WELLS, PUMPS, CISTERNS, FILTERS. 103 



wire gauze admits air, but keeps out leaves and other 

 trash, which is blown about by the winds. An open curb 

 like this keeps the air in the well pure, the water clean, 

 and in some respects it is preferable to a pump. 



IMPURE WATER IK WELLS. 



It becomes more and more evident each year that much 

 of the sickness prevalent in the country is directly at- 

 tributable to the quality- of the water. By carefully 

 studying the matter, it is found that in nine cases out of 

 ten typhoid fevers originate in families whose water sup- 

 ply is from a well, into which impure water comes. This 

 may be from the farm yard, and quite generally such is 

 the case. For some years the water in a well near the 

 house may be pure and wholesome, but by-and-bye the 

 soil between it and the barn-yard will become so im- 

 pregnated with pollution that an unhealthful quality will 

 be imparted to it, and disease will result from its use. 

 This is almost sure to be the case when the distance be- 

 tween the two is not great, because, as a general thing, 

 the bottom of the well is lower than the yard, and the 

 drainage from the latter will extend in all directions 

 through the most porous strata of soil, and when it 

 reaches the well, it will naturally flow into it as a reser- 

 voir. No matter how pure the water may have been when 

 the well was first dug, sooner or later it will be contami- 

 nated by water flowing through the soil from barn-yards 

 and cesspools located anywhere near it. A case is on 

 record in which four children died from diphtheria. 

 An examination by the physician proved that the slops 

 from the kitchen had so filled the soil for a distance of 

 twenty feet between the back door, out of which they 

 were thrown, and the well, that the water in the latter 



