8 SHELLFISH CONTAMINATION FROM SEWAGE-POLLUTED WATERS. 



of every man, woman, and child is influenced by the properly or 

 improperly cared-for wastes of their own community. Since the 

 seriousness of the situation and the need of better regulations is 

 realized, every city and village should adopt proper methods of sewage 

 disposal, so as to prevent further pollution of .the natural waters; not 

 alone to protect the extensive sea-fish industries, but as a sanitary 

 precaution to safeguard the health and lives of millions of people. 



In speaking before the Conference of Sanitary Officers at Albany, 

 N. Y., Dr. Sedgwick 60 touched the vital point when he expressed the 

 need of better sanitary regulations in the following terms : 



The modern sanitarian looks upon dirt not merely nor even chiefly as esthetically 

 objectionable. He sees in it rather the vehicle of many of the worst diseases that 

 afflict the race. 



Moreover dirt is not always dry or solid but often wet, fluid, and liquid. Nor is it 

 always concentrated but often dilute, and some of the worst forms of dirt are little 

 streams of sewage which find their way into drinking water, and, unseen and unsus- 

 pected, attack and destroy their victims. 



We hear much nowadays of pure-food supplies, pure-water supplies, and pure-air 

 supplies; but the removal of the wastes and refuse from our cities, towns, villages, and 

 farmhouses is equally important. For it is with the social organism, the municipality, 

 the village, the family, very much as it is with the human organism; to retain putrefy- 

 ing wastes within their borders is an evil similar in character to that which arises in 

 the human body from undue retention of urine or bowel contents. Poisoning ensues 

 in the one case almost as certainly as in the other. * * * 



But we have learned our lesson. In the hard school of experience we have learned 

 that hundreds of epidemics of typhoid fever and Asiatic cholera have come from the 

 use of drinking water tainted with sewage, barely stained it may be with little 

 trickling streams of water soiled with human excrements. And this it is which has 

 given rise to the great problem of sewerage and sewage disposal. This it is which has 

 caused numerous commissions, especially in western Europe and America, to study 

 elaborately the pollution and purification of rivers. 



The shellfish interests which are engaged in the solution of this 

 problem rank among the most important industries of the country. 

 It is estimated that in 1904 there were more than 25,000,000 bushels 

 of oysters marketed in this country, valued at nearly $20,000,000. 

 The operations of the various shellfish industries extend from Maine 

 to the Gulf of Mexico on the Atlantic and over a considerable territory 

 along the Pacific coast. Vast areas of sea bottoms are utilized for the 

 purpose of growing oysters, and many men are engaged in the various 

 branches of the industry. An extensive business is also being devel- 

 oped in maturing seed oysters taken from the Atlantic coast and 

 transplanted in the colder waters of the Pacific, notably in the region 

 of Puget Sound, where the conditions are unfavorable for spawning 

 and development. 



It is* apparent that a grave danger threatens a valuable industry as 

 well as the public health, and from this point of view the investigation 

 was undertaken to determine the nature and extent of the danger 

 and to suggest, if possible, methods of meeting and overcoming it. 



