History of SanitationCosgrove, J. J. (John Joseph)
History
History of Sanitation
Cosgrove, J. J. (John Joseph)
Sanitation -- History
"The different behavior of Hamburg and Altona as regards cholera is
extremely interesting. The two towns adjoin; they are practically one
city. The division between the two is no more obvious than that between
two densely peopled London parishes, and yet a spot map indicating
the houses which were attacked with cholera, which was shown to me by
Professor Koch, points out clearly that whereas the disease prevailed
in epidemic form on the Hamburg side of the boundary line, that line
running in and out among the streets and houses and at times passing
diagonally through the houses themselves, formed the limit beyond
which the epidemic, as such, did not extend. The dots on one side of
the dividing line were proof of the epidemicity of cholera in Hamburg,
their comparative absence on the Altona side of it was proof of the
absence of the epidemic in Altona. To use Professor Koch's own words:
'Cholera in Hamburg went right up to the boundary of Altona and then
stopped. In one street, which for a long way forms the boundary, there
was cholera on the Hamburg side, whereas on the Altona side was free
from it, and yet there was one detectable difference, and one only,
between the two adjacent areas—they had different water services.'
Professor Koch has collected certain proofs which he regards as crucial
on this point, and Dr. Reincke has supplied me with a small plan in
support of the contention. At one point close to and on the Hamburg
side of the boundary line between Hamburg and Altona, is a large
yard, known as the Hamburger-Platz. It contains two rows of large
and lofty dwellings, containing 72 separate tenements and some 400
people, belonging almost wholly to those classes who suffered most from
cholera elsewhere in Hamburg. But while cholera is shown by the spot
map to have prevailed all around, not a single case occurred among
the many residents of this court during the whole epidemic. And why?
Professor Koch explains that owing to local difficulties, water from
the Hamburg mains could not easily be obtained for the dwellings in
question, and hence a supply had been laid in from one of the Altona
mains in an adjacent street. This was the only part of Hamburg which
received Altona water, and I am informed that it was the only spot in
Hamburg in which was aggregated a population of the class in question,
which escaped the cholera. At the date of my visit to Hamburg, a
notice board was affixed at the entrance to this court. It stated that
certain tenements were to let; but, above all, in large type, and as an
inducement to intending tenants, was the announcement that the court
was not only within the jurisdiction of Hamburg, with the privileges
still attaching to the old Hanseatic cities, but that it had a supply
of Altona water.
During the epidemic the deaths in the several cities were:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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