The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-05-31
Frederic HasIkin's Letter


! but the number vas Insignificant
compared with the number that
contracted the disease in previous
warn.
II is an interesting tribute to our
wisdom that we do not argue that
water brings typhoid. therefore we
should not drink water. That was
the way doctors-the most learned
| Of their day-reasoned less than !
century ago. Only q few medicos
ventured to suggest that water
might not Be always harmful
there was 90 much Of 1t that Il
seemed unlikely it was all poison
| GUS.
As . matter of>fact, the water Of
those days was more apt to be dan
Eerous as q beverage than not
Water had begun to be connected
with certain diseases, but the idea
Of purifying 1t and continuing to
drink quantities of 1t would have
been cried down as an extravagant
theory.
The Fear Of Water.
People who were not easily
aroused to the deadly properties Of
a glass of water were permanently
cured Of drinking by lantern slides
showing drops Of water highly nag
nified. On q huge screen, minute
organisms became hideous water,
monsters, as fearful as the octopus.
These creatures live in the water
you drink" rang the perpetual
moral of the pictures.
! Even then some people dared to
distinguish between pure and pol
luted water. But it has taken gen.
erations for the fear to wear en-
tirely OF. AS late as 1872, a writer
In a London magazine said:
What the world really wants is
a man having authority who shall
say-'There is nothing in the nature
of cold water-providing always 1t
be not foul with sewage or spark
ling from contiguity to a church
yard-whfch can be considered
deleterious to health. A man ordi.
narily strong may as safely drink
a glass of water when he is thirsty
as he may eat steak when he 10
hungry.
1t was Just about then that the
typhoid bacillus was dragged into
the spotlight, and the intelligent
war on water-borne disease began.
With certified water a possibility,
doctors began to urge their patients
to consume large quantities as a
preventive of the very diseases once
vaguely laid to the drinking Of a
glass Of water when overheated, or
tired, or on a full or empty stom-
ach.
Now most doctors say that three
glasses Of water, besides a glass at
each meal, should be the minimum
daily ration. 1t is we'll to drink
more than this: Liquid is neces-
sary to start the digestive pro-
cesses, and water is preferable to
tea or coffee. The learned doctors
of the eighteenth or nineteenth cen
turtles would have held up their
hands in horror over the idea OF
imbibing water at mealtine. Yet
the doctors of today have scientific
experiments and a comparatively
profound knowledge OF water chem
istry and engineering to back up
their prescriptions. OF course 1t is
a desirable bit Of forethought to
make sure that your own water sup
: ply is pure before drinking your
quart or two quarts a day. For
people who are camping, or who for
some other reason do not have the
benefit Of a filtered or otherwise
purified water supply. a public
health doctor offers the following
rules for purifying your own water:
Keep on hand a couple of ounces
of chloride of lime solution in
strength Of two teaspoonfuls &c
quart Of water. A teaspoonful Of
this stock solution added to two
gallons of suspected drinking water
will purify it. Agitate in a stone
! jar and let it stand covered with
several thicknesses of cheesecloth.
This will aerate the water, protect
it from air contamination, and re-
move the fiat taste peculiar to wa
ter that has been boiled and not
aerated.