Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1914-07-22
copyright. 1914, by A. S. Gray)
WATER.


thought whatever, and just because 1t
is free a very large number of per-
sons do not drink it In sufficient guam
titles to maintain a good degree OF
physical health. No other article OF
diet enters so completely into the con-
struction and support of all living
things both animal and vegetable as
water, and it is this very omnipres-
ence of water acting on that peculiar
twist of the human mind that leads
US to treat familiar things with reck-
less contempt that results in our Grim
Inal Indifference to water supplies.
AS matter of fact, water is an ele-
ment Of vast significance in the main
tenance Of human life and efficiency,
and to secure and maintain health the
individual citizen must know the truth
concerning this most important part
Of our diet.
The scaly cells on the surface of our
skin, our hair and the tips of our
nails are the only parts of our bodies
that can live in air. About 80 per
cent of the cells that constitute our
bodies are Ftill aquatic organisms and
can and do live and grow only when
swimming in salt water.
Under favorable conditions we can
1--we for 80 days or more without food,
buS not more than few minutes with
out air and only about three days with
out water. Were we to spend mate
rial part of the money we sQuander
Un food for good air Snd good water
no doubt we should be vastly more
efficient, certainly we would be hap
pier, for there can be no real happi-
ness without good health.
: Deprived of water for three days we
become delirious and die from poison
ing by our own waste products. A
steady stream of water flowing
through our bodies is necessary to
wash out and carry away the toxins
resulting from cell activity or we
must inevitably succumb to disease;
and to keep this cleansing stream flow
ing in sufficient volume we should
drink about two quarts Of fluid daily
Absolutely pure water is not found
on earth. Even freshly fallen rain wa
ter contains some foreign matter, the
amount and character of which de-
ponds on the degree of contamination
of the air through which it falls. From
the moment the vapor is condensed
into water in the clouds every drop
that falls begins to soak up something
out of everything it touches on its
Journey to the sea, so that when we
use any of it from any source in our
diet we are really drinking the waste
water from natures laundry after she
has washed all out outdoors with it.
According to average local stand
ards, water is pure" and fit to drink
if it is more or less clear, does not
smell bad and does not quickly orig
mate some clearly defined disease in
the body of the drinker. That it con-
tains pathogenic organisms or pto-
maines from the action of bacteria
upon decaying organic matter is dem
Onstrated only by some unusually Sc
we're outbreak of disease in a commu-
nifty, and generally not until then is
it even suspected that the water may
be impure" If you are in i'll health
have your drinking water analysed
and the source of supply investi-
gated.
Delivery of drinking water contain
ing elements deleterious to life is 60
ing on in every section Of this coun-
try, but because of our grossly made
quate vital statistics bookkeeping we
are unable to deduce the vastly valu-
able knowledge to be derived there
from. However, the concentration of
people in the cities has compelled at
tention to public health matters so
that money and organizations are en-
ployed and rules and regulations en-
forced that have for their object the
protection of the inhabitants against
infection through water, milk and
waste products. y
Taking typhoid fever as a gauge, let
us compare conditions in several parts
of the world. Germany, with a popu
lation density of 3109 per square mile
(more than ten times greater density
than our OWN, had in the same pc
IlOO Oh llluS d lypuO1u uedIu rate VI
Al, compared with our 2S.5 per 100.
600 inhabitants; the Netherlands, with
1858 density, death rate of ga; Swift
zerland, with density of 242.7, NOR
tally of SIS, and England and Wales
with a density of 372.6, death rate o.
only six per 100000 inhabitants, com
pared with the United States with 6
density of only 800 and a mortality
Of 2S.5.
The city of Chicago in 1891 had {
typhoid rate of 17S.S per 100000 in
habitants. An investment of 1000,
600 approximately s27 per capita TO
the population of the year 1922 in I
drainage canal and the adoption o
other reasonable sanitary precaution
reduced the typhoid fever death rat
In 1912 to only rs per 100000 inhabi;
ants, probably the lowest rate eve
recorded for an American city of NOR
Ia -. = Q