WATER AND GERMS. 1177 



pack a few inches of coarse sand and gravel. Provide a metal cover, 

 - concave on the top, that will hold one or two pails of water. Per- 

 forate this cover with small holes, allowing the water to run in slowly. 



How to Cleanse a Filter. 



Remove the cover, which should be of the size of the vessel used 

 as a filter ; then take out the gravel, sand, and charcoal, keeping 

 each separate. The charcoal should be heated to redness in a 

 covered dish, if new coal is not at hand. The sand and gravel should 

 be boiled for one half hour, and then thoroughly washed, until the 

 water is clear that comes from it ; dry in the open air, and then re- 

 pack. The tighter the packing, the better, as the water passes 

 through more slowly, thus extracting more material. The above 

 process should be done once in six months, at least. 



All filters should be allowed to stand empty from one to three 

 hours, once in twenty-four or forty-eight hours, for the purpose of 

 allowing the charcoal to take up oxygen from the ain for it is the 

 oxygen that destroys the organic matter. By applying the water 

 test, as given on page 45, you can readily determine whether the 

 filter is doing good work or not. 



Avoid stationary filters, as those used- in cisterns, where they 

 cannot be cleansed ; for after a year's use, they make matters worse 

 by breeding germs. 



Water — Its Use in Disease. 



Notwithstanding the example set by our forefathers, people of 

 a few years since so lost sight of the value of water in disease, that 

 its use was thought detrimental to all fevers, and it was not allowed 

 even for drinking purposes, other than just sufficient to keep the 

 patient from dying of thirst. But happily for the human race, that 

 time of ignorance and superstition is passed, and the value of water 

 in disease is fast coming to the front, and displacing many of the 

 drugs which are so deleterious to the system. As an antiphilogistic, 

 or agent in the relief of inflammation, there is no drug that can equal 

 water, applied in the form of hot fomentations frequently changed 

 and long continued ; or cold applied continuously for an hour at a 

 time, and then alternated by heat, will subdue the worst cases. 



As a tonic, water has no equal ; and let me say here that there 



Is no class of remedies so abused in all materia medica as tonics; 



for almost every ailment, charlatans advertise tonics, and people 



' call for them, when the better course would be the plentiful use of 



hot and cold water, taken both internally and externally, for the 



