158 INFECTIOUS AND PARASITIC DISEASES. 



is polluted by the sewage of another city ; and the former 

 places in turn pour their disease-carrying waste into 

 other rivers and lakes which supply the drinking-water to 

 still other communities. Thus is a "vicious circle" of 

 infection maintained. Is it surprising then that in this 

 way many diseases are spread, such as typhoid fever, 

 cholera and dysentery, and that the parasites of numer- 

 ous intestinal disorders are distributed to new hosts ? 



But because the general public regards with indiffer- 

 ence the infliction of so much unnecessary suffering 

 and death is not a reason for physicians and nurses 

 taking the same attitude. Contrari-wise, since their 

 chosen fields give them a more intimate knowledge of 

 the many sources of disease springing from ignorance 

 and folly, and since they are thereby more impressed 

 with the necessity of acting in advance of actual personal 

 and public calamity, it is part of their duty to humanity 

 to take the initiative in matters germane to their work. 

 Hence if the manner of sewer-disposal is a shame and 

 blot upon our civilization, the same strictures are appli- 

 cable to physicians and (especially) nurses if fecal 

 matter from a patient is infectious when disposed of. 

 Rendering the stools innocuous is a small yet imperative 

 part of a nurse's daily routine, upon which the physician 

 should insist, and which the nurse should conscien- 

 tiously perform. At the bedside, better than anywhere 

 else, we command the situation in so far as the spread of 

 disease by sewage is concerned; and were disinfection 



