall.
However that may be. it is a fact that
recent biological experiments have dem
Onstrated that for many miles lower
than this limit the bottom mud is sat
urated with disease-producing microbes
know that the Massa chusetts legisla-
ture some years ago enacted a law that
no city should discharge it's refuse into
the river if there was another town or
city within 20 miles. If the report of
the board of health can be relied on.
and / am sure it can, this distance will
nave 10 be increased many times over.
Inc experiments show that the hardest
mcro-organisms would live at least 20
days The water of the Merrimac tray
eled a miles per day, and therefore if
no other influences should cause their
decay than those that operated at Law
renee. the distance would have to be in
creased to $50 miles at least. But we
know that river TO a certain extent is
self-purifer, and this would tend to
lessen the safe distance
When | said that Lowell and Law
renee get their water from the Mprri-
mac did not mean that this was taken
directly from the river. Each has an
lnhltration gallery that under ordinary
would prove sufficiently
ethcaclous and it is probable that the
water OF each city was filtered. 4 case
Is On record, namely, at'LOusen. Switz- |
arland, where the germs traversed a dis |
lance OF one mile through a gravelly soil |
and carried the fever from an isolated |
case 10 village where 20 cases soon
developed. all of whom had used the pol- |
uted water, while those that had not |
lSed It, although in the same village, |
we're comparatively free
IT is not necessary to multiply cases
u negligence with their emphatic re-
IuKe. II would be well worth our time
we could study the water systems of
many cites IN the mother country.
'one5iihes we are too patriotic. 1t
would be well if we could stIldv thn nuhl
lcauons Of the Rivers Pollution Commits
ION Of Great Britain. and it would de-
,ght me beyond measure to tell Won If
nat system of water works that has
upplled the largest city on the globe
'lth water for many years: where seven
rlvate companies give to the inhahi-
anus OF London good water, and. what's
lore easOnable-satisfactiOn I nro-
ose IN future lecture to collate some
lateral / have on hand and deliver
cture on the water supply of Rome.
Ut Tor the present we must pay our at
,ntlon to problems nearer our door.
Many of our leading sanitarians have
zen conducting a summer normal on
imtary science through the col
INNS of the Statesman. and I. for
le., wish to express nv thanks
them and to The Statesman. If one !
these gentlemen would come to Won
III tell you that your house was on fire
'u "ouiq proceed to act upon the infor- {
alton. | should like to impress tbn fact :
ION your minds that their warning I
frought with more Importance to Won :
an the burning of n house. One of '
csc gentlemen inveighS with commend +
I'VE 1erVOr against the contamination of t
IT water supply by its being made the @
hdeZvous of summer hotels and chan f
uqua enterprises. You certainly can d
u stop summer hotels and kindred en- D
rprlses, but if there is an act now on n
r statute books similar to the act of t
oo, there IS certainly redress. This t
I was polluting or obtrructing anv a
'ter course, lake, pond, marsh. or COM ii
III sewer, or continuing such obstruc- G.
VI or pollutlon,so as to render the same a
,,.Ll.--I " ~, 'hc Soulls, Guy, town or | L
lghborhood Whereabouts. or doing anv s,
Ter act or thing that would be deemed il
q held nuisance at common law. is b.
de misdemeanor." it
remember well remark made bv N
{. Everhart when he received the nros. te
'tus of scheme that was calcuioted | II
reap a rich harvest by conducting a II
lei or something else on the banks of e
Colorado. His remark was that =
Jaw should be passed protecting the OF
ter shed from pollution. In any case ca
sanitarian must force the problem W
the water is impure no matter from pc
at cause, his orders are to make if as
q; and it then becomes a question of pi
Us and means. The ways only should az
the question to be considered when
Ilth Is concerned; but as long as we ca
IN texas and not in Utopia means n n
prove an annoying factor in the VI VI
prem: 1t IS a question upon which VI VI
ry cltizen has right to an opinion re
Vlded ne has mastered the funda mem 81
Oh sanitary science. 1t is the gospel a: a.
pure water and how to obtain + II
i is the only ingredient to deal with w.
problem is simple enough. but it is err CT,
er TO assume that there are both mud 1rl
organic matter and | feel certain e GU
TINS assumption is nearer a cond;- LII
1han theory (see analysis). The wa
! know Is condition. 1t is not n II
'tion OF mud or microbes. If it were mo
: are many kinds of microbes that | M
40 prefer to mud. To fulfill the first ON
htlon of public health we must elimi- u uuI
~ Dotp beyond the shadow of possible ter