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:

• Beauty and Consistency of the Brain
  
  

  Beauty of the Brain Views — every view of the human brain we have seen in this series of magnificent and unparalleled anatomical plates has inspired our admiration and held us spellbound and utter astonishment in amazement at the limitless attributes, the diversified powers, and the variety of functions this wondrous and mysterious organ is called upon to perform in the hourly transaction and business pursuits of daily human life. And yet, notwithstanding the marvelous properties of this elaborate organ, it is the least solid and most unsubstantial looking body of the human casket.

  Consistency of the Brain – it consists of eighty per cent. Of water, seven per cent. of albumen, some phosphorized fat and some other minor substances. Such is the composition of the mighty and powerful organ which rules the world. Whilst the brain is the seat of sensation, yet it can be cut, burned or electrified without causing pain in itself. Strange, passing strange, or the proprieties and powers of the brain!

  These two segments both represents a very strange and slightly ignorant view of the brain. The first section is entirely devoted to talking about the mysteries and relative beauties of the organ known as the brain. On occasion in modern times a professor might leap upon a soap box and go off on a rant or something describing a topic that they are passionate about in the way described above. There’s something about the tone and the use of language that goes far beyond that and makes this language seems some what similar to language we might expect to find in a be styled movie about the past. However this book evidences the fact that such language did exist and in fact was put into print in a medical textbook.

  The second section offers up something that I found some was a pricing. It’s not so much the language but the way the word percent is spelled. Above you will find a word percent spelled with an extra space in between the words per and the words cent with a period following the word cent. I had never considered the possibility that the two words might have been separated a hundred years ago. Now that I’m studying the anatomy of those particular words it strikes me that they do make some logical sense apart. The percentage is a fraction of a whole it can also be viewed as a ratio and so if a whole is made up of one half substance and one half no substance, it could be expressed as one part substance per two parts combined substance and no substance. That thought makes absolutely no sense as I read back on it, but it’s the best I can do to try and piece together those words may be my beautiful brain isn’t working quite up to par this evening!

• Muscles of the Shoulder
  
  

  The large triangular muscle of the shoulder — the deltoid — is one of great strength, as in fact are all the muscles of the arm.  If you grasp the arm tightly just above the elbow joint, and then bend the forearm, you will feel the biceps muscle of the arm become firm, hard and prominent; now straighten it again and it becomes relaxed, whilst the muscles on the back of the arm become hard and prominent. The muscles of the forearm are the flexors and pronators; that is, they flex the arm and turn the palm downward.  In each upper extremity or arm there are fifty-three muscles, and we observe here the nicest and most economical method of packing away the muscles that could be improvised, securing strength, giving elegance to its form and shape and facilitating its mobility.

• Catching up and a small Setback
  
  

  I am working to catch up on some of my projects today, especially my writing.  I’ve been working literally night and day on several different web related projects and my hobby here at history of the book of medicine has taken a little to the backseat.  I’ve been helping several new bloggers get their blogs up and running, and I’ve been helping several clients initiate professional blogs, with a website and a shopping cart.  More importantly I’ve been working on several of my own business endeavors that help to fund my efforts here so I can spend the time cataloging the history of medicine is was taught a hundred years ago.  I’m also in the middle of a relocation from the Atlanta area to the Charlotte, North Carolina area and so I’ve been moving back and forth throughout all this preparing the new home and preparing to leave the old home.  In part this means that I have to setup and breakdown my office almost every day moving from one desk or location to the next.  One day I might find myself sitting on a couch and working, laptop and lap, and another day I might be sitting down to Kinko’s in front of a row of modern desks or even sitting on the dock by the lake underneath a ceiling fan watching the dogs chase after insects and each other.

   

  I noticed this week as google went through their update that our website here, got knocked down a peg or two and that doesn’t bother me terribly much.  I have not been promoting this website terribly hard, as this truly is a hobby and not so much a business, that said it was a good reminder that I need to network more with other  websites that might have a similar aim or focus or even some that are tangentially related.

   

  So if you have a medical related blog, and medical history blog or even alternative medicine blog or website, please leave me a comment I’d like to review possibly exchanging links and building up better network.  (Please no spamming comments, we can exchange more details off-line if necessary.)