Enteric fever in India and in other tropical and sub-tropical regions : a study in epidemiology and military hygiene / by Ernest Roberts.

  • Roberts, Ernest.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Enteric fever in India and in other tropical and sub-tropical regions : a study in epidemiology and military hygiene / by Ernest Roberts. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    535/600 (page 511)
    DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. As regards the first, it may be said that experiments al- ready made in India have put the question beyond doubt, as far as the main issue is concerned, even if details vary and re- quire elaboration in minor points (see reports from Bombay, Poona, Calcutta, Simla and elsewhere.) Experiments in India have fully demonstrated the capacity of the biological methods to deal with the excrement of natives which averages 10 oz. for each person, with all its undigested food residue and large excess of cellulose, with a dilution of 4* gallons per head, and it is certain that the European adult average excrement of 5 oz. could be submitted to the process with equally good results when dilu- ted with 3 gallons of water, because of the relative diminution in quantity and of the comparative absence of undigested residues. Does the European soldier receive, for ablutionary and culinary purposes, less than 3 gallons of water per diem ? If he does, the difficulty of supplementing the supply to reach this amount is surely not insuperable ; but is it too much to ask that this amount of fresh water should be set aside for the purpose of diluting the excreta ? One of the objections raised against trenching-grounds is the lack of irrigation water for cultivation; the intermittent bestowal of a “purified” effluent from a “ biological” installation not only returns the necessary nitrogen to the soil for manurial purposes for raising crops of vegetables, but it brings at the same time the re- quired supply of moisture, while it relieves the inhabited site of so much stagnant waste. As for the second objection, there is certainly no intention on the writer’s part to minimise its importance, but, first, it must be noted that it is hypothetic and inferential. If pathogenic germs be contained in the solid and liquid excreta—and it may be taken as certain that they do—what are we to say of the present arrangements ? The fact forms the most damning indictment of these arrangements, and one might be content to rest the case for the prosecution on this alone. Given a damp polluted soil upon which contaminated faeces and urine are constantly deposited, and add to this the faulty latrine system, and we have abundant foci of infection provided before we get to the trenching-ground. Let us, however, look at what we actually know as regards the biological methods of which an adequate system of removal must form an integral part. It is proved to demonstration that where a proper water closet and drainage system is in use, there Enteric Fever * Three gulloue in Home of the Calcutta experiments.