The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-04-27
TUESDAY, APRIL q. 1897.
VERY IMPORTANT TO WHINING
TON.

science, Out d SIo"lH. 10 " 80
equipped class of educated profession
ais who have done much and will do
more to advance the cause of health.
and to teach cleanliness and sanitary
laws generally. The able Scientific
American. an old and excellent jour
nal long known to a discerning public,
in discussing this branch of true pro-
gress says:
THE growth Of this branch OF en-
gineering is not due to any deliberate
effort to create a separate profession;
but rather 10 the growth Of intelligent
knowledge of the laws of sanitation,
and the demand Of the public that
these laws shall be followed in the
construction of their homes, and is one
thus affecting their municipal well
being. The public enlightenment has
come as the result Of the teachings
Of science and bitter experience. While
medical men have been Urging the
need for pure water supply, good drain
age, and abundant ventilation, the
scourge of epidemic has descended
with a terrible persistency to lndorse
their teachings
Twelve or fifteen years ago we urged
that the best thing for Wilmington
that the authorities could possibly do
was to begin the construction or a
system of sewage, working on well
defined lines year by year until the
most important undertaking was an
accomplished fact. We took leave 10
suggest to the city fathers that a
thoroughly equipped sanitary engineer
be employed at least for one year, to
make the needed surveys, map out a
plan, and start the work. If too ex-
pensive to retain so efficient and ca
pable a worker for longer than one
year, to employ one at less cost VINO
was capable of working under the
plans Of the engineer and of cOmplet-
ing the drainage system in a thorough
way. There is no possible low rate OF
sickness in any town with bad drinking
water, no sewage, and no other plan
Of effective sanitation.
These sanitary engineers look after
the private dwellings also, and the per-
lection or defects of their drainage
The public health requires both private
and public Sanitation. The back lots
are often pests to a city and add to the
general sickness. The Scientific Amer
lean says it has been clearly estab-
lished bv statistics of sickness and
mortality that there is an intimate
relation between a city's drainage ana
it's death rate, and that hygiene and
health go hand in hand"
More has been done in the last quar-
ter of a century than ever before to
lessen the mortality rates in the cities
and to demonstrate hat public health
is greatly dependent on pure drinking
water. pure air, and pure dwellings
and lots. Great advanc has beer
made in the water supply and it's pur
ity. Infection, death itself, comes r
this cause more than from any other
You drink daily disease n death
Death is in the cup. Listen to thi
from the high authority already quotes
from:
The higher death rate of forme
wears was largely due both to the scar
city and the impurity of the publ
water supply. 1t frequently p
that this supply was pumped from a
adjacent river, that was carrying TN
drainage of towns and villages llVln
nearer it's source. The water was dis
july " IN Wv
cient filtration, and to the chemlcs
impurities was added a larger g
smaller amount of organlc matte
which was an easy breeder OF typhol
and kindred diseases. River suppl
was supplemented by so-called we'll
which were often mere ciSternS for TT
catching of surface rainfall, and sue
filth as might enter by seepage fro
adjacent sewers or the nelSnDorln
stable or burial ground. Today tt
water supply of a great city is gatnere
nigh I'D among the hills, at h III
contaminated h~eadwaters of the river
The supply is frequently impounded
a point from fifty to one hundred mil
from the city. New York city draV
its supply from the CrotOn river, Ior
miles distant. Liverpool has its VyrnW
reservoir situated seventy miles vi
tant among the Welsh hills.
Birmingham is preparing to get I
water from the mountains in Wales 4
away from thai city. The river mo
often proves a source of contaglon a
death than of pleasure n health. Sa
The Scientific American, and let
heed it's teachings. the cesspooi
growing mercifully scarce Cat a
America and England), and the pub
are fast awakening to the fact that [
rJllScndTSS vi SCNoSC IL
fraught with danger to every city
hamlet that is built upon its bani
The triumphs of sanitary engineer
are nowhere more manifest than
those elaborate plants which have be
established for the publication of Sc
age and the recover of it's organ
matter as a valuable commerce
product.
No people are awake to their o.
interests. to their own we'll being,
their chances of living who are b1
to sanitary laws, Indifferent to sci'
fife sanitation, careless as to the p'
Tic health. They should read up.
town needs worse a sewage thar t
town of Wilmington. Ride o
the place, walk about many streets