CHAPTER IX Introduction of Water Filters—Striking Example of the Effi- (Part 1)

CHAPTER IX Introduction of Water Filters—Striking Example of the Effi- ciency and Value—Cholera at Altona and Hamburg—Puri- fication of Sewage—The Automatic Scavenger of Mouras— Investigations of the Massachusetts State Board of Health— Garbage Destruction . : 3 é ; : : 5 Ali) CHAPTER X Modern and Recent Plumbing Fixtures—Passing of the Marble Lavatory—Public Wash Houses—Public Comfort Stations— Conclusion . : : : : 2 : : : oy vi DBHIoao«»rkwwnre ie) 42 List of Illustrations Rebekah at the Well Well at the Rancho Chack Ancient Roman Fountain at Corinth The Cisterns at Carthage Pole and Bucket for Raising Water Ruins of Ancient Cisterns Old Roman Water-Wheel Water Carrier with Jar Water Carrier with Goat-Skin ao Pool of Siloam Pool of Solomon Aqueduct near Tunis, Dodag to neie Car tage Ancient Roman Well Ruins of a Roman Aqueduct . Distant View of the Claudia igncddc: Near View of the Claudia Aqueduct Aqueduct in Ruins, Ephesus . Roman Aqueduct, Segovia, Spain : : Water Tower and Roman Ruins, Chester, England Roman Water Pipes, made of Bored-out Blocks of Stone Trophies of Marius s Old Roman Lead and Terra Cotta Pipe : The Women’s Baths, Pompeii ; The Cloaca Maxima. From an old niet : The Cloaca Maxima. From a recent photograph . Egyptian Lady Having Head pao Kale WOM By, Ce Greek Women Bathing Greek Bath Tubs The Roman Aqueduct Bf yuo ia, Spain Mosaic from Floor of Baths of Caracalla Ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, Rome . Interior of the Frigidarium, Caracalla Outer Row of Baths, Caracalla, Rome Thermee of Titus at Rome Clipeus. From an old woodcut Floor Plan of the Baths of Pompeii Frigidarium. From an old woodcut Atlantes . Coppers for Heating Water in Roman Bats : Ground Plan of Thermee of Caracalla Hypocaust for Heating Water, Therme of Chesil l Restoration of Therme of Titus. (Restored by Leclerc) Plan of the Therme of Titus, Rome. (Restored by Leclerc) . Sectional Elevation, Thermze of Titus, Rome vii ne OE ES I OS) o> oF AO ee Se +3 CumiCw Ov Orion 'or Oo OM Fs cr wo for) —_) 56 Frigidarium, Therme of Caracalla, Rome. (Restored by Viollet-le-Duc. ) : Interior View of Aqueduct, Ticoons Seeger Destroyed Lead Font, Great Plumstead, Norfolk . Leaden Cup, of the time of Vespasian Lead Pipehead and Pipe : Lead Cistern with the Arms of the inichmomeers Conan ; Car of Juggernaut : Distant View of Zempoala Ranedact Ouereeno Mexico Near View of Zempoala Aqueduct, Mexico Zempoala Aqueduct. From an old print The Oldest Bathroom in the World Savery’s Engine Newcomen’s Engine Pump House, Philadelphia Wooden Boilers used in Prieta Water Sake Bored-out Log Pipe, used in British Columbia : Valve for Wooden Pipes used in Philadelphia Water Sagan: Hydrant for Wooden Pipes used in Philadelphia Water Supply Modern Vertical Triple-Expansion Pumping Engine Aqueduct Crossing the Alcantara Valley Bathing and Burning Hindu Dead at Benares Map Showing Relation of Cholera and the Broad Street Pee York Survey of the Broad Street Pump . The Fountain of Elisha . Map Showing Location of Cases of Gnd in ny Soon re ge ane Altona ¢ New York Public Baths ; Bathroom of the Early Seventies One Stage in the Evolution of the Porcelain Beameted Bath . A Slop Sink of Long Ago Bath Tub Encased in Woodwork An Old Marble-Top Lavatory A Modern Porcelain Enameled Lav atory Present Stage in the Evolution of Porcelain Enameled Baths A Twentieth Century Bathroom vili Page 61 62 64 65 66 67 68 70 (i) 72 101 108 110 118 119 120 120 121 121 122 123 124 ONS - S N > STAT VARY: FOVND - 1) Vv r $ AND HI ON - THE BATHS -OF-TY AOCO fe iL This group of statuary is now in the Vatican, Rome SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER. Sanitation of Primitive Man—Early Wells—Rebekah at the Well—Joseph’s Well—The Rancho Chack. onward, ever onward, but it moves in cycles. A center of civilization springs up, flourishes for a time then decays; and from the ashes of the perished civil- ization, phoenix-like, there springs a larger, grander, more enduring civilization. Nowhere in the cycle of progress is this more noticeable than in the history of sanitation. Centers of civilization, like Jerusalem, Athens, Rome