Safe disposal of human excreta at unsewered homes / by L. L. Lumsden, C. W. Stiles, and A. W. Freeman.

  • United States. Public Health Service.
Date:
1915
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Safe disposal of human excreta at unsewered homes / by L. L. Lumsden, C. W. Stiles, and A. W. Freeman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    SAFE DISPOSAL OF HUMAN EXCRETA AT UNSEWERED HOMES. By L. L. I<UMSDEN, Surgeon; C. \V. Stiles, Professor of Zoology; and A. W. Freeman, Epidemiologist, United States Public Health Service. Good health depends largely upon the exercise of good sense. Climates are often referred to as ''healthful” or “unhealthful,” but, as a matter of fact, the health of any community is mfluenced directly much less by cHmate than by conditions which we, ourselves, can regulate. In all places and under aU conditions of human existence, the dis- posal of the waste or refuse products of the human body has a most important bearing on health. The excretions from our bowels and kidneys, though coming from within our bodies, are generally regarded after they have left our bodies as being filthy, and we instinctively shun them. This instmct should be followed, not blindly, but intelligently. Otherwise, in attempting to avoid human £dth we may be brought into most inti- mate contact with it. Although the filthiness of human refuse is an important considera- tion, the danger of this matter to health and to fife is of still greater importance. To soil the hands and feet with it is filthy. To swallow water or food that is contaminated with it is filthy and dangerous. If, therefore, we' are to dispose of human filth intelligently, we must do so in a manner that will prevent it from gaining access either to the inside or to the outside of our bodies. In cities sewer systems carry the matter at once far away from the home. In rural districts safe and cleanly disposal can be effected with less expensive machinery, provided we act with an understand- ing of the ways in which this filth may be spread about the home, and of the methods for preventing such spread. Why and How Human Filth is Dangerous. The excreta (stools and urine) from persons are dangerous because they often contain the living poisons (or germs) of disease. These germs may come not only from persons sick with disease, but also from persons in apparently good health (the so-called “carriers” of infection). Therefore, our great safeguard against certain diseases is a cleanly disposal of all human excreta at all times. If not disposed of in a sanitary (cleanly) manner, human excreta may in various ways get into the water we drink, the food we eat,