Evening star., 1895-07-13
factor-in disseminating the germs.
The Towns Up River.

"Col Elliot would have your readers be-
lieve that there is little or no danger frcm
contamination of Potomac water on ac-
count of the character of its watershed and
the comparative absence OF large towns
above the intake Of our supply; none of
them, he understands, are severed. He
says that these towns range from forty
four to one hundred and fifty-two miles in
distance from Washington, and he believes
this fact, when considered in connection
with the well-established phenomena that
rivers, especially those that flow over rocks
and dams and those that have wide sur
faces exposed to the sun and air, tend to
purify themselves, gives assurance that
under ordinary conditions We have little to
fear from our Potomac water. In the first
place, the communicating influence Of
town or settlements on river is a notort-
Gus fact, patent and apparent to every OBJ
server, and has been well established by
chemical and meteorological analysis, and
Col. Elliot clearly admits this in speaking
of the establishment of filtration works in
the city of Lawrence for the purpose of
protecting itself against the pollution of its
water supply, the River Merrimac, from
the severed city of Lowell, few miles
above.
But the colonel, like a great many 9TH
ers, fear, relies altogether too much upon
the property of self-purifcation of streams.
While 1t is conceded that a certain degree
of publication is possible by natural means.
the statement Of DR.. Tidy and other chem
lists. who declared that a flow of even ten
or twelve miles is sufficient to free river
of all trace of sewage contamination, Is no
longer credited, for chemical analysis
may decide that no pollution exists, but
since we know something of the nature of
disease germs we cannot rest satisfied that
dangerous contamination does not exist
simply on account of the result of chem
ical analysis, especially as the Massachu-
setts state board of health for 1876 reports
an outbreak of typhoid fever in hospital
,1frr ,f,y1 ,4ny> hfot fy-on nn6
barracks twenty-five miles up the stream.
But let us see whether the consumer CT
unfiltered Potomac water has really little
to fear from such contaminations. In the
winter of 1SS9-9O there was an epidemic of
typhoid fever at Cumberland, Nd, located
on the Potomac 127 miles above this city
Being interested in the subject, I wrote for
information to DR.. w. w. Wiley who cour-
teously responded June 25. 1890, as follows:
This epidemic first appeared in young
man who returned from Ohio quite i'll
about December 10, 1889. This case termi-
mated fatally on the 10th Of the same
carried to little run, which empties into
the Potomac about 200 feet above the
pumping station. 1t is a notable fact that
before and since the epidemic there has
been a great amount Of diarrhoea and dys-
entery, showing that whilst the drainage
OF hundreds of privies into the water sup
ply caused these affections, yet 1t required
a case Of the specific disease to produce an
outbreak of typhoid fever. The second case
appeared January 10, 1890, and since then
we have had about ASS cases. Our popula-
lation is 1900. Every case, but one, can
be traced to the use Of our river water.
am not aware of any cases occurring just
below Cumberland, as no one used the wa
ter, but I am informed that several cases
occurred at Hancock, which is about thirty
miles below Cumberland, and which could
be traced to the drinking of the river wa
ter
'It is a most suspicious circumstance,
that although the distance Of the run of
the Potomac river is about 124 miles from
Cumberland, typhoid fever prevailed to an
unusual extent in Washington from De-
cember, 1889, to April 80, 1890. There were
IS deaths for these months from this dis
ease alone, as compared with ~ for the
corresponding months of the preceding
year. This cannot be explained by the In
crease of the population, which was al
most the same and the fact remains that
during the years of 1890 and 1891 more
cases of typhoid fever occurred In this
city than ever before or since that period.
All this may be simply coincidence. but
in my opinion 1t simply tends to confirm
the conclusions of the English river pollu-
ton commission, that nothing short Of
abandonment Of the inexpressibly nasty,
habit Of mixing human excrement with our
drinking water can confer upon US I'M
munity from the propagation of epidemics
through the medium of potable water
Settling Basins Not Enough.
'In view Of these facts, and in the inter-
est Of public sanitation, I regret that Col.
Elliot should have expressed himself