CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 275 



before, and the excreta from this person had been thrown 

 into a vault about twenty feet from the well used as a water 

 supply for the house. 



Many other cases might be related where communities 

 have suffered from an epidemic of this disease caused by the 

 infection of a water or food supply had we the time, but I 

 am sure those already cited are sufficient to show the danger 

 from this source. There can be no question that very many 

 cases of these contagious diseases have been caused, par- 

 ticularly in the country, by the direct pollution of wells 

 from existing cases of these diseases, either from the germs 

 finding their way into them through some underground water 

 passage, or in some other way. The more impure our water 

 supplies the greater the danger from these disease-producing 

 bacteria, for, as we have already seen, they must have some 

 form of organic matter for their support and growth, and 

 they cannot live for any length of time in pure water. 



How can we best protect ourselves against these conta- 

 gious diseases? First of all, avoid all unnecessary contact 

 with those sick with any of these diseases. See that there 

 is no festering pool of stagnant water near your dwellings, 

 and particularly see that there is no filthy sink-drain dis- 

 charging its contents directly under your windows. Replace 

 such a dangerous fixture with a tight metal pipe, with a 

 good trap immediately under the sink connection, and con- 

 duct the water from this by a proper drain some distance 

 from the house, or into the public sewer if you are living 

 where there is such a thing. See that there is no rotting 

 wood or decaying vegetables in your cellars, and that the 

 cellar bottom is dry and its walls are neatly whitewashed. 

 Any and all of these precautions require but a brief expense 

 of either time or money, and they may be the means of 

 saving your children from sickness and perhaps death. In 

 houses having bath-rooms and closets, all of the piping 

 should be of iron with leaded joints. While clay pipes with 

 cemented joints may with great care be kept tight, still 

 they are never safe, and the inmates of a house with such 

 a drain are living over a volcano that sooner or later is 

 pretty sure to break forth and do its deadly work. If there 

 is an odor of sewer gas in your house, don't rest until you 



