CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 271 



where the person has been sick. She takes the carpets, 

 mats, bed-clothing, etc., covered as they must be with these 

 disease germs, and hangs them upon a line or perhaps throws 

 them upon the grass. The winds of heaven blowing over 

 and through these articles catch up some of these germs, 

 — and I repeat, we have seen how readily these microscopic 

 bodies are transported by the air — and carry them hither 

 and thither we know not where ; but at last some of them 

 find their way into the stagnant pool, or the sink-water at 

 the side of the house, and thus all of the conditions neces- 

 sary for the growth of these disease-producing germs are 

 completed ; and so we have a new focus for the spread of 

 contagious disease. The children playing about the stagnant 

 pool may become infected with the germs of disease there, 

 or perhaps some of these germs have been sucked up the 

 sink-pipe or spout from the pool of sink-water, where they 

 find lodgment in some decomposing animal or vegetable 

 matter that has been caught in the joints or other irregulari- 

 ties of the pipe, or the sink itself, and from such a place 

 they may readily find their way to the dishes used on the 

 table, and so to the members of the household. I have no 

 hesitation in saying that I believe that offensive smelling, 

 untrapped sink-pipes have been one of the most common 

 causes of the spread of diphtheria, and that often cases of 

 other contagious diseases can be traced to this source. 



So these diseases may be communicated by means of 

 defective and improperly constructed sewer and house- 

 drains. This danger applies particularly to cities and towns 

 having sewers. For example, there is an odor of sewer-gas 

 that comes from a defective drain-pipe, or untrapped sink or 

 other connection. Now the danger under such circum- 

 stances, of contracting contagious diseases, is, not from the 

 sewer-gas itself, although this may produce headache, 

 nausea and vomiting, and a general depression of the vital 

 powers that probably renders one more liable to take such 

 diseases, and if the exposure to these offensive gases is long 

 continued, the result to health may be serious, but the real 

 danger from contagion is the presence of sewer-gas in a 

 house. It is a positive evidence that the inmates of such a 

 house are in direct communication with the interior of the 



