54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



mosphere that surrounds your house shall be as much as 

 possible protected from impurities. 



Let us turn now for a brief consideration to another of 

 the essentials of health claimed by Hippocrates — a pure 

 soil. As that is so intimately connected in its sanitary rela- 

 tions with pure water we will discuss them together. 



All the water which is used for domestic purposes comes 

 from the clouds. When the rain falls upon the earth it dis- 

 appears in three ways. 



Some of it is evaporated from the surfaces it has wetted. 

 Some of it is rapidly absorbed in the interspaces of the 

 ground, and what is not disposed of in these ways runs upon 

 the surface in the direction of least resistance and forms rivu- 

 lets, brooks, and rivers, and finally reaches the ocean. Of the 

 last mode of disposal we are at present only concerned when 

 it may occasion the pollution of the farmer's well or cellar, 

 by the drainage from his barnyard, his pigstye, etc. 



What I desire particularly to call your attention to is the 

 impurities in the soil caused by the soakage into it of the filth 

 accumulated in the ground by the special accessible conven- 

 iences which have been provided by the farmer's personal 

 direction, to wit : the cesspool, the privy, the slop puddle, etc. 

 That is, the filth produced in the process of housekeeping and 

 purposely deposited in the ground immediately about the 

 house. From an ordinary family of five or six persons it 

 would amount to several tons annually. It is a question of 

 serious import whether or not this gross contamination of the 

 ground close about his dwelling may affect his health. And 

 if so, how ? 



When the farmer digs a posthole, unless the weather has 

 been very dry, he finds the soil below the surface to be moist. 

 If he digs a larger hole and deeper, he comes in time to a 

 depth where as fast as he removes the earth the cavity fills 

 with water. This is called ground water, and he has dug 

 down to its level. Anywhere at that level he will find the 

 same condition. This ground water is the water that has 

 percolated through the strata of soil above it, until it has 

 reached an impervious stratum below. In short he has dug 

 a well, and the water which constitutes the well has soaked 

 through the ground above it. 



Now, water is the most universal solvent known in nature. 



