342 THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH 



upon the wind, and do not allow our washtubs to be 

 emptied upon the ground beside our door. We seek as 

 much light as possible for our cellars, and take care that 

 nothing is left there to decay. We look well to the source 

 of the water used. in our homes, lest it should bring to us 

 illness and death, and we have a wholesome fear of u sewer 

 gas," which leads us to keep all pipes and drains well 

 cleansed and in good repair. 



All this is but putting in practice the rules of cleanli- 

 ness which have been known for ages to be necessary to 

 health. But we are now acquainted with many invisible 

 and deadly forms of filth unknown to our ancestors. 



493. Dangers to Health in Rural Districts. It would seem 

 that life in a country village or upon a farm, where every 

 house may be continually surrounded by pure air and 

 exposed to abundant sunshine, should be free from the 

 unfavorable influences which assail dwellers in towns and 

 cities. As a matter of fact, however, the same ignorance 

 and carelessness which are found in the city appear also 

 in the country. Sanitary precautions are needed upon the 

 farm no less than elsewhere. How often do we know of 

 farmers' families suffering from malarial or typhoid fevers, 

 and how many children have died upon farms from diph- 

 theria ! Because of their peculiar advantages country 

 dwellers are too often peculiarly careless. Wells for 

 family use are frequently placed where the leakage from 

 barnyard or cesspool will inevitably pollute the water 

 when the soil has become saturated. Even if the well 

 is at some distance from all apparent sources of con- 

 tamination, and upon higher ground, it is impossible to 

 tell what may be the underground conditions, what may 

 be the slope of the strata, and whether or not there is 

 poisonous leakage. In some cases the well is, for conven 



