350 APPENDIX 



But this course, pleasant and helpful to so many, is not without its 

 danger. Many who go away for a vacation are brought home sick on 

 account of fever or other sickness caused by defects and faults of drain- 

 age existing in these temporary summer homes. Scarcely a year goes by 

 that one or more summer resorts have not gained the ill name of being 

 the hotbeds of typhoid fever, dysentery, and the like. 



In view of this, how important it becomes that we exercise judgment, 

 and seek skilled advice in the selection of our summering places. 



Again, there is another danger that must not be overlooked. Let us 

 suppose that the summer vacation has passed by without accident ; that 

 we return invigorated by the experience, and that the home in the city 

 has been empty and closed during our absence ; what has happened that 

 the air in the rooms newly reopened should be foul and stifling ? This 

 has taken place : the water that stands in the traps of house pipes, and 

 shuts off gases from the sewer when the rooms are in use and water is 

 daily entering the different wash-basins, etc., has during our absence been 

 evaporated. For weeks, perhaps, there has been no " water-seal " in the 

 traps, and the ascent of sewer air has been going on continuously, so that 

 not only is the air utterly unfit to live in, but all the curtains, carpets, and 

 other absorbing materials have become saturated with the pollution thus 

 allowed to enter. Let it be remembered that when a sink, etc., is not in 

 use, it is gradually losing the trap-water by the evaporation. 



What is the remedy, you will ask, for the condition of things caused by 

 closing up the house, as above stated ? To this the reply is, that the house 

 should from time to time be opened and aired, and water should be poured 

 down each and every sanitary fixture, in sufficient quantity to renew the 

 supply of water in the trap of each. 



