104 BACTERIA IN DAILY LIFE 



to secure the most efficient purification possible 

 of the water before distribution, and the results 

 are reflected in the marked diminution in typhoid 

 fever which has followed these strenuous efforts 

 to obtain the best water-supply available. 



The splendid example set by the State of 

 Massachusetts, in promoting the welfare of the 

 people by the encouragement of original researches 

 in practical hygiene, has stimulated other Ameri- 

 can States to create Boards of Health and enact 

 laws for the protection of their rivers and streams. 

 In view of all that has been done to promote 

 sanitary science in the United States, it is surpris- 

 ing to learn that Lake Michigan, which receives 

 the untreated sewage of municipalities and small 

 towns aggregating over two million people, still 

 furnishes Chicago with its drinking water, and 

 undergoes no preliminary purification before dis- 

 tribution. The city of Chicago, by constructing 

 the Chicago Drainage and Ship Canal, opened in 

 January, 1900, has diverted its own sewage from 

 Lake Michigan, but this great sewer has only been 

 made possible because of its advantages as a com- 

 mercial waterway ; and it has been stated, on high 

 authority, that every project for the drainage of 

 Chicago into the Illinois which has not recognised 

 the waterway features has been predestined to 

 failure. Dr. Egan, of the Illinois State Board 



