Typhoid Fever and its Relatives 105 



knowing that typhoid fever is caused by a 

 living germ, knowing that this is thrown off 

 from the body in the living condition and 

 without being destroyed, is allowed to run 

 through the sewer pipes into the nearest 

 stream or lake, should for an instant consent 

 to have the water of this stream or lake taken 

 from within a short distance of the sewer 

 opening, and often in line of direct current, 

 and distributed in their houses unpurified, 

 and used upon their tables. And yet it 

 would be but the telling of old stories for the 

 writer to cite case after case in which this 

 offence against common decency, to say 

 nothing of good taste, is practised under 

 conditions much more flagrant than these. 

 And then Providence or Fate is shouldered 

 with the responsibility when the careless or 

 ignorant persons themselves, or the innocent 

 victims of their criminal neglect, are stricken 

 with typhoid fever. 



Typhoid discharges thrown upon the banks 

 of drinking water reservoirs, or streams, in 

 winter, from the camps of repair gangs, have 

 in many instances been washed into the water 



