Elements of Sanitary Engineering

Abstract

THE author of this book deals with the whole range of sanitary science, including an historical notice of sanitation from the time of the Israelites in Egypt; the classification of diseases; statistics of mortality as affected by sanitation; bacteriology; the effect of filth, impure drinking water and foul air on health; water supply, storage and filtration; construction of reservoirs and supply of water to towns; sewerage, both for cities and houses; and the disposal of garbage and town refuse. In the introductory chapter the elements of sanitary science which are essential to sanitary engineering are briefly outlined, and in the historical notes it is shown how the filthy habits of the people in early times led to direful epidemics of plague. It is pointed out that “the teachings and practice of the Christian Church during the Middle Ages regarded cleanliness as one of the luxuries which was inconsistent with godliness, while bodily filth was considered as a work of inward piety and holy sanctification. The example set by the monastic orders was imitated by the people at large; bathing was unknown, houses and clothing were filthy, and the streets served as receptacles for garbage and human excreta.” Some interesting statistics are given to show how the death rate has decreased as sanitary science has advanced. The annual death rate of the population of London in the latter half of the seventeenth century was nearly 80 per thousand; in the eighteenth century, about 50 per thousand; and soon after the middle of the nineteenth century, about 24 per thousand; and now ranges about 20˙5 per thousand. An efficient system of sewerage and water supply has been known to reduce the death rate in large towns in England and the continent from typhoid, from a rate of 2˙2 per thousand inhabitants to 0˙4 per thousand. The cholera epidemic which visited Hamburg in 1892, caused 8976 deaths, being at the rate of 134 per thousand in Hamburg, where the water supply was proved to be impure and to contain the cholera bacillus; while in Altona and Wandsbeck, adjoining the city, where the water was properly filtered before being supplied, the rate was respectively 23 and 22 per thousand.

Elements of Sanitary Engineering.

By Mansfield Merriman, Professor of Civil Engineering in Lehigh University. Pp. 216. (New York and London: Chapman and Hall, 1898.)