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resolutions were endorsed and reaffirmed by the convention in Boston in 1860.

We regard the present extended inquiries and investigations by National and State organizations pertaining to general sanitary matters, to be the natural outgrowth of the conventions alluded to. Furthermore, as the origin of those conventions was indubitably the outbudding of the crucial experiences of 1855, it may not be impertinent to accord to Baltimore the highest niche for the trustful, true and humane conduct which distinguished her in the severe ordeal of 1855.

THE DRINKING WATERS OF MARYLAND CONSIDERED

IN REFERENCE TO THE HEALTH OF THE

INHABITANTS.

BY W. C. VAN BIBBER, M. D.

Within the limits of the State of Maryland, two well-marked divisions of earth-surface are found, that is, high and mountainous land, and low and level plains. There is, consequently, an opportunity to compare these two well-defined sections with each other as to resulting differences in the health of their inhabitants, and to inquire if such differences as may be found can be fairly traced to their water supply.

The boundaries of the State of Maryland are irregular. It lies between the parallels of 37° 53′ and 39° 44′ north latitude, and the parallels of 75° 4′ and 79° 33′ west longitude. The north boundary line of the State is Mason and Dixon's line, which runs nearly straight east and west 196 miles. The Chesapeake bay and the Susquehanna river divide the State into two shores. The western shore is bounded on the west and south by the eastern bank of the Potomac river. The eastern shore is bounded on the east by Delaware and the Atlantic ocean, and on the south by the Pocomoke river and a straight line running from it to the ocean, which line divides it from the eastern shore of Virginia. The longest distance from the north boundary to the water on the south is 120 miles. The State has, therefore, a distance east and west of nearly 200 miles, and north and south 120 miles. Within this irregular boundary there is a land area of 11,124 square miles, and the water area of Chesapeake bay is 2835 square miles. Along the northern line, and for an average of 40 miles from it coming south, the face of the country is mountainous and hilly. The mountains in the northwestern part of the State have a height of 3000 feet, and the hills gradually diminish in elevation from 800 to 300 feet above the level of the sea. Parr's ridge

may be said to be the last of the highlands, in a general way, and south of this ridge the hills are small, most of the land level, and only a few feet above tide. In this way the face of the country is divided into the highlands and the lowlands; and, as physicians, we are familiar with the diseases, as well as with the general appearance of health of the inhabitants of these two parts of our State. The eastern shore and the four lower counties of the western shore border on salt water; and in these counties the lands are flat, having many advantages of agriculture, with, also, additional means of subsistence for their citizens derived from the water. They are considered by many as the garden spots of the State, where not only the comforts of life, but many of its luxuries are easily obtained. It is admitted that ague and fever is more prevalent in the lowlands than amongst the hills and mountains of the State. It is commonly supposed now that the cause or essence of ague and fever is some peculiar principle to be found in the atmosphere of the lowlands. The supposed presence of this disease-germ or poisonous element or essence in the air has given origin to the word "malaria."

Up to this time, every means which has been taken to find the cause of this disease in the air has failed. The microscope has been employed; experiments with ozone have been made; observations of one season differing from another, that is, seasons of drought, seasons of large rain-fall, seasons when storms were frequent and when they were few, have been noted, and yet there is neither a law established nor special object found, so far as the air is concerned, which has given a clew or a tangible form to the cause of ague and fever. The difficulty of the investigation, in all its bearings, is freely admitted; but it may be fairly said, that although the air has been carefully studied, no atmospheric element has yet been found to account for this widely prevalent disease.

It is possible that a study of the drinking waters respectively used in the two sections of the State may hereafter give a more successful result to this most important inquiry. It is partly to direct attention in this way that this paper has been prepared.

