Read Ebook: Rural Hygiene by Ogden Henry N Henry Neely

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Ebook has 1310 lines and 130913 words, and 27 pages

VITAL STATISTICS OF RURAL LIFE

PAGES

Death-rate. Ideal death-rates. Death-rates in New York State. Accuracy of records. Effect of children. Death-rates of children. Small cities. Tuberculosis. Diphtheria, Influenza. Pneumonia. Old age 1-24

LOCATION OF A HOUSE--SOIL AND SURROUNDINGS

Damp soils. Location of house. Objections to trees. Space between houses. Composition of soils. Cancer and soil conditions. Topography. Effects of cultivation. Made ground. Water in soil. Drainage. Ground water 25-48

CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES AND BARNS WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTHFULNESS

Shutting out soil air. Position of outfall for drains. Dampness of cellar walls. Use of tar or asphalt. Dry masonry for cellar walls. Damp courses. The cellar floor. Cellar ventilation. The old-fashioned privy. Cow stables. Use of concrete 49-67

VENTILATION

Effects of bad air. Modifying circumstances. Dangers of polluted air. Effect of changes in air. Composition of air. Organic matter in air. Fresh-air inlet. Position of inlet. Foul-air outlet. Size of openings. Ventilation of stables. Cost of ventilation. Relation of heating to ventilation 68-89

QUANTITY OF WATER REQUIRED FOR DOMESTIC USE

Modern tendencies. Quantity of water needed per person. Quantity used in stables. Maximum rate of consumption. Variation in maximum rate. Fire stream requirements. Rain-water supply. Computation for rain-water storage. Computation for storage reservoir on brook. Deficiency from well supplies 90-107

SOURCES OF WATER-SUPPLY

Underground waters. Ordinary dug well. Construction of dug wells. Deep wells. Springs. Extensions of springs. Supply from brooks. Storage reservoirs. Ponds or lakes. Pressure or head 108-130

QUALITY OF WATER

Mineral matter. Loss of soap. Vegetable pollution. Animal pollution. Well water. Danger of polluted water 131-152

WATER-WORKS CONSTRUCTION

Methods of collection. Spring reservoirs. Stream supplies. Dams. Waste weirs. Gate house. Pipe lines. Pumping. Windmills. Hydraulic rams. Hot-air engines. Gas engines. Steam pumps. Air lifts. Tanks. Pressure tanks 153-188

PLUMBING

Installation. Supply tank. Main supply pipe. Hot-water circulation. Kitchen sinks. Laundry tubs. Hot-water boiler. Water-back, wash-basin, bath-tub. Cost of plumbing installation. House drainage. Trap-vents. Water-closets 189-207

SEWAGE DISPOSAL

Definition of sewage. Stream pollution. Treatment of sewage on land. Surface application. Artificial sewage beds. Subsurface tile disposal. Automatic syphon. Sedimentation. Underdrains 208-232

PREPARATION AND CARE OF MILK AND MEAT

Bacteria in milk. Effects of bacteria. Diseases caused by milk. Methods of obtaining clean milk. City milk. Dangers of diseased meat. The slaughter-house 233-256

FOODS AND BEVERAGES

The human mechanism. Digestive processes. Teachings of the digestive operations. Balanced rations. Human appetite. Effect of individual habits. Cooking. Muscular and psychic reactions. Consumption of water. Condiments and drinks. Tobacco. The drug habit 257-277

PERSONAL HYGIENE

Exercise. Clothing. Bathing. Mouth breathing. Eyes. Teeth. Sleep 278-294

THEORIES OF DISEASE

Effects of dirt. Blood resistance. Cell disintegration. Heredity. Age and sex. Occupation. Direct cause of disease. Parasites. Bacterial agencies. Antitoxins. Natural immunity. Chemical poisons. External causes 295-313

DISINFECTION

Disinfecting agents. Antiseptics. Deodorizers. Patented disinfectants. Disinfecting gases. Sulfur. Formaldehyde. Liquid disinfectants. Carbolic acid. Coal-tar products. Mercury. Lime. Soap. Heat. Dry heat. Boiling water. Steam. Drying, light, and soil 314-331

TUBERCULOSIS AND PNEUMONIA

Tuberculosis. Individual resistance. Precautions by the consumptive. Cure of consumption. Pneumonia--the germ. Weather not the cause of pneumonia. Preventives in pneumonia. Infection of pneumonia 332-348

TYPHOID FEVER

Cause of the disease. The bacillus. Methods of transmission of typhoid. Construction of wells in reference to typhoid. Milk infection by typhoid. Infection by flies. Other sources of typhoid fever. Treatment of typhoid fever 349-363

CHILDREN'S DISEASES

After effects. Preliminary symptoms. Contagiousness. Quarantine for scarlet fever. Measles. Characteristic eruption of measles. Whooping cough. Precautions against spread of whooping cough. Chicken pox 364-376

PARASITICAL DISEASES

Malaria. Mosquitoes and malaria. Elimination of mosquitoes. Limitation of mosquito infection. Yellow fever. Characteristics of the disease. Hookworm disease. Pellagra. Bubonic plague 377-395

Smallpox. Value of vaccination. Characteristics of smallpox. Treatment of smallpox. Diphtheria. Cause of the disease. Production of diphtheria antitoxin. Symptoms of diphtheria. Rabies. Tetanus 396-409

HYGIENE AND LAW

Principle of laws of hygiene. Self-interest, the real basis of law. Quality of water. Regulations governing foods. Basis of pure food laws. Protection of milk. Laws governing quarantine 410-425

