Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-07-24
copyright, 1914, by A. S. Gray)
WATER.

sons do not drink II IN sumclent guam |
titles to maintain 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 SO per
cent of the cells that constitute our
bodies are still aquatic organisms and
can and do live and grow only when
swimming in salt water.
Under favorable conditions we can
live for 30 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
On food for good air and good water
no doubt we should be vastly more
efficient, certainly we would be lap
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
I into water in the clouds every droI
g 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 oul
diet we are really drinking the waste
a water from natures laundry after sh'
q has washed all out outdoors with it.
According to average local stand
, ards, water is pure" and fit to drinl
u If it is more or less clear, does no
smell bad and does not quickly ORIG
mate some clearly defined disease il
the body of the drinker. That it cor
q. tains pathogenic organisms or ptC
"a maines from the action OF bacteri
upon decaying organic matter is den
onstrated only by some unusually 81
n we're outbreak of disease in comml
nifty, and generally not until then
it even suspected that the water ma
be impure" If you are in i'll healt
have your drinking water analyze
and the source Of supply invest
- gated.
- Delivery Of drinking water contai
:. ing elements deleterious to life is 6
- ing on in every section Of this cou
- try, but because of our grossly mad
- quate vital statistics bookkeeping v
are unable to deduce the vastly val
~ able knowledge to be derived Their
from. However, the concentration
people in the cities has compelled 6
"a tention to public health matters
AZ that money and organizations are e
ployed and rules and regulations c
~ forced that have for their object t
As protection of the inhabitants again
.. infection through water, milk a
- waste products.
ID Taking typhoid fever as gauge,
o. US compare conditions in several pal
of the world. Germany, with pol
y. lation density of 310.9 per square m
a' (more than ten times greater dens
40. than our OWN, had in the same
~ Rod of time typhoid death rate
AS AT, compared with our 235 per II
600 inhabitants the Netherlands, W
'1 45S.S density, death rate of ga; Sv
Oh zerland, with density of 242.7, a m
Ia, tality of 3.8, and England and Wal
with density of 3726, a death rate
ne only six per 100000 inhabitants, &C
'eA pared with the United States with
- density of only 800 and mortal
OF 1915
10. 10, The city Of Chicago in 1891 hat
IN typhoid rate Of 1913 per 100000
habitants An investment Of $500
~ 900 approximately $27 per capita
ulu the population of the year 1879 Il
o., drainage canal and the adoption
Az other reasonable sanitary precauti
reduced the typhoid fever death 7
''io in 1912 to only rs per 1000 900 inha
o ants, probably the lowest rate e
~. recorded for an American city Of m
new than 100000 inhabitants. Had the
aar typhoid rate prevailed in Chicago
1912 there would have been Apr