Part 40 (1/2)
And so, the chemist was not alaras in his crooked tube gave indication of bacteria in the drinking water He must ascertain what type of bacteria he had entrapped To this end, he analyzed the gas, and when he determined that the fermentation was due to the presence of colon bacilli in the water, he sent out his warning Not that the colon bacilli are ain the world is infested with millions of the water is an indication of the presence of a really dangerous thing--sewage
Thus, when the city chemist turned from his test tube with the excla that he saw, but the thing that he knew ht accompany it
There has been reat lakes cities may suffer a water fa the borders of these great seas, it has been said, ht render the water unfit for use This fear is based upon the assumption that we shall always continue the present very foolish practice of due into the source of our water supply The time may come e shall know better how to protect the public health and at the same time husband the public resources But even at that, the city chemist says that he hardly expects to see the time when the present intake for water near the head of Belle Isle will not be both safe and adequate
No doubt he makes this statement because he has confidence that the purification of water is both simple and safe There are two principal methods The first, and most expensive, is nature's own--the filter The application of this h it involves considerable expense The trick was learned froh strata of sand and gravel, co water out of lake water, therefore, it is merely necessary to excavate a considerable area to the desired depth and lead into it the pipes connected with the wells from which water is to be pumped Then the pit is filled with successive layers of crushed stone graduated in fineness to the size of gravel and then covered with a deep layer of fine sand This area is then flooded with the water to be filtered, which slowly percolates and comes out clear and pure The best results in purification of contaminated water supplies have probably been attained in this way; that is, as eneral reduction of the death rate from those diseases caused by the use of conta by the city chemist there was no ti plant The dreaded typhoid was alreadyhad to be done at once
If soh Gladwin park your attentionat the lower end of the settling basin It isa very important purpose Approach the open door and your nostrils will be greeted by a pungent odor that may make you catch your breath The work within doors, but take refuge in a little shelter booth outside Strewn about here and there are traces of a white, powdery substance which seems to have been tracked down from a platform erected on the roof This is hypochlorite of li water
This is so powerful a disinfectant that it destroys all bacteria in water even in an extre The city water coreat tunnel about 10 feet in dia plant is situated on the line of this tunnel so that the solution is readily introduced into the water before it reaches the pool called a settling basin
The hypochlorite reaches the plant in iron cylinders containing 100 pounds These are carried up to the roof and poured into the first h a hopper fixed for the purpose There are within the building four of thesesolution is first reater admixture of water and thence passes into the third and fourth From the last it is forced out into the reat flood that is pouring constantly into the wells beneath puth of the cheallons of water is sufficient to render the water fit for drinking purposes Nearly 98 per cent of the bacteria in the water is destroyed by this weak solution
The water is tasteless and odorless Indeed, probably very few of the citizens of Detroit who are using the city water all the ti applied
But the che the little crooked tubes are brought out and filled and carefully watched to ascertain if the telltale gas develops which is an index of ”death in the cup” Thus is the city's water supply guarded
No more important work can devolve on the board of health Before science had learned to recognize the tiny ene water, typhoid and kindred diseases were regarded as a visitation of divine providence for the sins of a people We no that a rise in the death rate from these diseases is to be laid rather to the sins of omission on the part of the board of health and the public works department
_(The Outlook)_
THE OCCUPATION AND EXERCISE CURE
BY FRANK MARSHALL WHITE
The nerve specialist leaned back in his chair behind the great -room and studied the features of the capitalist as that important factor in commerce and industry explained the syainst his will, to seek e, though the deep lines in his face, with his whitening hair--consequences of the assiduity hich he had devoted himself to the accumulation of his millions and his position in the Directory of Directors--made him appear ten years older An exaanic disease of any kind, but he told the physician that he was suffering fro,” with palpitation of the heart, poor sleep, occasional dizziness, pain in the back of the neck, difficulty in concentrating his attention, and,about to fall, of losing his mind, of sudden death--he was afraid to be alone, and was continually tired, worried, and harassed
