J. J. Cosgrove

“ Up to within the last quarter century no thought was given in the United States to the disposal or destruction of the grosser particles which make up the waste of a large city, nor was provision made at sanatoria, hospitals and like institutions for the destruction of materials which might prove infectious; yet, no less important than the removal of sewage by water carriage is the systematic collection and subsequent destruction of all matter of no value which might prove a vehicle of disease, if a clean, sanitary environment is to be maintained. ”

“ Hence it is that the vicinity of towns and the banks of the tanks and water courses are reeking with filth of the worst description, which is of necessity washed into the public water supply with every rainfall. Add to this the misery of pilgrims, then poverty and disease and the terrible crowding into the numerous towns which contain some temple or shrine, the object of their devotion, and we can see how India has become and remains the hotbed of the cholera epidemic." In the United States official report the horrors incident upon the pilgrimages are detailed with appalling minuteness. ”

“ Further, most cities of any importance had a more or less complete system of sewers, and the filth from these sewers was discharging freely, and in the crude state, into the streams and rivers of the realm. Such a condition of affairs could not last long without causing a nuisance, as well as becoming a menace to the health of the commonwealth, and it was not long before the problem was discussed of purifying the sewage before discharging it into streams and rivers. In Great Britain, the pollution of streams was felt more keenly than in America. ”

“ While the ruins of aqueducts and tunnels at Jerusalem, Athens and Carthage give some idea of the skill and knowledge of hydraulic and sanitary matters possessed by the engineers of that period, we must turn to Rome and study their system of water supply, drains for sewage and the ruins of their magnificent baths to form a true conception of the skill of the early school of Roman engineers [17] and the lavish expenditures of treasure by the inhabitants to secure an adequate water supply for Rome. ”

“ One of the most lasting and far reaching benefits was the appointment by Parliament of a Rivers Pollution Commission, to study into and devise ways for the prevention of pollution of streams, lakes and water-sheds, from which public water supplies are obtained. In addition to this, the stink stimulated inquiry into the sources of infection in cases of epidemic diseases, and means for preventing the spread of disease, with such success, that as early as 1866 it was decided that cholera was a water-borne disease and that the cause of infection, whatever it was, could be destroyed by heat. ”

“ In the earlier stages of Roman history a much greater delicacy was observed with respect to promiscuous bathing, even among men, than obtained at a later period. Virtue passed away as wealth increased, and the public baths became places of meeting and amusement where not only did men bathe together in numbers, but even men and women stripped and bathed promiscuously in the same bath.
Some idea of the magnitude of the baths at Rome can be gained from a statement of the number of bathers they could accommodate at one time. ”

“ The two towns adjoin; they are practically one city. The division between the two is no more obvious than that between two densely peopled London parishes, and yet a spot map indicating the houses which were attacked with cholera, which was shown to me by Professor Koch, points out clearly that whereas the disease prevailed in epidemic form on the Hamburg side of the boundary line, that line running in and out among the streets and houses and at times passing diagonally through the houses themselves, formed the limit beyond which the epidemic, as such, did not extend. ”

“ Ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, Rome
While the Greeks were prior to the Romans in the use of the bath, they considered it effeminate to use warm [39] water, and consequently their bathing establishments never attained the luxury and splendor that later marked the Roman baths. When bath tubs were first introduced into Rome, the wealthy inhabitants fitted up their houses with a bathroom much as do the people of our own time. As the luxury, pleasure and benefit of the bath became better known, more elaborate bathing facilities similar to a modern Turkish bath were installed. ”

“ Groups are huddled under the trees; long lines are stretched among the carts and bullocks on the roadside, then half saturated with the mud on which they lie, hundreds sit on the wet grass, not daring to lie down, and rock themselves to a monotonous chant through the long hours of the dreary night. It is impossible to compute the slaughter of this one pilgrimage. ”

