CHAPTER XVIII 



SANITATION 



Sanitary methods that have been tried and are known to 

 be absolutely safe in the larger communities are often too 

 expensive and impractical for isolated houses ; while methods 

 that might be adequate, from the standpoint of sanitation, 

 in the individual house would not be satisfactory if applied 

 to several houses or to a large number of persons in one 

 building. 



Science has been able to identify the germs of many fevers 

 and other diseases and to prevent their spread by proper 

 sanitary measures. As a result, disease germs are now eradi- 

 cated which a century ago would have caused a wide- 

 spread pestilence resulting in great economic loss as well as 

 suffering and death. These preventive measures were first 

 applied to the cities; but it has been thoroughly demonstrated 

 that sanitary measures are of as great advantage, propor- 

 tionately, to the rural districts as to localities where large 

 numbers of people congregate. 



There is great need of using proper methods around the 

 farmstead for the drainage of all wet places, for the protection 

 of drinking water, and for the sanitary disposal of all the waste, 

 slop, and filth which ordinarily accumulate around human 

 habitations. What is true of man also applies to a large 

 extent to the lower animals ; measures that benefit one bene- 

 fit the other. 



The subject of sanitation can be divided roughly into two 

 parts: one, the protection of the household water supply, 

 that it may be kept free from disease germs; and the other, 

 the disposal of all waste and filth in such a manner that 

 the disease germs cannot be taken up by flies or animals, 

 or leached out by the water and transmitted directly or 



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