History of Sanitation

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 Pole and Bucket for Raising Water 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 Ruins of Ancient Cisterns