“ For the first time in the history of man, the sewage of nearly three millions of people had been brought to seethe and ferment under a burning sun, in one vast open cloaca lying in their midst. The result we all know. Stench so foul we may well believe had never before ascended to pollute this lower air. Never before at least had a stink risen to the height of an historic event. ”

“ Europe was not slow to grasp the value of filtration, and at the present time most cities of importance in Continental Europe have slow sand filters, while America, or at least the United States, which is reputed to adopt almost immediately anything which possesses merit, had constructed no filters as late as 1880, and to-day can number but few. A striking illustration of the value of filtration for sterilizing an infected water supply can be instanced in the cholera epidemic of Hamburg, Germany. ”

“ Following the historic investigations of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, numerous engineers and investigators commenced applying to practice the principles there laid down, and with such good results that there are upwards of 200 purification plants in the United States to-day, and in Pennsylvania alone plans are under way at the present time for over one hundred sewage disposal works. Such a showing is encouraging, and leads to the hope that within a decade no city of any importance within the States will be pouring impurified sewage into public streams or lakes. ”

“ But in the light of our present knowledge of warfare, when a water supply is considered a vulnerable point, most carefully guarded by the besieged, and the point of most furious attack by the besiegers, when the fall of the city is considered almost accomplished when its water supply is taken, it seems an oversight on the part of the Romans not to have discovered and destroyed the cisterns, particularly as the destruction of everything in the city and environs was their mission at Carthage. ”

“ Centers of population sprung up in localities where water was plentiful, and where for commercial, strategetic or other reasons, a city was built remote from a water course, great expenditures of labor and treasure were made constructing works to conduct water to the city from distant springs, lakes or water courses. Ruins—still standing—of some of those engineering works give us some idea of the magnitude of the water supply for ancient cities belonging to the Roman empire. ”

“ The aqueduct of Segovia, Spain, is one of the most perfect and magnificent works of the kind remaining. It is built without mortar, is entirely of stone and of great solidity. The piers are 8 feet wide by 11 feet deep, and where the aqueduct approaches the city it attains a height of about 100 feet. This aqueduct is over 2,400 feet long, is built in two tiers of arches and although almost eighteen hundred years old, still supplies water to the city. Of the 109 arches, however, 30 are of modern construction, being reproductions of the ancient arches. ”

“ On the river Elbe, some miles from the sea, there are three cities adjoining and forming in appearance one large city of 800,000 inhabitants, the combined sewage of which is discharged into the river Elbe. The water supply to the [110] city of Hamburg, a free German city, with a population of 640,400, is derived from the Elbe above where the sewage is discharged into the river but not sufficiently far away to escape contamination from a recision of polluted water at flood tide. This water after some imperfect sedimentation passes direct to the consumer without filtration. ”

“ No more striking example could be found, demonstrating on a large scale the efficiency of filtration as a preventive of water-borne diseases than that of the cholera epidemic of Hamburg in 1892, yet, at the present writing, there are people holding public offices throughout the United States who do not believe in the value of filtration as a public prophylactic, or who are so indifferent as not to [113] advocate its adoption. ”

“ It may be said that they began and ended with the Empire, for it was not until the time of Augustus that these magnificent structures were commenced. M. Agrippa was the first who afforded these luxuries to his countrymen by bequeathing to them the thermæ and gardens which he had erected in the Campus Martius. The Pantheon, now existing at Rome, served originally as a vestibule to these baths; and, as it was considered too magnificent for the purpose, it is supposed that Agrippa added the portico and consecrated it as a temple, for which use it still serves. ”

“ He had built at the gates of the city a vast reservoir, the "Pool of Siloam," but when it was completed, found that a sufficient quantity of water could not be had without conveying it from a distant source on the easterly side of a range of hills of solid rock, over which it would be impossible to convey it. In no way daunted he set to work to pierce the hills with a tunnel or aqueduct, capable of supplying the city with water. Work was commenced simultaneously at both ends of the tunnel and progressed uninterruptedly until the workmen met in the center under the mountain or hill. ”

