SYMPTOMS OF TYPHOID FEVER,_Soil and Water Pollution : Presented to the American Public Health Association at New Orleans, Dec. 1880

sore throats, etc., were not uncommon, and the family physician was

frequently consulted. One privy vault forty feet north from the well

was full. Another privy vault was fifty feet northeast of the well. The

contents of the vaults undoubtedly contaminated the well water to some

extent, and of course the evil would be increased with time.

The sixth sample was drawn from a well on the south side of the city.

No privy vault or cess-pool is located within fifty feet of it. To all

appearances the surroundings are good. The well water has been used

for drinking purposes for several years. One person in the family had

typhoid fever three years ago, and malarial and bilious attacks have

annoyed the other members of the family frequently.

The seventh sample was obtained from a well from which three cases

of typhoid fever had previously been supplied with water. The

attending physician attributed the development of the disease to the

unwholesomeness of the water.

The eighth sample was obtained from one of the wells at the water works.

The following table gives the analyses of waters from driven wells

extended below the first or second stratum of clay. These wells are

located in different parts of the city. Excepting the permanganate of

potash test, previously explained, the quantities are in one litre.

=======================================================================

| | & | INE. | TEST. | AMMONIA.| |

-----+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+--------+-----------

1. | 0.400 | .012 | .008 | 10 | .000045 | none |Good water.

2. | 0.586 | .28 | .004 | 12 | .00005 | none |Good water.

3. | 0.699 | .047 | .025 | 9 | none | none |Excellent.

4. | 0.496 | .08 | .006 | 10 | none | none |Excellent.

5. | 0.454 | .069 | .038 | 9 | none | .0001 |Excellent.

======================================================================

I have in my possession partial and complete analyses by Prof. E. T.

Cox, of waters from nine other driven wells in the city. The analyses

show that these wells furnish good potable water.

The occupants of large buildings are often supplied with water from

tanks on the upper floors. If the tanks are not properly constructed

and well inclosed, the water pumped into them may be contaminated at

any time by impurities.

Given below are analyses of waters drawn from tanks in large blocks.

The quantities are in one litre.

===============================================================

| | & | INE. | | |

------+--------+---------+--------+--------+----------+--------

1. | 1.032 | .14 | .09 |.00004 | .00012 | Bad.

2. | .554 | .089 | .075 |.00015 | .00009 | Good.

===============================================================

One person who lived in the former block died of typhoid fever, and

many others had sickness from the use of the water.

The question of drainage and water supply of cities, should take the

precedence of every other question, for upon its proper solution

depends thousands of lives. Those in authority should understand its

importance, and feel the pressing necessity of more thorough sanitary

work. Hygiene is not only a subject of scientific interest to the

medical man, but its problems and discoveries ought to be of great

practical importance to political economists and legislators, who

usually occupy themselves with subjects which benefit the common people

very little. It appears that the best engineering talent, and great

amounts of money, have been employed, to furnish cities and towns with

_inexhaustible supplies of water without sufficient regard to quality_.

To economically furnish water in ample quantity, is an object of great

importance; but it is of more consequence that the water obtained is

not contaminated by sewers, cess-pools, and surface drainage to such an

extent that disease and death shall be scattered broadcast; among those

who drink the water. There are those who claim that a small proportion

of sewage in drinking water does not necessarily prove deleterious to

health.

The English Rivers’ Pollution Commission published conclusions based

on the examination of some two thousand samples of water claimed to be

drinkable; condemning river water because it is liable to contamination

from drainage of cultivated land, towns and manufactories. According to

their decision “the admixture of even a small quantity of the infected

discharges (of persons suffering from cholera or typhoid fever), with

a large volume of drinking water, is sufficient for the propagation of

those diseases among persons using such water.”

Dr. Folsom, in the report of the Massachusetts State Board of Health,

states that “excessive dilution simply diminishes the chances of danger

from any particular tumblerful.” To show how disease may be transmitted

in dilute sewage and that disease germs are not exterminated by

diffusion through a large body of running water, Dr. E. D. Mapother, of

Dublin, reports forty cases of typhoid fever occurring in a hospital

which received its supply from a river. The cause was traced to some

barracks twenty-five miles higher up, from which typhoidal dejections

had been emptied through drains into the river.

The following classification of drinkable waters which was made by

the English commissioners, should be received by us as entirely

trustworthy.

_Wholesome_—Spring water, deep well water, and

upland surface water.

_Suspicious_—Stored rain water, and surface water

from cultivated land.

_Dangerous_—River water to which sewage gets

access, and shallow well water.

The fact that foul water will breed disease, should no longer be

ignored. The citizens of Indianapolis have been drinking water from the

city water works not above suspicion, and it is about time that the

pollution of the water by filth should excite public attention.

Below I give analyses of samples of water drawn at different times and

places from the faucets of the city water works.

The following report is from Prof. Thos. C. Van Nuys, of the State

University.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind., May 10, 1880.

The water you sent on Thursday was received on Friday evening. The

following is the report of my chemical and microscopic examinations:

In one litre (1,000 cubic centimetres).

Nitric acid anhydride, N₂O₅. 10.72 milligrammes

Ammonia, NH₃, 0.03 ”

Carbonic acid anhydride, CO₂. 0.439 gramme.

Calcium oxide, CaO, 0.148 ”

Magnesium oxide, MgO, 0.04128 ”

Chlorine, 0.09218 ”

Degree of hardness (English) 25.7

The organic matter in 100 cubic centimetres of the water required

3.11 cubic centimetres of the 1-100 normal solution of potassium

permanganate to oxidize it; therefore one litre of the water would

require 31.1 cubic centimetres of the 1-100 normal solution KMnO₄

to oxidize the organic matter. In 31.1 c. c. of this solution there

is 0.0098 gramme KMnO₄ or 0.0247 gramme oxygen liberated. I would

remark here that there is no method of estimating the exact quantity

of organic matter in water. The method of estimating the carbon and

hydrogen by combustion analysis (Frankland and Armstrong’s) has been

found defective,—also the methods based on the estimation of nitrogen

and reduction of silver oxide. The method employed in this case

(Schultze’s) is the most reliable, and yet not all the organic matter

is oxidized, for some is volatized in boiling.

I found the following infusorial animalaculcæ: Stylonchia pustulata,

actinurus neptunius, rotirfer vulgaris, monostylaquadridentata,

navicular baltica.

Soil and Water Pollution : Presented to the American Public Health Association at New Orleans, Dec. 1880 · 第 7 / 9 题