39 



" that the diffusion of cholera among us depends entirely 

 " upon the numberless filthy facilities which are let exist, 

 " and specially in our larger towns, for the fouling of 

 " earth and air and loater, and thus secondarily for the 

 " infection of man, with whatever contagium may be con- 

 *' tained in the miscellaneous outflowings of the popula- 

 " tion." 



" Dr. Buchanan's Report on Typhoid Fever 

 " AT Guildford, in Sept. 1867. 



" There have occurred some local outbursts of fever 

 *' which, as especially the outbreak at Guildford, have 

 " preached in terrible language, in the startling tones of the 

 '" angel of death, the frightful a7id inevitable dangers of 

 ** a7i impure ivatcr supplg, enforcing on even the most care- 

 " less and ignorant the paramount necessity of unwearying 

 *' and incessant vigilance against the jjossibilitg of the 

 " water supplg being, in any part of its course, tainted by 

 " seivage. 



" Typhoid fever, it seems, is by no means uncommon 

 *' in and about Guildford, and before the particular out- 

 " break several sporadic cases had occurred. But in the 

 " last three days of August cases of typhoid were ob- 

 " served in the more elevated and healthiest parts of the 

 " town. On September 3 and 4, ' a surprisingly large 

 " number of people sent for medical assistance ; in the 

 " first ten days of September about 150 cases altogether 

 " had come under treatment, and by the end of the month 

 " that number had increased to 264. A remarkable 

 " feature of the outbreak was its localisation ; and that, 

 " too, chiefly in the highest levels of the town, without 

 " distinction of social position and circumstances. The 

 " acme of the disease's progress was reached before the 

 " middle of September, and it thence declined rapidly. 

 " Inquiring as to the causes which could have induced the 

 " disease. Dr. Buchanan soon came to the conclusion that 

 " drainage played no direct part in the matter ; and the 

 " next point to ascertain was the state of the tvater 

 " siq)2)ly. 



" The public waterworks have their source in two wells 

 " sunk some twenty feet into the chalk at the lowest part 

 " of the town ; one of these is an old well, from which 

 " water is raised by the power of an adjacent water-mill; 

 " the other is a new well, ' from which, for a short time 

 " in the middle of the present year, water was distributed 



" 3Ied{cal 

 Times and 

 Gazette." of 

 23rcl Nov., 

 1867, on 

 Report of Dr. 

 Buchanan, 

 of the Medical 

 Department 

 of the Privy 

 Council, on 

 the Fever at 

 Guildford in 

 Sept. 1867. 



Attention 

 directed to 

 water supply. 



