The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-28
Typhoid Fever.


Typhoid Fever.
OF the ills that flesh is heir to typhoid
fever is among those most easily avoid
able. Even in the incomplete civilization
of to-day it should be of rare occurrence,
and in that age of reason which the scien-
tifc world will recognize as the true mil
lennium, when common sense shall pre-
vail it will no longer vex the human race.
1t may be said with truth that every
death from this dreadful malady is con-
tribution either from ignorance or care
lessness to the graveyard. The former
is nexcusable the latter little less than
criminal.
IS. Like death, Of which dread spectre il
is too often the forerunner, typhoid fever
Is no rospecter of persons. The barriers
of society do not stop 1t, nor is there
safety in the isolation which wealth Sc
cures. It's victims are among the high
and low, and in It's " dc sweep it gathers
in the millionaire Of Murray Hill and the
pauper of Hester street. for the chief
distributor of its germs is the water we
drink
At one period or another during each
year it is not improbable that the water
supply of at least threc-fourths Of the
population of the United States contains
the germ of typhoid, and in the late
summer and autumn and early winter
months, the drier seasons of the year
when springs are low, so much more
prevalent is this scourge that it might
we'll be called /" the low-watcr fever" In
one group Of G,OOO tabulatcd cases, one
half occurred in the autumn months,
1900 in the summer and 800 in the rest
of the year
While it is true that the germ oftyphoiCl
may find its way into IL" system from
other sources than from drinking water
careful scientific Investigations have
demonstrated beyond the possibility Of
doubt that this is the chief agent Of
infection. Streams or lakes along tho
shores of which dense populations exist
are more polluted and therefore more
poisonous, than are the reservoirs from,
isolated mountain streams or sparsely
settled watersheds, and yet the germs OF
a single case of typhoid in any localit y
may find their way into the sources OF
supply and cause widespread dssemina.
ton Of the disease.
In Vienna, when for period the water
supply from guarded spring. was turno,
into the city, typhoid, whiC had persisted
in epidemic form for years, almost en-
tirely disappeared; and when, as the driel
nd chic
insufficient and the water of the Danube
was again turned on, the scourge broke
out with renewed violence, but in thos.
parts OF the city supplied by river water
This experience was repeated in Paris
and it is practically true of every city
supplied with drinking water from OK
posed streams and lakes.
In Chicago despite the great dranag'
canal which was intended to carry IN,
sewage of that city away from LAX,
Michigan, from which it draws its suppl,
of drinking water, there is now ragn.
one of the most violent epidemics in tn,
history Of the city, the Inhabitants o
which are unfortunately compelled I,
drink the water polluted by their owl
sewage
The situation in Philadelphia in regar,
to drinking water il almost "a bad. an
that city is next to Chicago in its rate o
mortality from typhoid foyer. In the tcl
years from 1890 to 1900, in Chicago, wit
an average population of 1900 900, Their
were 1900 deaths from typhoid yearly
In Philadelphia in this same period, wit
an average population Of approximate
100000, there were 9 900 deaths.
1t may be Of some comfort to the au
thorties Of our metropolis TO compare 70
this same period Of time orr SOP death
from typhoid, in an average populatio
Of l.sO0,Ooo, but they should not be N
lowed To forget that many OF these death
might have bean avoided.
In sparsely settled colnmunitics, whcr
large reservoirs are not used cisterns G
wells. so situated that the contents frot
ccsspools or faulty sewers sccp throug
the intervening earth, are well-know
distributors of typhoid. Even altesia
wells, which, from the depth of thci
supply, would seem to insure the create,
possible safety, are not infrcqucntly 20
luted Within u year one OF the largcs
schools in the United States suffered
disastrous epidemic, which cost numbt
of lives and caused much suffering an
anxiety, The most famous EXPERT
America had been employed to supc