APPENDIX Q. 



WATER AND GERMS. 



Danger of Using Impure Water — Germs of Typhoid, Mala- 

 rial, and Other Fevers — kow to Test the 

 Purity of Water* 



LATE investigation has shown that a very large majority of dis- 

 eases are produced by germs found in impure water, each dis- 

 ease having a germ peculiar to itself. This is particularly the 

 case in typhoid fever, malarial fever, diphtheria, and many others. 



It is found that these germs can be cultivated on nutrient gela- 

 tine, beef broth, etc., and when introduced into the system of ani- 

 mals, will produce the same, disease ; after which the germ can be 

 again obtained, cultivated, and on again introducing it into an ani- 

 mal, will produce the same result, which I have demonstrated in the 

 laboratory many times. 



In the past, as at the present time, people looked upon water as 

 harmless, never considering its source or possible impurity. It is 

 now a known fact that there is no source by which disease is so 

 readily and easily contracted as through the use of impure water ; 

 and when we understand that all water taken into the stomach is 

 absorbed into the general circulation, we can very readijy see how 

 easily the body becomes a prey to these disease germs. 



When there is a weak and debilitated condition of the system, 

 it is more susceptible to disease. In a state of health the Vhite 



*In a chance conversation with one of the house physicians of the Sanitarium (Dr. 

 Belknap) who has made a special study of germs, and is probably one of the best bacteriolo. 

 gists in the State, he explained to me the importance of ^destroying germs in surgical cases, 

 and said that there were specific geims for various diseases, and that these germs were com- 

 mon in impure water. He stated particularly that if water became infected with the germs 

 of typhoid or other fevers, it would produce the same disease ; that he had in the laboratory 

 a great variety of germs from water sent him for examination ; that he had propagated these 

 germs, and could produce in animals the same diseases in nearly every instance; that he 

 could show me germs of consumption, diphtheria, etc. I became much interested, and 

 went into the laboratory, where this was fully demonstrated to me. Feeling that thisiknowl- 

 edge would be of great benefit to people generally, I made a special request of the doctor 

 that he would give me the facts in relation to this interesting subject, for the benefit of my 

 readers and I give above an abstract of the conversation. 



(1171) 



