Outbreak at Salford Jail.  -- In the Salford, England, jail there was a sudden outbreak of diarrhea of a choleric type, which affected more than half of the prisoners; while of the officers and their families, who were distributed throughout the building, not one was attacked.  The food of the convicts was examined and found to be good; it was evident, also, that the air to not contain the cause of the disease, as both classes above mentioned were under the same conditions in that respect.  Suspicion was therefore directed to the drinking water.  It was then discovered that, though the water supply in all parts of the prison was derived from the same source, there was one sister for the use of the officers, and another's covered cistern for furnishing to the prisoners their allowance, and that the un-trapped overflow pipe of the latter communicated with an open sewer.  On the day of the outbreak of diarrhea in the jail, the water from the cistern was observed to be colored and to taste unpleasantly.

This is definitely an interesting historical footnote, even though it would appear that this case was likely at least 20-50 years old when the author covered it 100 years from the publication of this internet article.  Never the less, it is interesting to learn again how this case was tracked and gain some additional historical perspective.  It helps us to understand the actual situations that led to policy and change and codes in plumbing and more over the years and helps make the current code less distant as if its there for the simple practice of bureaucracy as if we were reading actuarial tables about term life insurance and not a medical guide that might have saved some people’s lives as they put this into practice.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• Diseases Caused by Alkaline Waters
  
  

  Diseases Caused by Alkaline Waters. — the symptoms referral to an excess of alkalinity, rising from the presence of these earthy salts in a drinking water, and mainly those of a dyspeptic nature. At first the employment of hard water by persons who are unaccustomed to it produces diarrhea. Which is occasionally serious or even dangerous in its character. But the long continued use of such a drinking fluid is thought to cause habitual constipation, with the heavy training of evils, including piles and liver complaint, which depend upon it. Calculus, or stone in the kidney or in the bladder, which gives rise sometimes to the most horrible agony human beings are ever called upon to endure, is believed to be due, in many instances, to an excess of lime and magnesia salts in the drinking water.

  This section is definitely interesting. And as I read this section, I distinctly heavy memory of watching an old Clint Eastwood movie. Clint Eastwood’s trek across the desert somewhere in the southwest of the United States, and of course the bad guys are chasing him. Clint Eastwood is smart enough to recognize that the water in one pool that he comes to has an alkalinity level far too high to drink. He has a sidekick, who initially attempt to drink the water but Clint Eastwood stops him knowing better. Then the bad guys come by sometime later and drink the water and one of them croak’s. This particular section highlights the fact that you may not die instantly from drinking this water but it can definitely make you very ill in the short-term afterwords, or very ill in a chronic way if you consume this type of water over a long period of time. Plus I’m sure that there is some water that is poisonous right from go. 

  This section also reminds me of a water purification straw that was handed out at a trade show that I attended a few years back. The water purification straw was handed out like personalized pens are handed out at most trade shows, but this was a bit of a outdoorsman tradeshow focusing on hunting tools and guns and stuff like that. I’m under the impression that water purification straw’s or tablets even only work to essentially remove microbes are things that might trigger Montezuma’s revenge, but now I have to wonder if maybe they had the ability to cancel out our alkalinity and balance the pH a bit.

• The Toes
  
  

  The Toes. — the toes are observed to be straightforward and align with the general contour of the foot. This is their natural position. The beautiful outlet of the natural foot, is here represented in the several different views, the graceful arch of the instep the elegance of its form, it’s marvelous elasticity and string all combine to make the foot that only of great perfection in beauty, but admirably did it for the manifold duties is called upon to perform. Man, in his diversified labors and very trials throughout life, is sometimes obliged to walk, run, jump, leap, climb, stand erect, lean forward, etc., and he depends upon the foot to maintain his equilibrium in the performance of the several duties.

  This section provides us with a great deal of non-information about the toes that your average 4 year old intuits without having to verbalize and often verbalizes none-the-less.  This section might as well offer up an auto insurance quote advertisement as opposed to supposedly providing medical education information on appendages attached to our feet.

• The Mosquito
  
  

  The Mosquito.-the mosquito is a common carrier of yellow fever and malaria or “chills and fever” as it is sometime spoken of by the public.  Malaria is caused by a tiny parasite which can only be seen by the microscope in the blood of man and the mosquito.  It lives and multiplies in the blood of an individual suffering from the disease.

  It definitely is interesting to see that they do have a pretty good understanding of what malaria was even though the microscope was still relatively new back at time of publication of this book.  Just a short description of the potential of this little insect that causes people so many problems.  Malaria medicine and running water have helped people get away from these critters.  Many colonial settlers  in Africa tended to locate themselves close to rivers and streams to be close to running water.  This was a formula that worked in colder climates where mosquitos were not as dangerous, but in the tropics this put them in the danger zone for malaria.  They literally settled in the mosquito breeding areas.

  Well and running water deliver waters into the homes around the world from the ground to the faucet helped people move away from the proximity of these danger areas, but there are still many people stuck in the original settled areas.