In order to understand what differences exist in the waters which are used in this State, or elsewhere, it is necessary to have some standard with which to compare them. Let the standard be pure water, and it will be asked what is pure water? At the present time this is a question not difficult to answer; but it is known that nature does not furnish pure water anywhere in sufficient abundance to be used

by man for the ordinary wants of life. What is the use of water when taken into the system? What are the physiological effects of water? Why and how is water a necessity for the continuance of animal life? These are questions inseparable from this subject. If water is necessary for the preservation of life, and when pure, gives positive results after being taken into the system, then it is fair to infer that impure water, holding many substances in solution, will also give positive results according to the substances held in solution, whatever these may be. Water from every spring, well, stream and river shows some difference in chemical analysis, and we may also infer that each water may give some different result. It is true sometimes these differences both in the water and the result are slight; yet in other instances, and in certain individuals, they are well marked. If such differences are appreciable to chemical tests, they will also be manifested in the condition of the public health, if a contaminated water is used sufficiently long. This subject is an important one, and in the light of recent discoveries in science may give, in any country, a new direction to future researches for the cause of ague and fever, as well as for other diseases. It is not known that what is called in chemistry "pure water" is obtained from any spring or well in this State, but there are said to be a few springs in the world which yield pure water.

Pure water is the starting-point or standard for the chemist when investigating the constituents of such water as is commonly found in nature, or of potable waters supposed to be injuriously impure. How can pure water be obtained? Chemically pure it can only be obtained by carefully managed processes; but practically pure enough for most purposes in chemistry it may easily be obtained, by distilling common water, by catching clean rain water, or by boiling some waters and filtering them. Water thus obtained is pure enough to serve as a comparison for healthy natural drinking water.

It may not be out of place to mention two of the well-known properties of natural water. It passes into steam at a température of 212° F., and becomes ice at a temperature of 32° F. Whilst descending from a temperature of about 40° F. to the freezing point it expands with great force. This causes ice to be lighter than water, and it is this, as yet unaccounted-for phenomenon, which preserves all life in the cold and temperate zones. Both the boiling and freezing of water now enter largely into its sanitary study. The purity of ice, when it is to be used for drinking purposes, as will be

seen further on, has recently been brought prominently forward as a matter of great importance.

What are the uses of water in the preservation of life and health? It is the natural drink of all adult animals. In therapeutic phrase it is "a vital stimulus "; and is more essential for the immediate preservation of life than solid aliment or food. Recent experiments of celebrated fasters prove this fact. There are several reasons why water is urgently required for the immediate preservation of life, but a principal one is, that water is required to replace the fluid in the blood which is lost by the excretory and exhaling organs. Without water the blood would become too much thickened to circulate. Water dissolves the various substances taken as food. It forms about 785 parts in 1000 of the blood, and is variously estimated at from to nearly of the entire weight of the human body. "An ordinary healthy adult takes, in one way or another, by eating or drinking, about five pints of it in twenty-four hours. Some more, others less, according to different circumstances and individual peculiarities." This estimate of a celebrated English physiologist is considered more than most persons can comfortably digest of our hydrant or pump waters. "Water is the great means of movement within the system; it performs the same office of transportation and exchange in the vital economy that it does by oceans, rivers and canals, in the commerce of the world. Nutritive substances cannot enter the system, nor the débris of the tissues leave it, except in a state of solution; it is the office of water to bring them into this condition, and convey them to their various places of destination." [Huxley's Elementary Hygiene, p. 370.]

Three things distinguish water, and these are used, in some way, every second of time. It is the most abundant of fluids: when unobstructed, it seeks, in all directions, with amazing force, for the level at which it issued from the earth, and will rest with nothing less than this, or the ocean. Again; it is the only known substance which gives a feeling of freshness to the skin. If there were two or more substances which did this, water would be less remarkable.

The different kinds of water found in Maryland and used by the inhabitants of the State are as follows-they will be treated of in the order named: 1, rain; 2, marsh water; 3, ice water; 4, sea water; 5, mineral water, found within the State; 6, spring water; 7, well water, including artesian wells; 8, stream or branch water; 9, river water; 10, mineral waters, brought by commerce regularly into the

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