224 
TYPHOID FEVEE IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
what will be accomplished by the prevention of river pollution, giv- 
ing many interesting figures, showing the comparison between the 
typhoid death rates in Washington and other cities. 
WATER SUPPLY AND SEWAGE DISPOSAL IN THE DISTRICT OF 
COLUMBIA.^ 
In this report Dr. Samuel G. Busey recounts the history of the 
efforts to secure a better water supply for the city of Washington, 
giving credit especially to Dr. G. Lloyd Magruder, to whom must be 
awarded the merit of initiating an investigation which placed the 
^ledical Society of the District of Columbia in the front in efforts to 
secure a better water supply for Washington. 
This report dwells especially upon typhoid fever as a water-borne 
disease, giving many instances, and especially lauds the value of slow 
sand filtration, and asks, ‘^Is it not reasonable to presume that if 
filtration were adopted for this city there would be a greater diminu- 
tion in typhoid fever?” 
In this report Doctor Kober was the first to call attention to the 
effects of the Dalecarlia reservoir as a sedimenting basin upon the 
typhoid-fever death rate of Washington. 
It is well known that sedimentation plays an important part in the pmification of 
water, and I will now direct your attention to figures which show what influence this 
method alone has exercised upon our t\"phoid-fever rates. The subjoined table gives 
the typhoid-fever rate in this city from July, 1879, to January 1, 1898. * * * 
The Dalecarlia reservoir was in almost uninterrupted use as a sedimentary basin 
from July 1, 1879, to June 3, 1885. Mark the comparatively low tj'phoid fever rates: 
From June 3, 1885, to July 28, 1886, the sedimentary' basin was not in use; note the 
difference. From July 28, 1886, to April 6, 1887, it was in use; note the decline. 
Again mark the decided increase when not in use from June 20, 1888, to July 28, 1895, 
and the decided decline since its use in August, 1895. It should be remembered that 
of the 228 cases which occurred from July 1, 1895, to June 30, 1896, 194 deaths occur- 
red in 1895, and only 34 in the six months ending June 30, 1896. The very high rates 
for August to October are unaccountable, imless due to local pollution while the reser- 
voir was out of service. This table speaks for itself, and that bacterial purification 
does take place in sedimentary basins can not be questioned. 
This document contains, further, a discussion by Dr. J. J. Kinyoun, 
then director of the Hygienic Laboratory, Marine-Hospital Service, 
and by Dr. Charles Smart, Deputy Surgeon-General, U. S. Army. 
o Report of the Committee on the Public Health of the Medical Society of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia on the water supply and sewage disposal in the District of Columbia, 
and the discussion thereon. February 23, 1898, 55th Cong., 2d sess., S. Doc. No, 183, 
