Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 14.djvu/533

Rh of September a period of continuous dry weather characterized the month; there may have been one or two slight showers, but not sufficient to change the general condition of dryness of earth and air. During this drought the well at s gave out, and continued dry until replenished by the late fall rains. The wind, blowing generally from the west and northwest, served to keep the temperature down, but not to lessen the unpleasant dryness of the air. This was changed on the 20th by a thunderstorm from the west, repeating itself from the east after a brief interval with nearly equal force. So violent, however, were the wind and rainfall, that the water was carried off by surface-wash, filling up sewers and cellars and tearing out gutters, but doing harm rather than good to vegetation. The drought was ended, however, as this was followed by a series of easy showers. During October there was much wet and cold weather, the meteorological complexion of the late fall being decidedly unpleasant.

Now that we are ready to begin the story of our search, what shall we look for? We have here a circumscribed outbreak of typhoid fever, a disease admittedly of an infectious nature, but proceeding from what kind of infection? Shall we content ourselves with finding a heap of decomposing vegetable or animal matter, or rest satisfied by discovering an escape of sewer-gas from some untrapped drain into one or more of the houses? Since we—the reader and I—are scientific and reasonable people, we can not adopt the theory that the disease is contagious—an opinion held by some able but rather easy-going physicians—and having once effected a lodgment in the community is capable of infecting all who have systems favorable to the development of the poison. The disease is not contagious in the sense that small-pox and scarlet fever are. We have proof in the outbreak we are studying that it is not of such a nature; but we have further proof. Liebermeister says that he had never seen in the hospitals of Greifswald, Berlin, and Tübingen a single hospital patient, physician, or nurse attacked with typhoid fever, although such cases were placed in the general wards. Dr. Murchison states that during a period of fourteen years 2,506 patients were treated for typhoid fever in the London Fever Hospital, and yet during this long period, and notwithstanding this vast number of patients, only eight cases originated in the hospital. It is needless to cite further evidence, and, since we can not save ourselves hard work by the slipshod theory of contagion, we must explore further.

Sewer-gas and decomposing matter we can not dismiss in this summary way; for here we are entering upon the special preserves of boards of health, sanitary engineers, and all others who advocate the gospel of cleanliness. In admitting or excluding sewer-gas as an element in the spread of the disease, we need a more complete array of conditions than is furnished by our group of houses; but such evidence as is wanting we must procure from other sources. A glance at the cut will show that but three houses in the fever-group were connected