HH62/2/ROXBUR/23

Transcription

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relaid. The inhabitants were warned not to use the burn
water, but here a difficulty occurred. The only available
well was three hundred and eighty yards away, and the
housewives objected to carrying water from such a distance.
However, by making a new path across a field, another well
was brought within one hundred and fifty yards, and, the
pump being repaired, has since proved a satisfactory supply.
It is difficult to determine at what distance a well ceases to
be a proper supply for cottages, and it would much assist a
Medical Officer if a definite distance were fixed upon beyond
which a well must not be.
Another outbreak of enteric fever at Scraesburgh was of
an interesting character, owing to the difficulty of tracing its
origin, and I spent much time in investigating the circum-
stances. I was led to form the theory that the infection was
ultimately derived from Jedburgh, where enteric fever had
been prevalent in the summer. At the end of harvest the
inhabitants of Scraesburgh farm cottages began to use
the water from a spout near the houses; three weeks later
almost every house had a case of fever in it. Investigations
in every direction proving fruitless, I fixed on this water as
the probable cause. It comes from a drain passing through
two fields on the hill above the farm. In a wood beyond
the field there is a ditch, partly filled with surface water, and
communicating with the drain to the cottages. Noticing
that a number of trees had been recently felled, I made
enquiries and found that certain men from near Jedburgh
had worked in the wood at intervals during the summer, and
also that some of these men had suffered from attacks of
diarrhœa on more than one occasion. When not engaged in
the country, they worked at a saw-mill adjoining the Jedburgh
slaughter-houses, referred to above as being in a filthy con-
dition. My theory is that some of these men, exposed to
the infection of enteric fever in Jedburgh, suffered from a
slight attack of what medical men sometimes call "walking
typhoid," and contaminated the water of the ditch in the

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wood in which they worked. This idea is strengthened by
the fact that the only other case of fever in the neigh-
bourhood was the brother of one of these workmen, in whose
house at Ulston he lodged.
It is always difficult to understand how fever suddenly
arises in places in the country apparently removed from any
danger of infection, but a consideration of the above case
shows that germs of disease may be carried in ways and
by means little thought of and rarely brought to light. The
more circuitous the path taken the more difficult it is, as in
the above case, to bring forward scientific - that is incontro-
vertible - proof of its existence.
The two outbreaks of fever were both due to contaminated
water, and their occurrence shows the necessity of an inquiry
into the water supply of all farms in the District, both by
inspection and by analysis of samples.
GENERAL SANITATION. - The remarks made in the County
report apply generally to this District, and many years' work
will be required to remedy all the faults in sanitation gradually
being brought to light by the Sanitary Inspector.
A considerable time was spent in the inspection of the
villages of Ancum and Crailing. In the former village the
water supply is pure, as far as can be judged by inspection
of the source without analysis. The drainage system is not
in such a satisfactory condition, the main drains being only
ordinary rubble drains, and the branches to houses untrapped.
The village is not increasing, and is not likely to, and it is a
most ungrateful task to have to recommend that new drains
be laid. The houses are generally good, and if better pro-
vided with conveniences would leave little to be desired.
One house being damp, and placed next to a byre, was closed,
on the recommendation of the Sanitary Inspector. When the
inspection of the village is complete, a report will be presented
to the District Committee, and the same difficulty with regard
to scavenging must be disposed of that is giving Local
Authorities so much trouble in nearly every part of Scotland.