Year: 1873

EkN Elk AND


WATER.


At the recent meeting of the Amer
lean Sanitary Association in New York,
DR.. Austin Flint read a paper describ-
ing remarkable epidemic that oc-
curred in North Boston, Erie county,
New York, in l843, IN the form of ty-
phoid fever. The fever broke out in 4
country tavern in a healthy neighbor-
hood, in the person of a young man who
came there sick in an old-time stage
coach from Massachusetts. He died
On the 18th of October, and twenty
eight days after his arrival, of what the
physicians called typhoid fever. There
were nine families living near neigh
bors in the hamlet. They contained
forty-three persons, of whom twenty
eight had the typhoid fever before De-
cember :, and ten died. All believed
the disease was contagious, and brought
30 the inn by the sick stranger from
distant State. Near the public house
was a well with pump, from which
water was used by the family, and by
all the other families that had the fever,
while those that escaped did not use
the water, living some distance from
the well. or having water on their own
premises. The privy used by the In
mates Of the tavern was believed to be
near enough to the well, though three
or four rods distant, to contaminate its
water. If so, the morbifc germs il the
objections Of the sick man went first
to the garden house or priYy, then into
the well, and thence into the system Of
the inn-keeper's son, Is years cid, who
WAS the first to take and die of the dis
case. In family of seven, five had it
and three died A married son, who
came from distance to assist the fam
lily in its sickness, had the fever. Ty-
phoid fever prevailed in the place from
which the young man came, and as no
one suspected the presence Of contagiOn,
he was visited frequently by members
of two of the three families that did
not use the suspected water, and did
not have the disease. If the germs of
the epidemic were inhaled through the
atmosphere of the sick-room, or other
wise communicated through the air,
these exposed persons should not all
have escaped. We are inclined to
notice this malady, and the circum-
stances under which it multiplied itself
tjrcRty-piRe times IN very healthy
country place, where no typhoid fever
had ever been known, because we desire
to call public attention to the seed of
the complaint, and how it may be con-
veyed in stage coaches in our modern
style of doing things. Human excre-
ments are so unpleasant a subject to
discuss in public print, that much less
is known Of the poison which they con-
tain than ought to be universally
known. Throwing ourselves on the in
dulgence of our readers, who certainly
do not want typhoid fever, nor bad
water to drink in coffee or tea, nor to
cook their daily food in, We remark
that so much of mans body as decays
in the wear and tear of life, leaves the
system with the residmm Of his drink
and nourishment. In taking down the
old tenement of clay for repairs, there
are old and rotten substances that
shou Id not be carried at once back into
the same house, or any other that is
building, for they will pro-
duce arrangements worse than the
dig-rot in timber. and not very much
unlike it. In the plenditude of his ig-
norance of the house in which he lives,
man destroys it by an open or conceal
ed conhagration. If he haspure water,
pure air and wholesome food, he fails
utterly to preserve their natural purity.
We could cite cases in point IN our |
own city, but it is not necessary. In
our most healthy country residences. |
AS at Midway in this State. man con-
trives ways and means to poison HIM
self in the water he drinks or otherwise
uses. He scatterS the seeds Of pesti-
lcncc broadcast over the continent, and
over the world, without dreaming that
NJ is doing harm. Our large increase
of travel and wonderful activity dis
seminate the germs Of disease and mi
unseen parasites to al extent |
that was unapproachcd in past ages.
Hence the necessity of renewed and
greater vigilance 10 ward off impurities.


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