“ These truths stand to-day and the same means of prevention are resorted to in time of danger that were recommended during the epidemic of cholera in London in 1866. We know now, however, thanks to the investigations of Louis M. Pasteur, that all that class of disease which he designated as zymotic, are caused by little microscopic vegetation which gain lodgment in the body where they grow, multiply and thrive at the expense of the host; and knowing the specific cause of a disease makes it more easy to fight to prevent and to cure. ”

“ Perhaps the best picture of a pilgrimage which, while of a latter date, will still serve to show the unsanitary conditions when thousands of people are brought together without food or shelter, can be had from a report of Dr. Simmons, of the Yokahama Board of Health. In speaking of a latter-day pilgrimage in India, he says: "The drinking-water supply is derived from wells, so-called 'tanks' or artificial ponds and the water courses of the country. The wells generally resemble those of other parts of Asia. ”

“ Fall of the Roman Empire—Succeeding Period known as the Dark Ages—Sanitation during the Dark Ages—Beginning of Material Progress in Sanitation—Pilgrimages to Juggernaut—Water Supply to Paris—London Water Supply—Aqueduct of Zempoala, Mexico.
During the period following the fall of Rome, the empire was overrun by barbarians from the north, and the magnificent baths, aqueducts and public edifices reared by the Romans with such painstaking care were suffered to fall into decay. ”

“ Sanitary Awakening—Realization of the Danger of Unwholesome Water—Cholera in London Traced to the Broad Street Pump—An Historical Stink.
Truth is mighty and will prevail, but sometimes it is centuries before its voice can be heard and additional centuries before its language is understood. As early as 350 B. C., Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, pointed out the danger of unsterilized water and advised boiling or filtering a polluted water supply before drinking. ”

“ The example set by a few cities has not been without effect, and other cities in the United States have followed the lead. It is noticeable, however, that it is only in the Eastern cities that public bath houses are built and maintained at the city's expense. According to the "Report on Public Baths and Comfort Stations," Buffalo, Boston, Philadelphia, Newark and Trenton each have one public bath house and Chicago has three. ”

“ The great sewer, which is tunnel-like in dimensions, being 16 feet high and 18 feet broad, is, on occasions of a visit, lighted with lamps alternately red and blue, and as these stretch away into the distance the effect is decidedly striking. ”

“ In its broadest sense, a history of sanitation is a story of the world's struggle for an adequate supply of wholesome water, and its efforts to dispose of the resultant sewage without menace to health nor offence to the sense of sight or smell. ”

“ It is but natural that, suspicion having once fallen on water as a source or vehicle of disease, means would be adopted not only to properly sterilize water before delivering it to the public, but, furthermore, to select the source of supply where there was least danger of contamination from filth. ”

“ Indeed, so sudden and complete was the change that inside of a year the marble-top lavatories were driven as completely from the market as though they never existed, and, outside of old work, they are as much a curiosity to-day as an old pan closet.
Bath Tub Encased in Woodwork
An Old Marble-Top Lavatory
With the perfecting and cheapening of plumbing fixtures came an increased demand for their use, and the attention of public-minded citizens turned to means for providing the people less favored with worldly riches with means for cleansing the person and apparel. ”

“ The heavy dews are unhealthy enough, but the great festival falls at the beginning of the rains, when the water tumbles in solid sheets. Then lanes and alleys are converted into torrents or stinking canals, and the pilgrims are driven into vile tenements. Cholera invariably breaks out. Living and dead are huddled together.
Distant View of Zempoala Aqueduct, Queretaro, Mexico
In the numerous so-called corpse fields around the town as many as forty or fifty corpses are seen at a time, and vultures sit and dogs lounge lazily about gorged with human flesh. ”

“ Plundered and fleeced by landlords, the surviving victims reel homeward staggering under their burden of putrid food wrapped up in dirty clothes, or packed in heavy baskets or earthenware jars. Every stream is flooded, and the travelers have often to sit for days in the rain on the banks of a river before a boat will venture to cross. ”