198 The Story of the Bacteria 



employed by many of the more intelligent 

 and cleanly communities. Thus the soil and 

 the shores of streams and other bodies of 

 water near towns are often polluted. 



If sewage were everywhere systematically 

 destroyed, instead of being permitted to run 

 into and pollute the streams and lakes, which, 

 from their size and situation, afford the natural 

 water and ice supplies to towns in their vicin- 

 ity, the problem, on which so much depends, 

 of obtaining pure and safe water and ice 

 would be much easier of solution. 



