Evening star., 1901-02-20
Features of the Hearing on the ALL
Important Subject.
VIEWS ON VARIOUS SYSTEMS
Effect on Typhoid Fever of Purify
ing Drinking Water.
INTER ESTING STATEN ENTS

committee, In executive session, was maze
public today. DIR. George NJ. Kober. DR..
Percy Hicklng. Col. Miller, DR.. w. w.
Johnston and Health Officer Woodward
We're the principal witnesses.
DR.. kober in his opening remarks made
statement in which. among other things,
he said: while germs Of typhoid fever
have never been demonstrated in Potomac
water, intestinal bacillus is found in
probably 10 per cent of the specimens ex-
amined, which is Indicative of sewage pol
luton. Personally l have doubt that
the germs of typhoid fever can be carried
all the way from Cumberland, Md, to
Washington. AS an Illustration of this I
may mention that there was u typhoid
fever epidemic in Cumberland between the
months of December and March. lSs.,-9O.
They had about 40 cases of typhoid fever
and tOrty-fve deaths in Cumberland l was
so sure that the prevalence of typhoid
fever there would affect our typhoid fever
ia tie here that l investigated the records
Of the health office. and found that during
the corresponding months had seventy
three deaths from typhoid fever In this
city, as compared with forty-three deaths
for tn" same months of the previous year.
lie deaths from typhoid fever practically
almost doubled, and We're the largest num-
her We ever had before or since during the
sa me period
This seems to be almost conclusive evil
contaninate the Potomac water at Cumber-
land ana infect the consumers Of Washing
ton.
Dangers In City Wells.
I'VE simply know from experiments that
the typhoid bacillus retains vitality IN de-
composing fecal matter for over one hun
dred days. How much longer we do not
know. AS the experiments have not been
made to cover a longer period there is no
good reason why 1t should not live ndef-
nitely in polluted soil. During the summer
months the consumers of well water fur
nished the largest percentage of typhoid
fever cases. For all these reasons the
Medical Society as early as 1894 recon-
mended the abandonment of every we'll in
the District Of Columbia. of course there
was great clamor against such an order.
The poor people naturally preferred a
clear. cool drinking water, not knowing its
unwholesome condition, as compared with
the muddy water of the Potomac. The en-
gineer officer in charge, Captain Black,
thought that the question might be solved
by substituting deep wells, and he asked
an appropriation Of $4,000 year to sink
such wells. From 1885 to 1898, l believe,
twenty deep wells We're bored, but in 1898
two Of them, one 2l1 feet deep, had to be
abandoned because chemical analysis
showed the water to be little less than d-
luted sewage.
LAS to which of the two methods of puri-
fication of water, viz: the slow sand-bed fill
tration or the rapid sand or mechanical fill
tration. would give the most satisfactory
results | will say that so far as the reduc-
ton in typhoid fever is concerned, the me-
chanical system has not been nearly ef
fectiye as the slow sand filters in cities
where they have been used. The mechan
ical or alum filters may give better
looking water, but We want above all a
hygiencally pure water. one containing the
least number of germs. and prefer therefore
a method which has accomplished the best
results far as the reduction in typhoid
fever is concerned
Inquiries and Their Results.
I'VE collected statistics in American
cities using the mechanical and the slow
sand filter. The cities that are using sand
filters in the United States were Lawrence,
Mass: Ashland, Wis: Hamilton, N. Y, and
Mount Vernon. n. Y, and in these cities the
deaths since the installation of sand filters
has amounted to 7S.5 per cent, while in
cities using the mechanical filters, like Ma
con, Ga: Atlanta, Ga: Oakland, Cal;
Reading, Mass; Terre Haute, Ind: Ell
mira, N. Y, the decrease amounted to %
per cent. This clearly shows the superiority
of the sand filters over the mechanical
method. While there Is no doubt that the
mechanical filter will give clear, brilliant
water there is considerable doubt whether
it will eliminate the same percentage Of
bacteria as the sand filter and as the me-
chanical filters are purely in the experiment
tai stage, with reference to the reduction of
typhoid fever, we are clearly of the opinion
that it would be unwise to resort to them
in this city.
1.-The superiority of the sand filter is very
probably due to the fact that 1t is abso-
lutely nothing more than imitation of
natures process of purifying water The
efficiency Of the rapid sand filter on the
other hand, depends upon the addition of
alum as coagulant. Now. the fact is that
If too much alum is added the alum will
go through and appear in the efiiuent. and
If not enough alum is added the bacteria
will go through; a sufficient quantity of
alum must be added to act as coagulant
SO. as to strain out the bacteria, and as
there is great difficulty in regulating the
exact amount, We regard it as dangerous
method"
DIR. Johnston FavOrs Sand Filtration.
DR.. w. w. Johnston, in his testimony,
said in part: 1.-The mechanical filter has
not reduced the mortality to any great ex-
tent in Atlanta. The reduction there was
% per cent. Take the results from me-
chanical filtration and from natural fill
tration, and it will be seen that the results
are enormously In favor Of natural method
of filtration, and that is the question that
seems to me to be the one to decide. Are
you going to use filter that has been
proved to be successful in the reduction Of
this mortality, or are you going to try
filter that has never been tried on a large
scale2- l speak only as a physician in this
matter. i dIl DTOuSul III contact with tllS
disease, and l see what 1t is. Cases Of
typhoid fever appear in July, August, Sep
tember and October, and they now last
practically through the whole winter In
this last month l have seen fresh cases of
typhoid fever. l always make it point,
as we all do, first to inquire as to the
source of the water, and as matter of
fact the patients, l think, uniformly use
Potomac water, because the wells have
been almost done away with. 1t is only in
the outlying districts that wells exist and
in the central parts of the city well water
is not used at all in Washington.
I'm some cities the mortality, which was
5 in 10000, has been reduced to I'm 10000.
and this decreased mortality has been coin
cfdent with the introduction of filtered
water, and in all those places, wherever
the mortality of typhoid fever has been re-
duced 1t is the sand filter that has been
employed, and in this country wherever
ethe sand filter has been introduced the
same result has been secured, and we may
therefore conclude, I think, clearly that the
Introduction of sand filtration into the city
is surely to be followed by falling or in
the mortality~of typhoid fever, that enor-
nous falling OF that Is anywhere from so
to 70 per cent follows That was the case