There is at present too much theory in sewer ventilation, without paying any attention to results gained, or to the laws which control the atmosphere and its action on sewage matter.
THE ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF ZYMOTIC DISEASE.
Whilst making experiments and taking observations five years ago, to trace the origin and transmission of some cases of zymotic disease, I formed an opinion that the theory as regards the transmission of zymotic disease by contagion was to a certain extent an erroneous one.
I mentioned this to some of my medical acquaintances at the time, but as it was so opposite to the prevailing ideas, I was advised not to publish or hold out such opinions, as they were contrary to the theories accepted by the medical profession.
Now that these theories have been severely shaken, and in many cases reversed by medical men themselves, during the past year, I shall plead no excuse, but insert them for the guidance of those engaged in sanitary work.
The source of zymotic diseases may be traced to persons inhaling or taking into the system poisons from putrid sewage matter, and those poisons are conveyed into the body, either in the food they eat, the water they drink, or the air they breathe. Whether they are organic or inorganic, they poison the blood, which becomes more or less diseased, according to their density or vitality, or whether each of the zymotic diseases is produced by distinct organic germs grown and developed from putrid matter under different atmospheric influences, it matters not to my mind in proving the true method by which zymotic diseases are transmitted.
On the origin or source from which these diseases are produced, I do not think there are two opinions, viz. that of poisons from putrid matter, and the question to be solved is in what manner these poisons are conveyed into the system. To do this it will be necessary to quote some cases of zymotic disease and the circumstances which surrounded them.
In a small district, a girl thirteen years of age was taken with diphtheria, and in two days after the younger brother was taken and the other children appeared sickly. From investigation it was certain that the poison had not been conveyed into the system by food or water. The children generally took their meals in the kitchen, the door of which opened into the yard, which was about 10 feet long by 8 feet wide, in the corner of which was the W.C. I tested the atmosphere entering the room at the bottom of the doorway, and found that it contained poisonous matter, and on testing the closet and drains I found a hole 3 inches by ¼ inch in the closet trap. Here was the source of poison which produced the disease. The gas in the drain was confined between two traps and in contact with putrid sewage matter, and when it was removed no poison from any other source could be detected. The first child that was taken ill died, but the other recovered.