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heap, and which must unquestionably be the receptacle for a 
certain portion of the liquid coming therefrom. 
I have in all cases of this sort where I apprehend any danger, 
advised the abandonment of such wells for domestic purposes. 
During a dry season like the past, where many places were 
destitute of water altogether of a usable character, it is a matter of 
impossibility to prevent people using what available water they have 
at their command, nothwithstanding that they may be fully 
convinced of its impurity. A striking instance of this came under 
my notice only a few months ago. My attention was called to a 
block of buildings situate at Newtown, Frizington, and amongst 
other insanitary arrangements, I found that a sewer from N ewtown, 
situate upon a higher level, passed within a very short distance of 
the well which was used by the inhabitants of those houses. The 
people living in them, informed me that they were compelled to 
use this water, as they had no other; and at times they said it was 
quite obnoxious to both taste and smell. This is not an isolated 
case in the Whitehaven Rural Sanitary District, and a better state 
of things can only be looked forward to when the Authority will 
make up their minds to have a plentiful supply of good water 
furnished to every place within their jurisdiction. 
There have been cases of Typhoid fever within my district, 
which have been clearly traceable to well- poisoning——Harrington, 
Parton, and Frizington, may be noted as places where this has 
been experienced, not only by myself, but by other medical men. 
Some people advocate the use of disinfectants, for the purpose of 
purifying such places, but I have little faith in that creed. 
Districts which have been allowed to become filthy, cannot 
off-hand be made wholesome by disinfectants. To chemically 
disinfect any neglected neighbourhood; to follow the body and 
branches of filth with really effective chemical treatment; to 
thoroughly destroy or counteract it in muck heaps, cesspools, ash- 
pits, sewers, and drains, and where percolating into wells, and 
exhaling into houses, cannot, I apprehend, be proposed as 
physically possible. This opinion as to the very limited degree in 
which chemistry can prevail against arrears of uncleanliness, does 
. 
