History of Sanitation

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 clays 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.