and Carthage, arose to pre-eminence in sanitary matters, built sewers, constructed aqueducts and provided for the inhabi- tants magnificent baths the equal of which the world has never since seen. After the splendors of Carthage and Rome, darkness succeeded; a darkness from which we slowly emerged in the sixteenth century and are now speeding on to eclipse the sanitary splendors of even the old Roman empire. In its broadest sense, a history of sanitation is a story of the world's struggle for an adequate supply of whole- some water, and its efforts to dispose of the resultant sewage without menace to health nor offence to the sense of sight or smell. In ancient as in modern times, water | [sam repeats itself. “The march of progress is 2 HISTORY OF SANITATION was the chief consideration of a community. Centers of population sprung up in localities where water was plen- tiful, and where for commercial, strategetic or other reasons, a city was built remote from a water course, great expenditures of labor and treasure were made con- structing works to conduct water to the city from distant Rebekah at the Well springs, lakes or water courses. Ruins—still standing— of some of those engineering works give us some idea of the magnitude of the water supply for ancient cities belong- ing to the Roman empire. In the early days of primitive man, sanitation was among his least concerns. He obtained water from the most convenient source, and disposed of his sewage in the least laborious way. Those who lived in the vicinity of streams solved the problem by moving to the bank, where, like their more highly civilized descendants of to-day, they drew water from the up side of the stream and returned the sewage to the water to pollute and possibly contaminate it for their neighbors lower down. HISTORY OF SANITATION 3 Communities living remote from natural water courses soon learned the value of wells as a source of water supply. Many mentions of wells are made in the Book of Genesis, and it is affirmed by Blackstone that at that period wells were the cause of violent and frequent contention; that the exclusive property or title to a well appeared to be vested in the first digger or occupant, even in such places where the ground and herbage remained in common. While this statement might be true of many instances, there can be no doubt that public wells were dug even in those remote times. Indeed, the first mention made of a well, in the Book of Genesis, would indicate that its waters were free to all. Abraham’s oldest servant, Eliezer, had been entrusted with the duty of selecting a wife for Abraham’s son, Isaac. The servant journeyed to the ancient city of Nahor, and there ‘‘he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening that women go out to draw water.”’ And he said: ‘‘ Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water, and let it come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camel drink also; Let the same be she that Thou hast appointed for thy servant, Isaac. And it came to pass that Rebekah came out, and the damsel was very fair to look upon, and she went down to the well and filled her pitcher, and the servant said, Let me I pray thee drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord, and when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camel also. And she hastened to empty her pitcher in the trough and ran again unto the well to draw water for all the camels.” In Assyria and Persia from earliest times, water has been conveyed to towns from astonishing distances in open channels, and in Egypt, also in China, gigantic works for conveying water both for domestic use and for irri- gation have been in existence from remote antiquity. In China, a knowledge of the art of well drilling has existed 4 HISTORY OF SANITATION for centuries. Travelers speak of wells drilled by Chinese, centuries ago, to a depth of 1,500 feet. In the valley of the Nile are many famous wells. Joseph’s Well* at Cairo, near the Pyramids, is perhaps the WY z Z Yi, Ye Y VY, Ye YY, Yy YY yyy yyw... GY Yi, WAMU SOR) Yin WIV WY LOOK QO \N SS WS SS WY, Ye iy WOE Ki sihp Feperasure tassage C100 ft long leading V0. 