2 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



The earth is dirty, the inhabited parts have been under- 

 going the process of pollution for centuries, and though 

 there are agencies present constantly tending to revivify 

 and purify it, it is certain these were only intended to be of 

 benefit when men and animals were but two or three to the 

 square mile, and not thousands as at present, in our towns 

 and cities. 



This congestion of definite areas has led to the com- 

 munity poisoning itself in the matter of water, and legisla- 

 tion now recognises that local supply is no longer sufficient 

 in quantity or quality to provide the needs of some of our 

 large cities, so that the supply of water from a clean 

 ' catchment area,' which may be many miles away, appears 

 the only solution of the problem. 



Further, it is astonishing to bear in mind that in the 

 past, the arrangement for the source of water supply to towns 

 and cities was as a rule the sewage outlet. It is incredible 

 that any community could have regarded with satisfaction 

 or safety, a water supply drawn from the identical channel 

 into which was poured the urine, fseces, slop-water, and 

 street drainage of the city ! 



Quite apart from the possible risk which was run, one 

 would have thought the aesthetic sense would have revolted 

 against such a filthy system. 



The part played by water in the dissemination of enteric 

 and cholera in man appears quite clear. If either of the 

 poisons of these diseases obtain access to the public drink- 

 ing supply, there is no doubt of the results. Excepting for 

 these two diseases we would have heard but little of the 

 risk of water impurity. 



No disease directly or indirectly related to the above 

 affects the lower animals. Ulcerations of the bowels may 

 exist without the disease being even allied to human 

 enteric. The absence, then, of enteric and cholera amongst 

 the lower animals, is the explanation why so little impor- 

 tance is attached to their water supply, and that anything 

 is considered good enough for them to drink. 



But there is a broader light in which the matter should 



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