794 
Stratford, before sanitary works 12.5 11.2 26.6 
uc after oo Ae 4.0 5.7 26.5 
Ashby, before se ‘f 13.3 4.0 25.5 
ce after OS Ge 5.7 8.3 31.3 
Dover, before A i 14.0 9.5 26.5 
WG after se fe 9.0 7.0 21.2 
Croydon, before ee oD 15.0 10.0 — 
WG after a a 5.5 7.0 — 
Now let us see what a pure water supply 
has accomplished. A summary of the evi- 
dence on this subject reveals the significant 
fact that cities, both at home and abroad, in 
which there has been the most marked de- 
crease in the typhoid-fever death-rate, are 
those in which a pure supply has been sub- 
stituted for a pre-existing contaminated one. 
Thus, for example, the typhoid-fever death- 
rate in Boston in 1846-1849 was still 17.4 
per 10,000; in 1890-1892 it had fallen to 
3.2 per 10,000, the city having in the mean- 
time expended $25,000,000 on its water sup- 
ply. The rate from this disease in Law- 
rence, Mass., for five years prior to 1893 
was 12.7 per 10,000. After the establish- 
ment of sand filters, in September, 1893, 
the rate fell during the first twelve months 
to 5.2 per 10,000. In other words, 48 
human lives at a value of $5,000 each, or a 
total value of $220,000, were saved to that 
city by an expenditure of only $65,000 for 
the plant and $4,000 running expenses per 
year. The typhoid-fever death-rate in 
Chicago in 1892 was 14.3 per 10,000. After 
improving the water supply it fell to 5.6 
per 10,000. In 1874 the rate in Vienna 
was 11.5 per 10,000, and, with the introduc- 
tion of a pure water supply, it has fallen to 
less than 2 per 10,000. The experience of 
London, Berlin, Munich and a host of other 
cities has been precisely the same. 
Munich was notorious for its excessive 
typhoid-fever death-rate, it being 29 per 
10,000 in 1856. With the introduction of 
a pure water supply and improved sewer 
system it has fallen to less than 2 per 
10,000. 
The question has passed beyond the spec- 
ulative or experimental stage. Conserva- 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Von. VI. No. 152. 
tive cities are not in the habit of authoriz- 
ing the expenditure of large sums of money 
without counting the cost and results; and 
the mortality statistics have furnished more 
eloquent and conclusive arguments than 
the most zealous advocates of sanitary re- 
forms. 
An abundance of water does not limit 
the spread of typhoid fever, for New York 
City, with only 78 gallons per head a day, 
has only 2.3 deaths ; while this city, with a 
daily per capita consumption of 173 gal- 
lons, furnishes 8.12 deaths, and stands to- 
day No. 7 on the list of 54 American cities 
as regards an excessive death-rate from 
typhoid fever, only Denver, Allegheny, 
Camden, Pittsburg, Newark and Charleston 
furnish a higher rate. 
Let us advocate, therefore, an ample 
quantity of pure water, and until this is 
accomplished let us filter and boil our drink- 
ing water, boil our milk, and thoroughly 
disinfect the excreta of typhoid-fever pa- 
tients. The present century can boast there- 
fore, of many advances in hygiene, particu- 
larly since the European invasion of cholera 
in 1830. The English towns and cities 
which had been visited by this disease and 
those fearing similar scourges were per- 
fectly willing to profit by the investigations 
of the causes of infectious diseases and freely 
instituted sanitary reforms in the establish- 
ment of sewers, public water supplies, sani- 
tary homes, ete. The example of England 
was followed by all civilized nations, with 
similar results. The effects of sanitation, 
as taught by Dr. Parkes, were demonstrated 
during the Crimean War and, as beautifully 
expressed by Virchow during our Civil War, 
reached ‘the highest point in humane ef- 
forts ever attained in a great war.’ 
A study of the causes of infectious dis- 
eases also suggested more enlightened 
means for their prevention or mitigation, 
as the compulsory vaccination against 
small-pox, compulsory isolation and «.sin- 