”You present ns of neurasthenia,” said the specialist ”These syerous You have been thinking a great deal too s You watch with morbid interest the perverted sensations that arise in various parts of your body You grow apprehensive about the palpitation of your heart, which is not at all diseased, but which flutters a little froreat nerve of the heart is tired, like the other great nerves and nerve-centers of your body You grow apprehensive over the analogous tre,' and which you often feel all through your trunk and sometimes in your knees, hands, and face, particularly about the eyes and ers”
The capitalist had started at the mention of the word neurasthenia, and had seemed much relieved when the physician had declared that the syerous ”I had been under the impression that neurasthenia was practically an incurable disease,” he said ”However, you have described my sensations exactly”
”One hundred per centum of cases of neurasthenia are curable,” responded the specialist ”Neurasthenia is not, as is usually supposed, an equally diffused general exhaustion of the nervous system In my opinion, it is rather an unequally distributed ue Certain more vulnerable portions of the nervous system are affected, while the remainder is normal In the brain we have an overworked area which, irritated, gives rise to an apprehension or iion of the brain, by using the norive this affected part an opportunity to rest and recuperate New occupations are therefore substituted for the old habitual one A change of interests gives the tired centers rest”
”I have heard the 'rest cure' advocated in cases like ested the capitalist
”In the treatment of neurasthenia we must take the whole man into consideration,” said the physician ”We must stianism, and, above all, provide some sort of rest and distraction for theas well as the body The rest cure is a kind of passive, relaxing, sedative treatroeeds, trusting to time to rest and enrich it The 'exercise and occupation cure,' on the other hand, is an active, sti, and tonic prescription You place yourself in the hands of a physician who must direct the treatment He will lay out a scheme with a judicious adeneral health, soothe your nervous systeood appetite and sleep, and of occupation which will keep your mind from morbid self-contemplation One of the best , carpentry, , clay-s the hands are kept busy, requiring concentration of attention, while new interests of an artistic and aesthetic nature are aroused The outdoor exercise, taken for a part of each day, if of the right sort, also distracts by taking the attention and creating interest”
The capitalist had called upon the specialist braced for a possible sentence of death, prepared at the least to be inforressive ht was lifted froht anticipate a co his trained intelligence, accustoreat proble orin clay appeared preposterous Nevertheless, when the physician told him of a resort near at hand, established for the treatht be under continuousdeprived of any of the comforts or luxuries of life, he decided to put himself in the other's hands unreservedly
The specialist inforth of tiely upon hiht, for instance, even keep in touch with his office and havehis th, but such a course would inevitably retard his recovery, and possibly prevent it
To get the best results froht to leave every business interest behind him, he was told
The fee that the capitalist paid the specialist made his advice so valuable that the other followed it absolutely The next evening saw the patient in the home of the ”occupation and exercise cure” He arrived just in time to sit down to dinner with a score of other patients, not one of who the cure for some for the admitted to the institution under any circumstances The dinner was simple and abundant, and the conversation at the tables of a lively and cheerful nature As everybody went to bed by ten o'clock--almost every one considerably before that hour, in fact--the newco secured a suite with a bath in theSomewhat to the surprise of the capitalist, as accustomed to be made much of wherever he happened to be, no uest of the establishment, a condition of affairs that happened to please hi that breakfast would be served in the dining-roo, but that, if he preferred to reht to hiht, and was up to breakfast early After he had concluded that repast the medical superintendent showed hie hirounds of the ”occupation and exercise cure” co the hills of northern Westchester County in the Croton watershed, with large shade trees, lawns, flower gardens, and an inexhaustible supply of pure spring water from a well three hundred feet deep in solid rock The rove of evergreen trees, contained a great solariu-roo-roolass, both apart the advantage of all the sun there was in winter In this building were also the medical offices, with a clinical laboratory and hydro- and electro-therapeutic equipuests Two bungalows under the trees of the apple orchard close at hand, one containing two separate suites with baths, and the other two living-rooms with hall and bath-room, were ideal places for quiet and repose Situated at the entrance to the grounds was a club-house, with a big sitting-room and an open fireplace; it also contained a solariureenhouse for winter floriculture, and the arts and crafts shops, with seven living-roo, the club-house, and the bungaloas connected with the medical office by telephone, so that in case of need patients ht immediately secure the services of a physician at any hour of the day or night