Danger in Farmhouses from Polluted Water.  -- Of course, the same conclusion holds good for country farmhouses or dwellings when, from motives of convenience, although there is space enough and to spare, but a short distance is interposed between the sides of the hole which is called the well, and which furnishes the drinking water, and the other hole nearby which is called the cesspit, and used as a receptacle for filthy, often poisonous, excrement.  Moreover, there are no doubt many instances where, owing to the inclination of beds of sand or gravel, strata of rock and so forth, impurities of these and other dangerous varieties may be carried, by underground currents, much further than the distances which have been mentioned as measured upon the surface of the earth area in other words, a cesspool on a hillside, 500 feet or more away from a well, may infect the water of the latter, if underground currents favor such contamination.

We have previously talked about the potential for typhoid and other contagions that can be carried by livestock and transmitted to humans.  Shielding the water supply both of people from animals and animals from people was known 100 years ago, but not always well documented unlike the dangers of mesothelioma or many other deadly situations that people could create themselves.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• The Shoulder Joint
  
  

  The Shoulder Joint. — The shoulder joint, formed as it is by the shoulder-blade (scapula), collarbone (clavicle), and the arm bone, is most beautifully designed and executed. It comprises a shallow ball and socket joint, the supporting the freest rotary movements. The shallowness of the socket, however, accounts for the frequent dislocations of this joint; but that is compensated for by the EC, graceful carriage and swaying of the arm, which is deeper socket would not permit.

  As in the section titled, “The Ribs” this section utilizes the word “freest”, I’m assuming this word is some sort of combination of the word free and est, which probably refers to the most amount of freedom allowed or something of that nature. Today we probably use the words maximum range of motion or maximum freedom war something of that nature. We might even use the word freest!

  Now, I’m not really a betting man. I like to play cards and Texas Hold ‘em especially, but I’d be willing to be that the word freest is not a real word anymore. I may not being hitting the poker tables anytime soon with other bets, but I’ll take that one any day of the week.

• Lead Poison in Rural Districts
  
  

  Lead Poison in Rural Districts. — in rural districts, on the other hand, whenever Rainwater is used for drinking purposes, it is exceedingly liable to be contaminated with lead from lead lined cisterns, led service- or collection-pipes, lead ropes, or from the solder of tin roofs. As a rule, the purer the Rainwater, the greater is its action on lead with which it stands in contact; hence, therefore, the presence of a minute quantity of some salt of sulfuric acid and water is of very great importance, and serves as an invaluable protection against lead poisoning to the human beings and animals who may employ it for drinking purposes.

   

   

  There are many sources for lead poisoning, chief among them is typically lead based paints.  However, today people also run the risk of exposure to heavy metals through many batteries from all those devices that require Nickel Cadmium or Lithium Ion batteries.  We don’t always think about what is going into our environment when we’re putting more laptop memory in a computer or buying a spare battery, not to mention all the cell phone batteries churning through landfill dumps each year.

• Insects As Common Carriers
  
  

  Insects As Common Carriers.- great strides have been made in recent years by scientists in regards to the further prevention of disease by studying the life habits of insects.  It has been clearly proven that the poison or germ of certain diseases are carried by them, such as tuberculosis, typhoid fever, bowel complaints of children, by the common housefly; malaria and yellow fever by the mosquito; the bubonic plague by the rat flea, of which there are several varieties, and the squirrel flea, of which there are also several.

  It is easily understood that to prevent the spread of a contagious disease from one individual to another, the precautions are not complete unless he or she be protected against either the bite of a mosquito or fleet which is received into its own blood the poison or the germ causing the disease, which conveys by biting another person.  Fly should be kept out as, by coming in contact with the spittle or discharges from a patient, they carry the germ of poison upon their feet, etc. to the food, milk, water and by direct contact to another person.

  As to aid in the prevention of disease, the numerous boards of health of city and state have issued regulations and instructions whereby these insects can be destroyed and then every person, sick or well, can be protected.  If well, the flight is a danger by bringing disease into her home, if ill, it can convey our disease to another screen is home and start an epidemic.

  There is distinctly different set of priorities that are being covered in this book than those we might consider today.  Typically malaria for example is only known in the tropics, but that definitive line on the globe might not have been known about back then.  Installing screens on Windows had a dual benefit of keeping out mosquitoes as well as flies.  Today we might worry about getting a discount on budget software or spending less time in traffic, but back then mosquitoes had much larger impact on the lives of people in the west much as the same insects have a great impact on people that live in Africa today.