Water and Ice 193 



drinking-water sources and closely land- 

 locked waters altogether will be secured. 

 Then there will be a big drop in the tale of 

 preventable disease. 



Those who dwell in the country, and those 

 who repair thither in the summer, should be 

 very watchful of the water which comes from 

 the ordinary wells. It is quite true that the 

 water which soaks into the majority of wells 

 in the country and in villages has been filtered, 

 and more or less purified, as it passed through 

 the soil and earth about the well. But in a 

 great many cases the surface water runs 

 directly into the well at the top. Washing is 

 not infrequently done in its immediate vicinity, 

 and the waste and dirty water runs directly, or 

 with but little filtration, back into the com- 

 mon receptacle. The vaults of out-houses, 

 barn-yards, and pigstyes are often in close 

 proximity to the well, on establishments which 

 in circulars and newspapers figure as country 

 health resorts. And this is by no means true 

 alone of those which are inexpensive and primi- 

 tive, but almost equally so of many of the 

 more fashionable and popular establishments. 



13 



