WATEK 29 



tive disturbance by animals drinking a very hard water, or 

 one containing a considerable quantity of mud and filth. 

 Both of these act mechanically on the lining membrane of 

 the digestive canal, and their results are easy of compre- 

 hension. 



If we except these two conditions there is nothing in 

 water capable of producing disease, unless specific organ- 

 isms gain access to it. Yet it is beyond all shadow of 

 doubt that a pure water supply is essential to health. 

 Where it does not exist, although it may not be possible to 

 precisely indicate the departure from health, yet as a prac- 

 tical matter there is no difficulty in recognising that the 

 highest degree of physical efficiency, especially among 

 horses, is not obtained where the water supply is impure. 



Anything which detracts from the highest obtainable 

 degree of health, is rendering the animal more prone to 

 disease. The object of hygiene is to secure the greatest 

 degree of bodily health, not only because the animal is then 

 better suited for work or for food, but because it is less 

 liable to disease. This question of body fitness as a pro- 

 tection against disease will frequently be discussed in these 

 pages. There are certain definite factors which contribute 

 to it, and we cannot accept for a moment the popular 

 impression that any water is good enough for animals. 



Very little headway has been made by the human 

 hygienist over the question of the introduction of specific 

 microbes into the water supply, his difficulty being that 

 he has to go so far back, probably to the very origin of the 

 supply, to be able to trace even possible infection. 



In doing this he has had to assume that these organisms 

 have maintained their vitality and infective properties for 

 many days, and further, in spite of being diluted millions 

 of times, it has still been possible for the infecting agent to 

 have picked out a susceptible human being here and there. 



Authorities do not appear to agree as to the length of 

 time the microbes of the two diseases most commonly 

 water-borne, viz., cholera and enteric, are capable of living 

 in water ; some believe but a very short time under natural 



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