712 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



the least comfort to those who will persist in the use of water from wells and cis- 

 terns which are most likely to have seeps from sewers, cess-pools, and the like, 

 in which these deathly cholera discharges have been deposited : 



"The important question of water supply is attracting marked attention all 

 over the country, and numerous communities, large and small, hitherto unsatis- 

 factorliy provided for are taking steps to procure charters and raise the necessary 

 funds for new constructions. The rapid growth and practical application of san- 

 itary knowledge of late years has largely contributed to the result, but in especial 

 has the public sense of the importance of a wholesome water supply been quick- 

 ened and aroused to action by a widespread anticipation of an invasion by Asiatic 

 cholera. 



" It is in accordance with all past experience that th;s plague will reach us 

 in the year following its appearance in western Europe, but whether it comes or 

 not we have had ample warning, and furthermore are in possession of the requi- 

 site knowledge of how to meet it and forbid it to do more than effect a landing. 



"The cholera is purely a filth disease, which alike in its home amid the 

 ignorance and squalor of Bengal or isolated in hospitals under the surveillance of 

 the most skilled physicians, claims as victims more than 50 per cent of those 

 reached by its insidious attack. But while it thus baffles all medical skill and 

 arouses the bitterest contention among those who seek to explore the mystery of 

 its genesis, the practical methods of dealing with it are well understood and can 

 be rendered entirely effective. The individual victim must take his half chance, 

 but the community can be protected. 



" It has been well determined that only in the alimentary canal is the speci- 

 fic poison of cholera capable of its deadly >vork in man. It is true that infected 

 clothing will transport it, but unless the germ reach its appointed place in the 

 human intestines no harm can result. The healthy stomach even is proof against 

 it, so that whether at home or on its pestilential journeyings experience has proved 

 that the common vehicle of its transmission from victim to victim is drinking- 

 water which has been previously contaminated with cholera discharges. 3 



"The moral of this is evident. The first care of those who bear the respon- 

 siblity of protecting the public health is to see to it that the most minute precau- 

 tions shall be taken to guard the water supply from possible contamination. It 

 is not enough that the time has gone by when a well sunk in earth saturated with 

 sewage or surface drainage can be permitted to spread its contagion. Attention 

 must be given to this, it is true, since the ignorance of people is only supassed by 

 their obstinacy, but the health officer or local official who fails to close a source 

 of such deadly peril to the community should himself be buried alive in it. Cis- 

 terns and reservoirs too, must be thoroughly cleansed and purified, drains ex- 

 plored, opened, repaired and ventilated ; sewer connections examined and trap- 

 ped; care taken that the water to be used for dietary purposes has no possible 

 connection with that used for flushing. These details are obvious and need not 

 be enlarged upon. 



" But the broader field remains to be explored. I will venture to say that 