LIST OF FIGURES

FIG. PAGE 1. Map of New York State 5 2. Bad conditions about a dwelling 28 3. Grading that turns water away from the house 42 4. Modes of laying out drains 46 5. Exterior wall-drains 50 6. Interior cellar-drains 51 7. Wall modes of making air-space 53 8. Water-tight wall 54 9. Rough-backed wall 56 10. Even-backed wall 56 11. Modes of making water-proof cellar walls 57 12. Water-proofing of cellar walls 58 13. Cellar-wall forms 65 14. Letting in fresh air 78 15. Ventilating device 79 16. Ventilating device 80 17. Ventilation by means of coal stove 82 18. Coal-stove ventilation 83 19. Coal-stove ventilation 84 20. Outlets into walls 86 21. Cow-barn ventilation 88 22. How a pump works 105 23. Air-lift pump 106 24. Diagram of a spring 109 25. Water finding its way from a hillside 110 26. The sinking of wells 110 27. Mode of sinking a well 114 28. A well that will catch surface water 115 29. A well properly protected 116 30. A properly protected well 117 31. Well-drilling apparatus 118 32. Sinking a well by means of a water-jet 120 33. An enclosed spring 122 34. A spring extension 123 35. A reservoir for home use 126 36. Stream draining a privy 129 37. Contamination of a creamery from the water supply 148 38. A protected spring-chamber 157 39. Concrete core in a dam 159 40. Section of a flood dam 161 41. Section of a flood dam 162 42. A joint in tile pipe 167 43. Windmill and water tank 170 44. Installation of a ram 172 45. Means of securing fall for hydraulic ram 174 46. A hot-air engine 176 47. A gas engine 179 48. Pump operated by belt 180 49. Duplex pump operated directly by steam 180 50. Raising water by means of compressed air 182 51. Wooden tank 183 52. Iron tank 185 53. Hand pump applied to air-tank 186 54. Engine applied to air-tank 187 55. Windmill connection with tank 188 56. Construction of a wooden tank 193 57. Hot-water attachment to the kitchen stove 195 58. Enameled iron sink 197 59. Enameled iron laundry tubs 198 60. Leveling the drain 200 61. Water-supply installation 202 62. A trap 204 63. Washout water-closet 205 64. Washdown water-closet 205 65. Syphonic closet 205 66. Syphon-jet closet 206 67. Sewage beds 217 68. Plan of sewage beds 220 69. Plan of subsurface irrigation field 224 70. Section of "Miller" syphon 226 71. Plan and section of a septic tank 227 72. Section of a septic tank with syphon chamber 229 73. Plan of sewage disposal for a single house 231 74. School girl with adenoids 289 75. Outdoor sleeping porch for tuberculous patients 343 76. Mortality from pulmonary tuberculosis 344 77. Spring infected by polluted ditch 356

RURAL HYGIENE

It is commonly supposed that good health is the invariable accompaniment of country life; that children who are brought up in the country are always rosy-cheeked, chubby, and, except for occasional colds, free from disease; that adults, both men and women, are strong to labor, like the oxen of the Psalmist, and that grandfathers and grandmothers are so common and so able-bodied that in practically every farmhouse the daily chores are assigned to these aged exponents of strong constitutions and healthy lives. If, however, we are honest in our observations, or have lived on a farm in our younger days, or have kept our eyes open when visiting in the country, we will remember, one by one, certain facts which will persistently suggest that, after all, life on the farm may not be such a spring of health as we have been led to believe. We will remember the frequency of funerals, especially in the winter, and the few families in which all the children have reached maturity. We will remember the worn-out bodies of men and women, bent and aged while yet in middle life.

It is worth while, then, at the beginning, to find out, if we can, just what are the conditions of health in rural communities, in order to justify any book dealing with rural hygiene; for it is plain that if health conditions are already perfect, or nearly so, no book dealing with improved methods of living is needed, and the wisdom of the grandparents may be depended on to continue such methods into the next generation.

The usual method of measuring the health conditions of any community, such as a city, town, county, state, or country, is to compute the general death-rate, as it is called; that is, the number of deaths occurring per 1000 population. For example, in 1908, with its estimated population of 8,546,356, there occurred in New York State 138,441 deaths, or 16.2 deaths for every 1000 population. Sixteen and two-tenths is, then, the general death-rate for the state for that year. This method of determining the health of a community is crude and should not be too strictly relied upon for proving the healthfulness implied. The rate is at best only an average, and takes no account of anything but death, one death being a greater calamity, apparently, than a dozen persons incapacitated from disease. Then, too, this death-rate is greatly affected by peculiarities of the community in age, sex, nationality, and occupation, and by local conditions of climate, altitude, and soil. The effect of these local conditions can best be explained after a consideration of the general death-rate and its definite values in different places.

In the United States, as a whole, or, more exactly, in that part of the United States which keeps such records of deaths as to be reliable , the annual average death-rate for the five-year period 1901-1905 was 16.3, and this may be compared with the death-rate in other countries shown in the following table for the same period:--

Australia 11.7 Austria 24.2 Belgium 17.0 Denmark 14.8 England 16.0 France 19.6 Germany 19.9 Italy 21.9 Japan 20.9 Netherlands 16.0 New York State 17.1 Norway 14.5 Spain 26.1 Sweden 15.5 United States 16.3

There are special reasons why the Australian death-rate should be low, but, neglecting this one country entirely, it will be seen that Norway, Denmark, and Sweden have rates of 14.5, 14.8, and 15.5, respectively; rates which may be considered as good as any country can attain at the present time. But the United States, as a whole, has about one more death per 1000 than these countries, and New York State two more per 1000 population. This means that in New York State there are 16,000 more deaths each year than if the population were living in Sweden under Swedish conditions and laws. Or, expressed in another way, it means that in Sweden one out of every sixty-five persons dies each year, and in New York one out of every fifty-eight persons.

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