18 City Homes on Country Langs 



generally purer in the city than in the country sounds 

 like a paradox ; yet, it is in the city that a rigid system 

 of inspection is applied ; it is there that science reaches 

 out its hands to provide the strongest possible safe- 

 guards for the public health in this respect. 



Malaria and kindred troubles are mosquito-borne. 

 Their dominion is almost wholly confined to the rural 

 districts. City homes outlaw them — at least to a large 

 extent. 



Sewerage is not an agreeable topic of polite conversa- 

 tion ; yet, it has a most intimate relation to health, and 

 it represents one of the most striking triumphs of 

 modern science. That triumph is largely confined to 

 cities. Indeed, the lack of sanitary conditions in this 

 respect is quite appalling in a large proportion of 

 country homes ; consequently, any form of disease that 

 is influenced in any degree by the method employed in 

 the disposal of sewage is more menacing in the country 

 than in the town. 



Pneumonia often comes from poorly ventilated rooms 

 and uneven temperature; intestinal diseases, including 

 appendicitis, from badly-balanced food rations. Mod- 

 ern housing conditions, and the systematic propaganda 

 against preventable diseases, account for the fact that 

 these serious troubles are likely to be less prevalent and 

 less generally fatal in the town than in the country. 

 Hookworm is distinctly rural in origin and prevails* 

 in localities where a large part of the population has 

 unsanitary toilet accommodations. The Rockefeller 

 Foundation, in the course of social surveys in the 

 South, found places where 50 per cent of the people 

 had no facilities of the sort whatever; and one locality 



