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:
- Quantity and Variety of Foods
Quantity and Variety of Foods. — as we have already seen, the human body consists of numerous mechanics or artisans, who are constantly at work repairing and upbuilding the unceasing destruction that is continually going on. If fresh food be not daily supplied, this work would soon cease, and the lamp of life flicker out. To replace this constant waste we required nearly 3 pounds of solid food, and fully 3 pounds of liquid food for our daily allowance. But to convert the pent-up energies of bread, meat and vegetables into the tissues of our own mechanism require a number of differently constructed organs, and these we now desire to draw your attention to this beautiful chart. The organs consist of the stomach, liver, pancreas and intestines, which comprise the principal organs concerned in the process of digestion.
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In 2007 I can hardly imagine what eating 3 pounds of food a day might be like, and I tend to eat a lot having a very high metabolism. For example I had two waffles for breakfast, two products on hot dog buns for supper and to bananas today. I think the total of all that food combined may have been a pound for pound and a half if you don’t count the banana peels. To put it differently, I can’t quite imagine eating six half pound cheeseburgers every day. Not to mention the half pound cheeseburgers that you get a fast food place like Wendy’s, are weighed before they’re cooked and not after. So a half pound cheeseburgers going to weigh less when you eat it because they took out some of the crease and fat, but probably not enough.
Drinking 3 pounds of liquid definitely caught my attention. There have been many references over the years to the US nutritional food pyramid. By many accounts the pyramid has been traced to some Washington, DC bureaucrat that came up with a concept that a person needs to drink eight glasses of water every day. To my knowledge, no one has come up with any scientific basis for why that Washington bureaucrat would chose an eight glasses as opposed to five or 10, or even just stating that a person should drink as often as they are thirsty. Now I’m curious to learn if 3 pounds of water equates to approximately 8 glasses of water. This book was published in 1916 and the food pyramid was was written up in the 1930s approximately 14 years later.
Is it possible that I found an early reference in this medical textbook that may have been the basis for that quackery prescribing eight glasses of water every day?
It definitely could be possible as this to tomb of a book was definitely reference material that I could envision a bureaucrat pulling off a shelf of the Library of Congress, what better book than the Library of Health to be found in the Library of Congress. I don’t expect ultimately be accredited with finding the source for that quackery anymore than you or I expect to find a publisher’s clearing House letter in our Mailboxes containing an actual check for $1 million.
- Effect of Metallic Impurities
Effect of Metallic Impurities.– the effects of minute traces of metallic substances in drinking water have not yet been ascertained with sufficient accuracy, but it is quite possible that the entire sanitary condition of the district may depend in some measure on impurities of this description. Mr. Wanklyn suggests that the well-known salutary effect of what is called change of air may be, in reality, partly due to the escape from some extremely small metallic impurities in the water of the section of country from which removal takes place.
Well today, people know that heavy metals and water can be extremely poisonous or problematic for people to consume water with these impurities in place. It is somewhat remarkable that this had not been figured out as few as 100 years ago, and that what is relatively common knowledge today was only hypothetical esoteric pseudoscience 100 years back. It’s no wonder that so many developed countries today have so many heavy metal messes to clean up around the world. Today people are looking for the best fat burners that they can buy so they can load up on McDonald’s french fries and eat all that they want, we’ll just a few years back they are looking for safe water to drink, and not even knowing what safe was.
- How to Eliminate the Breeding Places of Flies
How to Eliminate the Breeding Places of Flies.-flies breed by laying Lara by or eggs which can be seen as maggots in all undisturbed till. It requires eight days for the millions of eggs to grow. Keep garbage can tightly covered, protect by screen so that flies cannot reach the garbage. See the garbage is collected promptly and cleanly. If you live in the country, burned or bury it. Allowed no filth or decaying matter of any kind to accumulate in or near your premises. Keep stable clean, placed in Newark, old straw, etc., in screened pits, vault, or in boxes or barrels which should be well covered. Screen all previous, vault and openings to cesspools or drainage structures. See that they do not overflow and use chloride of lying freely. Pour kerosene into drains, keep drainage systems in good order and repair all leaks at once. Destroy sawdust custom doors, they are unsanitary. Clean custom doors daily and keep a 5% carbolic acid solution in them all the time. Permit no dirt to accumulate in corners, behind doors, back of radiators, under still owes, et cetera. If there is a nuisance in the neighborhood, notify the nearest health authority.
Well pouring kerosene into water drains these days would definitely be something that the EPA would have a problem with. But you can and must understand the naïve concepts if they had about protecting their homes and households from disease and other infectious things that could hurt them immediately and possibly have prevented them from seeing the long-term problems that might have come from contaminants going into water supply. They can see the cause-and-effect problems of disease, but they could oversee the cause-and-effect relating to contamination of other items such as kerosene mixing with water supplies. We are talking about serious issues keeping people healthy as opposed to coming up with tips on the best acne treatment for a teenager.