Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-24
TYPHOID FEVER THE THEME
Subject Extensively Discussed by Medical
Society of the District.
Pollution of Potomac Water Cited M
Producing Cause The
Shallow Wells.


ical Society Of the District was held last
night, and proved to be one of the most in
teresting sessions Of the year.
Typhoid fever in Washington was the
subject discussed and although other pa
pers were to have been presented, the i'm
DC rtance of the first subject consumed all
the time.
President Busey presided and rehearsed
the efforts of the society in reducing the
Mortality from typhoid and referred to the
work of DIR. Kober. In this connection he
said:
LAS early as 1890, in a contribution to tho
etiology of typhoid fever. Dr. George M.
Kober cited the notable fact that following
the epidemic in Cumberland, Nd, the first
case Of which occurred December 10, 1885,
the number Of deaths from the disease in
this city from December, 1889, to April &c.
1890. were seventy-fve, nearly double the
number during the corresponding months
of the previous year. This may. adds DIR.
Kober, have been a coincidence, but 1t may
also confirm the conclusions of the English
river pollution commission, that nothing
short Of abandonment of the inexpressibly
filthy habit OF mixing human excrement
with our drinking water can confer upon
US immunity from the props CATION of cpl
denies through the medium Of potable wa
ter.
I'm lecture delivered In 1894 Surgeon
Charles Smart, United States army, en-
pbasized the great prevalence of typhoid
fever in this city, and attributed it to the
pollution of the Potomac water supply.
While subsequent Investigations have not
verified Surgeon Smart's statement that
the high percentage of typhoid fever In
this city was solely due to the distribution
of the germs of the disease through the
Potomac water, they point to the conclu-
sion that it is one of the sources of infec-
tion and that one which offers the greatest
danger
The Shallow Wells.
Referring to the efforts of the society to
close the shallow wells and to the sanitary
improvements effected, he closed by saying:
"All these efforts have been futile, and
the city remains today the prey of single
preventable disease, which has cost its citi
zens in loss of life and actual outlay in the
last ten years more than would have been
required to complete the systems of water
extension and publication and sewage dis
poSal.'
DIR. G. w. Johnston, chairman Of the COM
mittee on public health, quoted statistics
tending to prove that users of pure water
have remarkably low rate from typhoid
fever. Referring to filtration as a prevent
alive, he said:
1T is possible to improve the water sup
ply of towns and cities either by procuring
water supply from more healthful source
or, where this Is not feasible, of purifying
the supply furnished. The last can be ac-
complished by filtration, either by the
agency of filter beds or by mechanical fl
tration.
One VAST Sewer.
THE Potomac river above the intake"
he continued, lis one vast sewer for the
reception of all sorts of Industrial waste
and the offal and sewage of comparatively
large communities. The distance Is such
that 1t to some extent diminishes these
dangers. Excluding all deaths except those
OF typhoid fever, we find that in the past
seventeen years =, j39 persons have died In
Washington from this cause alone, OF an
average of 1885 per year.
Since there is usually but one death
from typhoid fever out of every ten per-
sons affected, we have therefore in seven
teen years 3d. 800 cases, or an average of
], 493.5 per year. Following the well-known
methods of computation, we find that ty
phoid fever alone has cost US In money
that is. for funerals, medical attendance,
medicines, wages lost and other matters
for the past seventeen years-$6, 695, 211. Is,
while the cost of filtra ton plant and its
maintenance for that length of time at the
highest estimate would only be 49, 81, 4O4.
1T is apparent, therefore, even with this
low estimate Of human life and
illness, that the expense to the city by ty-
nance and cost of the most expensive fl
tration plant would have been.''
Same Subject Treated.
DIR. Kober was next recognized. and read
a paper upon the subject, in the course of
which he related how the germs of fever
had been found in the we'll and pump
water. He recommended the abandonment
of all wells and the filtration of the Poto-
mac supply.
DIR. Kenyoun read an interesting paper
regarding the transmission of disease
through water, and stated If cholera ever
got into this country it would be an easy
matter to infect our drinking water by the
prevalence of the disease in Cumberland