The Washington herald., 1907-08-19
More About the Wells.


Editor The Washington Herald:
The blunder our Commissioners have
made in closing the public wells and
pumps is based on the same fallacy that
has helped 10 engineer a so-called pure
food" bill through Congress that assumes
and teaches the public that all preservs-
tives. save those sanctioned by hoary
antiquity, are necessarily injurious to the
system.
II IS built on the superstition that
poison is a poison In any amount. Dis
ease germs are found everywhere All
water, not recently distilled. contains
them and hltering viii not completely
eliminate them. If drinking water con-
tanning these germs was always injurious
the human race would have been swept
from the earth long ago. The fact IS,
that, like poisons. they have TO rise in
amount above the physiological adapta-
ton before they become injurious. When
the facts are known it will be discovered
that in small amounts they are beneficial
4 long line Of evolution that killed of
the unfit has left the human system
adapted 10 average natural conditions.
and drinking water from springs, wells.
and streams has been mans universal
system. No ordinary spring or well water
woTld prove so injurious to the system
as drinking nothing but pure distilled
water. free from all germs. In many
cases the germs that in excess prove in
furious are normal conditions within the
body and aid its functions
DR. r. C. Eccles, Of Brooklyn. has chal-
lenged any physician to produce a case
Of typhoid or other disease that has re-
suited from drinking well or river water
alone, not absolutely contaminated by
sewage. None such can be produced
The danger point is the food mixture
II is there where bacteria multiply. not
IN the water. The water may be the
carrier. but not the cause, just as the air
may be Leaving food, unprotected by
preservatives. exposed 10 the air IS far
more prolific source Of disease than any
other cause
Very small quantities Of salicylic or
boric acid can prevent the multiplication
of these germs. and Dr. Wiley. nor any
other man, has proved them injurious in
small amounts There Is not the slightest
chance under any conditions OF trade
that now exists Tor any human being 10
take into his system any such amounts Of
any preseTvative as he administered 10
his poison squad under recent tests
About a year after the experiment one
young man died and his mother threat
ened TO sue the government for damages.
claiming that what DR.. Wiley had admin
istered was the cause of his death. The
doctor laughed at the idea: and Yet the
woman was only adopting his own the
/ ory.
"A little learning is a dangerous thing. ."
/ When self-consututed boards Of experts
imagine that their theories count for
more than human experience. they are
/ apt to, If they have the power. cause
much unnecessary suffering Already
1 from all directions complaints arise con
corning the unexpected workings Of the
so-called 'pure-food" measure. The NOR
! tality increases with the rigor Of its en-
I forcement. In California the preservation
/ Of dried fruits by the sulphur method.
/ the only available way, is going to be
ruined by H. Perhaps. after all. the COM
mon sense and common experience of the
/ people Is safer standard than attenuat-
/ ed scientific" % theories.
DAVID ECCLES.