Sanitation and the Paris Typhoid Epidemic
Paris has been having an epidemic of typhoid fever. One of the ironies in connection with the outbreak was that the place most seriously affected was the building occupied by the faculty of medicine. They were soon able, however, to trace out the cause of the trouble. A plumber had made the mistake of connecting some pipes in the building with a disused main that had formerly conveyed water from the Seine. The defect has been remedied, and the disease is abating, altho seventeen deaths have already occurred. This emphasizes the fact that sanitation is something that needs to be very carefully looked after. Sanitary measures stricter than those in vogue in almost any place that could be selected in the world were enforced upon ancient Israel in the time of Moses. As the result of observing these sanitary regulations, combined with the blessing of God, it could be said, toward the close of their wanderings in the wilderness, that there was not a sick person among them. Much of the sickness in these times is occasioned by a lack of observing some of the most ordinary principles of sanitation. Such carelessness as that of the plumber in Paris is criminal, for his negligence has already resulted in the death of seventeen persons.