22d fi Warer// j yy Cele ta Well at the Rancho Chack most famous of ancient wells. It is excavated in solid rock to a depth of 297 feet and consists of two stories or lifts. The upper shaft is 18 by 24 feet and 165 feet deep; the lower shaft is 9 by 15 feet and reaches toa further depth of 132 feet. “Waterers raised in two lifts by means of buckets on endless chains, those for the lower level being operated by mules in a chamber at the bottom of the upper shaft, to which accéss is ~had= py means of a _ spiral stairway winding about the well. In America, the usesof swells aces means of water supply is of great an- tiquity, dating back to pre-historic races. In the United States, along the valley of the Mississippi, artificially walled wells have been found that are believed to have been built by a race of people who * Ewbank’s Hydraulics. HISTORY OF SANITATION 5 preceded the Indians. Primitive tribes that lived in the hills sometimes had their ingenuity taxed to provide a water supply. In the hills or mountains of Yucatan, at Santa Ana, in the Sierra de Yucatan, there exists a well of great antiquity that shows the difficulty under which the aborigines labored in their search for water. The well is located on the Rancho Chack. It is not known whether this well was constructed by hand labor or is one of the numerous caverns in the rock, fashioned by the boundless forces of nature, and with which the hills abound. Water is reached after descending by ladder a distance of over 100 feet and traversing a passage 2,700 feet long or about half a mile in length. The rocky sides of the tunnel are worn smooth by the friction of clothes or bodies brushing against the surface, and the roof of the tunnel is black from soot and smoke from countless torches that have lighted water bearers to the spot where a pool of clear, lukewarm water bars the passage. How many centuries this little subter- ranean pool has supplied water to the natives of this region there is no means of ascertaining. The well is used at the present time, and perhaps when Carthage was a village, Rome a wilderness, and Christianity unthought of, this little pool of water hidden in the bowels of the earth and accessible only after traversing a dark, slippery, perilous passage, was to the Indians of that locality what the old oaken bucket was to the New England villagers of the sev- enteenth and eighteenth centuries. (ar aSed aas) ‘A 'N ‘poomiopuq @ poomsopug Aq gogl 34 BAdoo ‘ydeiB001035 wo a : / : Mor ONIHSVM ~ Sn ve ce ee “HL NTO” INAIONV- aaa fiat, SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER. Cisterns—Early Mention of Cisterns—Cisterns of Carthage—Early Methods of Raising Water—Water Carriers—Pool of Siloam—Pool of Solomon—Aqueducts—Carthagenian Aqueduct—Aqueducts of Rome—Aque- ducts of Segovia, Spain—Trophies of Marius. HE storage of water in cisterns or reservoirs is by no means a modern practice. The earliest tribes of whom we have any traditions or records resorted to this method for providing a supply of water. In xi Kings, 18-31, The Cisterns at Carthage. All that is left of the Ancient City 8 HISTORY OF SANITATION the first mention is made of cisterns in ‘‘ Drink ye every one the water of his cistern.” The methods employed by the ancients to construct cis- terns must have been labo- rious and unsatisfactory. Cement at that time was unknown and bricks were not made, so that the modern cistern, as we know it, could not have existed. No doubt in some localities where clay was plentiful the cisterns were scooped out of the earth and puddled with clay, just as many reservoirs of to-day are made. This method of con- structing a cistern, however, would limit the form to a cup- shaped affair, which would be very difficult to roof over. If the cisterns were not covered, as much water might be lost by evaporation as would be used by the inhabitants, so that at its best a clay-puddled cistern must have been an unsatisfactory affair. In the locality of mountains and quarries, cisterns were hewn out of the solid rock. ‘‘They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” —Jer. 2-3. Rock-hewn cisterns must have made ideal storage reservoirs for water. The darkness of the cavern Pole and Bucket for Raising Water Ruins of Ancient