Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-03-15
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THE GRIP AND FILTH.

In recent number Of Health Culture.
DR. Felix l.. Oswald writes about the
grip, an epidemic which has had num-
erous victims throughout the country
the past winter, He contends that that
affection Is nothing but an aggravated
cold, severe and acute catarrh. due
chiefly to atmospheric filth. He traces
It's origin 70 some parts OF Russia
where the sanitary conditions are SIM
ply abominable.
There, he says the fire In the bis
stoves shoulders night and day. When
cold weather comes, the aperture serv-
ing as window Ia stopped up With
rags, or with muck and sod, Pigs and
pups vie with children In SHINING
against cleanliness. Men hang their
wet sheepskin cloaks near the fire and
let them steam all night. Grease spots
and wet linen add their odors. In such
novels the infection Is bred. and with
the advent of warm weather II spreads
from village to village, and blazes up
In the slums of seaports and manufac-
turing towns.
The grip. the doctor further says,
travels from east TO west, from Mus
coyite novels, 10 badly ventilated Ger
man school rooms and French factories.
It can obtain no hold on the Siberian
steppe. or among the natives Of Per-
sla and Afghanistan, because in these
countries the windows admit air al
well as light. and because the people.
on account Of the scarcity OF fuel, are
under the necessity Of wearing warm
clothing instead Of using oyerheated
stoves.
What is true of the grip holds good
OF other contagious diseases. They
originate In filth and thrive In unsani-
tary conditions. And this suggests the
imperative necessity of keeping homes
and streets clean. When the laws OF
hygiene were very imperfectly under
stood. people wondered where cholera,
the plague, smallpox and other epi-
denies came from. and generally they
were looked upon as divine scourge
applied on account OF the sins Of the
people This popular impression was
more nearly correct than some indie.
pendent thinkers are willing to admit.
Only the special transgression that
carries those punlshments with them is
the violation Of the laws of cleanliness,
which also arc divine laws, not to be
broken with impunity.
One OF the important questions In
connection with municipal cleanliness
is the disposal Of garbage. Dumping
grounds are now recognized as danger
GUS. A writer in Municipal Engineer
ing" advocates that the refuse be
gathered up. prepared and used as fu-
ell This, he claims. is both practical
and economic. II has been tried and
found satisfactory. Refuse destroyers
are said TO be common In Europe and
In use in several American cities. and
the people are satisfied with them, even
when located In populous districts.
They do not prove offensive. because
the gases generated are thoroughly OK
idized before escaping into the air.
Fuel obtained from such refuse is In
some places used for heating public
baths.
The Importance Of cleanliness Is now
generally understood. but In most large
cities there is more or less neglect 20
act ON the light that has been obtain
ed. Everywhere complaints are made
about the failure to clean up. Bust
ness streets are swept and sprinkled.
willie alleys and back lots are neglect
ed. There is plenty OF necessary work
In this direction for health boards and
municipal authorities. before II can be
said that the stern demands OF the laws
Of nature are fully complied with.