Proximity of Privy and Well.  -- unless privy and well be located at considerable distance from each other, and further unless the nature of the ground be such that the flow from the privy will be away from the sources of the well, there is always great danger of the pollution of the well water with germs from the privy.  This also applies to nearby stable yards.  There are many authenticated cases of typhoid which have been directly traced to the proximity of wells to privies and stables, and the dangers should not be underestimated.

Today, we often consider the injury that we sustain at the hands of others, but consider that 100 years ago, just living, building or improving your home could potentially create unintended results that could significantly impact your health.  Searching for a Seattle injury lawyer in a case where you have essentially poisoned yourself due to the poor design or layout of your water supply and privy or septic system would not do you much good.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• How to Destroy the Breeding places of Mosquitoes Part 4
  
  

  How to Destroy the breeding places of mosquitoes.-every citizen should use his influence to have every village, city and state corporation appropriate money to eliminate all marshes by filling with soil, drain all stagnant streams and have kerosene oil spread on the surface of lakes, ponds or any other body of standing water, no matter how small. The object of using oil as to prevent the “wrigglers” and “tumblers” from getting air, for after leaving the eggs, they require air to develop. A film of oil prevents the “wrigglers” from getting the needed air and they are destroyed by choking. 1 ounce of oil is sufficient to cover 15 square feet of water. Oil should be applied and removed once a week during the breeding season. In standing water must be kept, screen the containers or keep tightly covered, so the females cannot deposit their eggs. Screen all doors and windows. But screams up early in the spring.

  So finally in the last paragraph the author drops a bombshell about who actually destroy mosquitoes. Surprisingly, the recommended procedure is to essentially contaminate and poison lake streams and cons with oil. While that recommendation might possibly stifle the development of mosquitoes, which I am actually somewhat doubtful about, it would also stifle the health of anyone that wanted to benefit from drinking that water or any animals for that matter. So this case the concept of position do no harm seems to trigger a scenario where this remedy is worse than the original problem, even though the author did not understand this concept 100 years ago probably.  Today, it is common knowledge and even a oil futures broker would be hard pressed to recommend this tactic.

• Rain-Water
  
  

  VARIETIES OF WATER.

  Rain-Water. — in classifying waters, we have first to consider them as regards their sources. Rain-water, as already mentioned, is sweet and soft, and when filtered is perfectly adapted to all the purposes of life; the one difficulty about its use being the impossibility of collecting the cure and preserving it without contamination for the long periods of time and in the large quantities which would often be necessary.

   

  That is a relatively poor description for a classification of anything. The author mentions that we should consider the source, and then promptly this drives how Rainwater tastes and what can and can’t be done with it in a very vague and general way. So with that worthless description we proceed to the next section where the author will probably talk about wind chimes or something completely unrelated to the topic at hand.

• Fine View of Stomach Coatings
  
  

  Fine View of Stomach Coatings.  — On turning over the flap we obtain a very fine view of this remarkable membrane.  The areolar coat is placed between the mucous coats, and connects with both.  The muscular coat is very thick and stout, and composed of three sets of fibres,  the longitudinal, circular and oblique, which form three distinct layers.  The outer coat is a thin, smooth, transparent and elastic membrane, derived from the peritoneum, and well lubricated to prevent friction.  When the fibres of the muscular wall contract, a peculiar churning movement of the stomach is produced, thus securing the thorough mixing of its contents, that every particle may come into contact with the solvent properties of the gastric juice.

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  There’s not much to say about the section however from a chemistry perspective I wonder if the author understood what comprise the gastric juice.  Biology was never my strong suit however I seem to recall from chemistry class that hydrochloric acid is the actual chemical that constitutes the majority of the gastric juice,  I can’t remember what strength of HCl is in the stomach, but as I recall the lining of the stomach is strong enough to hold it without being burnt or damaged.  I must’ve missed the lesson that explained why your throat and esophagus and possibly your nostrils are burned when items in your stomach go the wrong way. 

  There are a lot of things that of been learned over the last 100 years and I want to mention that I’m not trying to point out the ignorance of the writer or the author or even demonstrate my own ignorance, I’m just trying to remark on the evolution of thought in the change that’s taken place over a hundred years.  I’m comparing the written knowledge of medical professionals as compared to a layman today.  It’s an apples to oranges comparison, or maybe a different way to put it with an even worse analogy is that it’s stone tool cutting versus a  plasma cutting way of achieving the same result.  The irony is that some stone tools actually have sharper and more precise blades and many of the tools that we’ve created over the last 100 years, and so I recognize that there are some things that we may have learned over the last 100 years that are actually a step backwards.  Maybe with a little bit of luck, if I find it in this book I’ll actually know it when I see it.