The State Board of Health for Massachusetts has long
busied itself with researches on all these points, and the
case mentioned is in one of their reports. The house de-
scribed is one in Hadley, built by a clergj^man. " It was
provided with an open well and sink-drain, with its de-
posit-box in close proximity thereto, affording facility to
discharge its gases in the well as the most convenient
place. The cellar was used, as country cellars commonly
DRAINAGE AND WATEB-SUPPLT. 31
are, for the storage of provisions of every kind, and the
windows were never opened. The only escape for the
soil-moisture and ground-air, except that which was ab-
sorbed by the drinking-water, was through the crevices of
the floors into the rooms above. After a few months* resi-
dence in the house, the clergyman's wife died of fever.
He soon married again ; and the second wife also died of
fever, within a year from the time of marriage. His chil-
dren were sick. He occupied the house about two years.
The wife of his successor was soon taken iU, and barely
escaped with her life. A physician then took the house.
He married, and his wife soon after died of fever.
Another physician took the house, and within a few
months came near dying of erysipelas. He deserved it.
The house, meanwhile, received no treatment ; the doc-
tors, according to their usual wont, even in their own
families, were satisfied to deal with the consequences, and
leave the causes to do their worst.
"Next after the doctors, a school-teacher took the
house, and made a few changes, for convenience appar-
ently, for substantially it remained the same ; for he,
too, escaped as by the skin of his teeth. Finally, after
the foreclosure of many lives, the sickness and fatality of
the property became so marked, that it became unsalable.
When at last sold, every sort of prediction was made as
to the risk of occupancy ; but, by a thorough attention to
sanitary conditions, no such risks have been encoun-
tered.*'
These deaths were suicides, — ignorant ones, it is true,
not one stopping to think what causes lay at the bottom
of such " mysterious dispensations.'* But, just as surely
as corn gives a crop from the seed sown, so surely typhoid
32 DRAINAGE AND WATEB-SUPPLY.
fever and diphtheria follow bad drainage or the drinking
of impure water.
Boiling such water destroys the germs of disease ; but
neither boiled water nor boiled germs are pleasant
drinking.
If means are too narrow to admit of the expense attend-
ant upon making a drain long enough and tight enough to
carry off all refuse water to a safe distance from the house,
then adopt another plan. Remember that to throw dirty
water on the ground near a well, is as deliberate poison-
ing as if you threw arsenic in the well itself. Have a
large tub or barrel standing on a wheelbarrow or small
hand-cart ; and into this pour ever}^ drop of dirty water,
wheeling it away to orchard or garden, where it will enrich
the soil, which will transform it, and return it to you, not
in disease, but in fruit and vegetables. Also see that the
well has a roof, and, if possible, a lattice- work about it,
that all leaves and flying dirt may be prevented from fall-
ing into it.
Page 14
Presented as published in 1881. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The State Board of Health for Massachusetts has long busied itself with researches on all these points, and the case mentioned is in one of their reports. The house described is one in Hadley, built by a clergyman. " It was provided with an open well and sink-drain, with its deposit-box in close proximity thereto, affording facility to discharge its gases in the well as the most convenient place. The cellar was used, as country cellars commonly
DRAINAGE AND WATER-SUPPLY. 31
are, for the storage of provisions of every kind, and the windows were never opened. The only escape for the soil-moisture and ground-air, except that which was absorbed by the drinking-water, was through the crevices of the floors into the rooms above. After a few months* residence in the house, the clergyman's wife died of fever. He soon married again ; and the second wife also died of fever, within a year from the time of marriage. His children were sick. He occupied the house about two years. The wife of his successor was soon taken iU, and barely escaped with her life. A physician then took the house. He married, and his wife soon after died of fever. Another physician took the house, and within a few months came near dying of erysipelas. He deserved it. The house, meanwhile, received no treatment ; the doctors, according to their usual wont, even in their own families, were satisfied to deal with the consequences, and leave the causes to do their worst.
"Next after the doctors, a school-teacher took the house, and made a few changes, for convenience apparently, for substantially it remained the same ; for he, too, escaped as by the skin of his teeth. Finally, after the foreclosure of many lives, the sickness and fatality of the property became so marked, that it became unsalable. When at last sold, every sort of prediction was made as to the risk of occupancy ; but, by a thorough attention to sanitary conditions, no such risks have been encountered.*'
These deaths were suicides, — ignorant ones, it is true, not one stopping to think what causes lay at the bottom of such " mysterious dispensations.'* But, just as surely as corn gives a crop from the seed sown, so surely typhoid
32 DRAINAGE AND WATER-SUPPLY.
fever and diphtheria follow bad drainage or the drinking of impure water.
Boiling such water destroys the germs of disease ; but neither boiled water nor boiled germs are pleasant drinking.
If means are too narrow to admit of the expense attendant upon making a drain long enough and tight enough to carry off all refuse water to a safe distance from the house, then adopt another plan. Remember that to throw dirty water on the ground near a well, is as deliberate poisoning as if you threw arsenic in the well itself. Have a large tub or barrel standing on a wheelbarrow or small hand-cart ; and into this pour ever}^ drop of dirty water, wheeling it away to orchard or garden, where it will enrich the soil, which will transform it, and return it to you, not in disease, but in fruit and vegetables. Also see that the well has a roof, and, if possible, a lattice- work about it, that all leaves and flying dirt may be prevented from falling into it.