The San Francisco call., 1905-08-28
Washington Health Authori-
ties Adopt Drastic Meas
ures to Wipe Out Disease
WHOLE CITY CLEANED
Until $3,0O0,000 Filtration
Plant Is Ready Drinking
Water Must Be Boiled
5s Special Il Dispatch to The CAN.

/ worse predicament than is Washington.
There siS water water everywhere and
| not drop to drink; not drop fit to
drink, So say the health officers.
l. Mosquitoes have. given the custodians
sef thesI,slbiic health a lot OF trouble, and
now the sea8ital is almost free of the
/ winged disease breeders. but in the
RTuddy.sdre9s Of the; Potomac River TURK
/ MANY germ that is just aching to
,fasten on to the interior oil poor rflan.
/ Result: a lot Of ,nalafia and a typhoid
! fever epidemic that is becoming alarming.
Fifteen TO thirryHew cases are discovered
/ each day, ann there, is a discourage &
/ peIcelta ge Of deaths.
Nothing is too alarming for the Gov
ernment, however The Srangle in the
/ sloppy 0oze .of the Isthrnian Canal over
the cubic y;rd capacity OF steam shovel
! and the question OF lighting the yellow
! fever peril With the. yellow peril OF Asia
| hasss not gwen turned a GQverpnienti hair.
| 'rhe situation IN the Philippines is met
with the. same calm determination to
/ eliminate eva, ,oonditions. and SO It Is with
! typhoid in Washington. ~
I 1t is q revelation To a man from any
! politically governed. city to~watch the
way in which the District of Columbia
| officials go about cleaning up the city
an,, giving 1t good bill of health When
/ the report came in a few days ago that
| typhoid was on the increase. and that
something would have to be done to stop
/ Its grewsome travel, Police Department
/. and Health Department Immediately got
1 busy. They didn't, just move about in
/ tciques and talk theory but went at
everything that looked like cesspool or
bunch of refuse, and in twenty-four hours
! everybody in Washington was house
/ cleaning Back yards took on the ap-
| pearance OF sanded floors. Property own
ers were forced to keep them that way
under penalty Of fine and imprisonment.
OF course, the streets of 1.-The city did
not need much cleaning. Washington
streets are always as immaculate as
New Year caller Nevertheless the In
spectors were around in every section
and the sweepers were urged TO extra
efforts. The public wells, Of which there
are several hundred scattered through
ou. the District. have been inspected and
many of them closed. Orders were given
10 boil Ill Of the drinking water with
the penalty Of possible Infection II not
obeyed. The new filtration plant, almost
completed, which cost s30O0.000. was to.
have been tried out. but 1t was found
that it could not be utilized until next
month This plant. II is expected, VIII
put an end to typhoid in Washington and
strain out all of the many mud-banks
that drop In the most eXasperating way
into the center channel of the Potomac.
In the meantime the health and police
authorities will make every effort to
prevent anw further spread of the much
dreaded malady.
The Government is usually slow in
recognizing the work OF men who add
to the benefits of humanity principally
for the reason that Congress has no fund
set aside for this purpose. There Is a
society now being formed in this city
called the Reed Memorial Society and be-
hind the movement is a story:
Several years after the close of the
Spanish-American war when United
States officials were still in charge of
affairs at Havana and throughout Cuba,
an epidemic of yellow fever swept
through the West Ihdies and medical
authorities seemed unable to cope with
it Thousands Of deaths occurred and
the stricken people waited patiently for
the cold weather to come that the
scourge might be abated
At that time there was attached to the
Medical Corps of the United States Army
a volunteer surgeon named w L. Reed,
a resident of Baltimore. Doctor Reed
was young and an ardent lover OF his
chosen profession He decided to make
a study. not of the cure of yellow fever'
but of its cause. He saw that 1t was
impossible to stem the tide of yellow
death unless 1t could be discovered
whence came the deadly germ. He Sc
cured a laboratory and commenced MS
studies and tried experiment after ex-
pertinent.
One day hospital steward reported to
one of his superiors that he had nearo
that Reed had found that yellow fever
was due principally to the bite of infected
mosquitoes Reed verified the rurnor and
said that ne had become convinced that
his conclusions were correct 1t was his
desire to convince the public that steps
might be taken to rid the country Of the
great swarms of insects which endanger-
ed not only comfort but health. When
his views were made known generally old
physicians smiled and experts shook their
heads doubtfully. But Reed was persist
ent and sought means of proving his as
sertions.
In the United States army at the time
was young surgeon named Lazier. who
likewise came from Baltimore and was
.acuuainted with Reed. They talked over
the mosquito theory and Lazier bravely
offered himself as subject to test the
Reed theory. Reed protested and declared
that he would not permit his friend to
make such a sacrifice sHowever. Lazier
one day informed Reed that he had per-
nitted himself TO be bitten by mosquito
from the sick room of fever patient.
shortly afterward he was taken sick and
died.
Despite the dying words of Lazer. tell
ing Of his fatal experiment, physicians
and laymen said that his death proved
nothing He could have caught the fever
elsewhere. they declared. Then Reed
said that he could prove that the
disease could be easily contracted
by association with patients, and
not even by the wearing of the
clothing that patients had worn. He and
several other Young doctors set about to
prove this; they associated with yellow
fever patients. slept in beds that had
been occupied by the sufferers, and in
every way tried to contract the disease,
and the world of savants commenced to
think.
To-day there are few medical men in
the country who have not accepted the
mosquito theory of the cause of yellow
fever and the Government Is preparing
to spend thousands of dollars for the pur-
pose OF exterminating the pests. and part
of this money is to go to New Orleans,
where the fever at various seasons seems
to have had the strongest foothold.
The Reed Memorial Association has a