Cisterns HISTORY OF SANITATION 9 would prevent the growth of vegetation, while the thick walls of rock, affording a shelter from the sun, would keep the water cool and refreshing. It is worthy of noting here that the ancients seem to have been aware of the movement of ground water through the soil, a fact that was forgot- ten and rediscovered in comparatively recent fames: “Ino Proy. 5-15 the statement, ‘‘ Drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well,’”’ would lead to this conclusion, unless, indeed, they classed a bubbling spring as a well. Old Roman Water Wheel The earliest known cistern or reservoir of which we have any authentic knowledge are the masonry cisterns or reservoirs that stored water for the supply of the ancient city of Carthage. These cisterns, which are wonderfully well preserved, are still to be seen on the site of the ancient Punic city, but outside of what was the walled city, before it was totally destroyed by the Romans. These cisterns were originally covered with earth, and it is due to that fact, perhaps, that they escaped destruc- tion when the Romans razed the city. Timispeasyeto Criticise thes judgement of others, and no doubt if all the facts were known, there were good and sufficient reasons why the Roman general did not destroy the cisterns and cut off the supply of water from Carthage during the siege Water Carrier with Jar 10 HISTORY OF SANITATION of that city. But in the light of our present knowledge of warfare, when a water supply is considered a vulnerable point, most carefully guarded by the besieged, and the point of most furious attack by the besiegers, when the fall of the city is considered almost accomplished when its water sup- ply is taken, it seems an oversight on the part of the Romans not to have discovered and destroyed the cisterns, particularly as the destruction of everything in the city and environs was their mission at Carthage. It is an over- sight, however, for which we may be thankful, since it preserved for future times an interesting engineering work of great magnitude for that period. The cisterns of Carthage are eighteen in number, and each 100 feet long, 20 feet wide and nearly 20 feet deep. They lie in two long parallel rows and empty into a com- mon gallery situated between the rows. From this center collecting gallery the water was delivered through con- duits direct to the city of Carthage. The earliest method of raising water from a well, cistern or other source of supply was by hand. This method, however, was laborious and unsatisfactory, par- ticularly when necessary to raise large quantities of water for irrigation purposes, or to supply the inhabitants of a community at a great distance or high elevation, and it was not long before the mechanical ingenuity of our ances- tors devised means for transferring this arduous duty to oxen, asses or other beasts of burden. Sometimes, as in the case of the Romans, this work is made a penal punish- ment, and persons found guilty of certain offenses were sentenced to the water-wheel. About the earliest known device for raising small quantities of water was the pole and bucket, which was commonly employed in Italy, Greece and Egypt. The great antiquity of this method of raising water is proved by representations of it in Egyptian paintings. It consisted of a bucket attached to a pole that was suspended by trunnions so located that when the bucket was filled with water the thick end of the pole would just balance the combined HISTORY OF SANITATION 11 weight of bucket and water. This permitted its use for many hours at a time, when raising water for irrigation without greatly fatiguing the operator. The most ingenious and highly involved form of ancient water-raising machine was a water-wheel. The method of operating a water-wheel de- pended much on the region where used. In Egypt, along the Nile, oxen were employed for this pur- pose. In China, coolies were found more satisfactory even in raising large quantities of water for irrigation purposes, which they did by walking a simple form of treadmill on the outer edges of the water-wheel. The Romans, slow at originating, but, like the Japanese, quick to recognize the value of anything