Forty-sixth Annual Meeting. 23 



in his book on Hygiene and Sanitation. Hippocrates, about 400 

 B. c. in his treatise on Air, Water, and Places, defined the prin- 

 ciples of public health or sanitation, and summed up the knowl- 

 edge of his day on the subject. The excellence of the Mosaic 

 code of the Hebrews is acknowledged by all sanitary authori- 

 ties, and in the comparative longevity of the race we see its 

 effect. Therefore the present may be said to be a second advent 

 of sanitary engineering as a profession, for the importance 

 of sanitary problems was recognized very early in the history 

 of man. 



In Egypt artificial lakes were made to provide an adequate 

 supply of water in places where the natural supply from the 

 Nile was insufficient. Remains of gigantic water basins have 

 been found in Peru and Mexico. In Ceylon there is found the 

 remains of a great artificial lake 40 miles in circumference. 



Necessity drove the ancient Mound Builders of Yucatan to 

 dig hundreds of wells as sources of water supply, some of 

 which were of large dimensions. In one case a winding 

 passageway 1400 feet long led to a supply of water at a depth 

 of 450 feet. Many of their wells were constructed the shape 

 of our modern cisterns, i. e., with a small opening at the top, 

 a form favorable to resisting contamination. From the num- 

 ber of wells constructed in this form one is induced to believe 

 that the builder's purpose was to protect the quality of the 

 water. 



About 312 B. c. the early Greeks and Romans met our prob- 

 lem of supplying the people with water of sufficient quality 

 and quantity, and considered it a problem of importance. 

 They were compelled by the demand for more and better water 

 to abandon their wells and construct their great systems of 

 aqueducts. These aqueducts are masonry conduits from two 

 to eight feet in diameter, constructed in tunnels through the 

 hills and on series of arches over the valleys for hundreds of 

 miles. It was here that municipal water supply reached its 

 zenith as to quantity. The first great aqueduct supplied Rome 

 with pure water drawn from a distant mountain. At the end 

 of the first century A. D. Rome had 14 aqueducts supplying 

 375,000,000 gallons, or about 300 gallons per capita, daily. 

 This water was mostly supplied through public fountains to 

 which the people came in great numbers ; however, some of 

 the houses had direct connection with the aqueducts through 

 lead pipes. 



