TYPHOID FEVER 127 



As the typhoid bacillus is contained in the excreta 

 of the sick, no single agency is more important for 

 the prevention of this, and of other filth diseases, 

 than the use of properly constructed sewers for the 

 reception of excreta and its removal from the vicinity 

 of human habitations. 



Disease germs contained in human excreta, when 

 this is conveyed, by flushing or otherwise, to properly 

 constructed sewers, are no longer dangerous to the 

 community where these sewers are located. But 

 they may be capable of doing serious harm to other 

 communities if the sewers empty into a stream the 

 water of which is used for drinking purposes. 



Sewers had come into use and had the warm 

 endorsement of sanitarians long before the discovery 

 of the germs of the infectious maladies under con- 

 sideration, and before it was positively known that 

 the infectious agents in these diseases are contained 

 in the discharges from the bowels. But now that 

 we have an exact knowledge of the causes of these 

 diseases, the reason for the beneficent results attend- 

 ing the use of sewers, in connection with an ample 

 and pure water supply, is apparent. It may be safely 

 asserted that a city or town having a complete and 

 satisfactory sewer system and a pure water supply is 

 practically immune from epidemics of cholera or 

 typhoid fever, provided, of course ; that the sewers 



