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INDIANA UNIVERSITY STUDIES 



Relation Between the Flood and Sickness 



The advent of any considerable flood upon a town or city is 

 sure to cause a great amount of anxiety, for in the past it has always 

 brought with it an increase of disease and sickness. This state- 

 ment is borne out in the newspaper clippings of the preceding 

 pages which were written after the flood of August, 1875. It has 

 been impossible to find out whether or not there was an increase in 

 disease after that flood, but such must have been the ordinary 

 consequence of a flood, or the suggestions referred to would not 

 have been made at that time. 



Several letters were sent out to the health officers of the various 

 cities that were partly inundated, asking about the sickness that 

 occurred as a result of the recent flood. Some of the representative 

 letters received in reply are herein duplicated. It was with con- 

 siderable surprise that the tenor of these letters was noted. It was 

 fully expected that there would be a notable increase in disease in the 

 parts of these cities and towns that were inundated. The results 

 were just the opposite. The possibilities were there, but the health 

 officers arose to the occasion and clearly demonstrated that disease 

 of a contagious nature can be wiped out of existence even under the 

 most adverse conditions due to a flood. Would it not be a good 

 investment for such action to be taken even when there are no floods? 

 Human life is as dear at one time as another. It is shown that it can 

 be conserved, hence it is our duty to take measures along that 

 line, and make even more progress than we have made in the past. 

 If a man is imprisoned in a mine, there is no limit to the am.ount of 

 money that will be spent to rescue him. The last flood showed 

 that there are many lives lost each year by disease that could be 

 saved, if such energy as was exerted after the flood were to be con- 

 tinued for the same length of time each spring. It appears that 

 this is one of the most important facts that has been brought to 

 light by the investigation of the flood conditions of White River, 

 and it is hoped that a little of this sort of energy will be spent each 

 spring in cleaning up the poorer districts of our towns and cities. 

 As a rule, the flooded districts are inhabited by the poorer class 

 of people, living under improper hygienic conditions. If these con- 

 ditions could be righted each spring, much less disease would pre- 

 vail, and loss of life would be considerably curtailed. 



NoBLESviLLE, Ind., December 5, 1913. 



Dear Sir: 



Your favor of 4th inst. at hand. Immediately following the flood and 

 for some time after, we had a force of men working to clean the district over 



