438 SANITATION 



has the disease, or from some one who handles the milk 

 with dirty hands. If the sewage is emptied into the 

 stream or lake from which a community gets its water, 

 the whole community is in danger of having the disease. 

 Typhoid germs have been found in oysters that grew near 

 the outlets of sewers. In some, or all, of these ways the 

 typhoid germs of one who has the disease may find their 

 way into the alimentary canals of new victims. 



An epidemic (the word means "among the people") that occurred 

 in 1885 in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, is often used to show the connec- 

 tion between drinking water and typhoid. Plymouth had 8,000 

 inhabitants, and obtained its water chiefly from a clear, pure mountain 

 stream. In the early spring, while there was still snow on the ground, 

 one man living near the stream, but far from the town, had typhoid 

 fever. His body waste was thrown on the ground, near the stream. 

 When the snow melted, the typhoid germs were carried into the stream, 

 and soon produced a dreadful epidemic in Plymouth. Within a few 

 weeks there were 1,104 cases of typhoid and 114 deaths. The cost of 

 this epidemic to that community was estimated as not less than half a 

 million dollars (Sedgwick). 



Persons have been found who continue to harbor the germ long after 

 they recover from the disease, and who communicate the disease to 

 multitudes of others. Recently, a medical journal described an 

 epidemic in a western city, in which 85 persons had typhoid because 

 they ate "macaroni and cheese" that had been prepared by a "typhoid 

 carrier." The person in question was a woman 65 years old, who had 

 never consciously had typhoid fever and who was apparently in good 

 health. 



428. Exercises. 



1. Which house will have the better chance of fighting disease 

 germs successfully, the one with all-over, tacked carpets, or the one 

 with loose rugs? Why? The one in which a feather duster is used, 

 or the one in which the housekeeper removes dust with a damp cloth? 

 The one in which children are taught to wipe their feet outside of the 



