of a number of springs located at the base of Warm Spring Mountain. As the state of West Virginia owns all the springs and the property surrounding them, the water is bought for $200.00, a year from the state by the Berkeley Springs Water Co., operated by Eugene Van Rensalerr of New York. The spring is located under a pavillion, and is partially covered by a white tile hood. From the spring the water flows through an open channel to a small basin located back of the pump house, shown in illustration No. 16.

The water from the spring is considered to be radio active, and it seems to have a beneficial effect when taken internally, or when even bathed in. It is claimd there is a chemical property in these waters that has never been analyzed, and that this is due in all probability to its having passed over deposits of some rare material. Analyses of the water from the city spring shows the following results:

The water has a temperature throughout the entire year of 74.3 degrees. It is claimed that not even a long period of cold will noticeably reduce the temperature of the water. Illustration No. 16 accompanying this report shows the vapor from this water being condensed by the colder atmosphere, the latter being about 36 degrees F. at the time the picture was taken on December 3rd. The water not used by the pump passes to waste over a small weir near the pump house. It has been estimated that the whole system of springs along the base of Warm Springs mountain discharges about 2,000 gallons per minute. The engineer in charge of the pumping plant in 1914, a comparatively dry year, made a test and found that 1,800 gallons per minute would about represent the flow at that time.

Open Channel From Spring to Pump House.

Pumping Equipment. The pumping is normally done by a triplex pump manufactured by the Platt Iron Works. This pump is 52 x 8, and is capable of delivering 200 gallons per minute, although as driven it usually delivers about 180 gallons per minute. The suction line for this pump is 4 inches in diameter. The pump is operated by a 10 HP. Westinghouse motor, which had been provided with an automatic switch that cuts off the motor when the reservoir on the hill above the town is full, and automatically starts it again when the water level in the tank falls below a certain elevation. This pump, as do the other pumps, has a suction lift of 9 feet and works against a pressure of approximately 120 pounds.

A large Aldrich Triplex pump has been provided for fire purposes. This pump has a 9 inch plunger and 10 inch stroke, and 8 inch suction with 9 foot lift. It is capable of delivering 900 gallons per minute and is operated by a 35 H. P. White gas engine, running at 180 revolutions per minute. At 220 revolutions per minute this engine will develop 40 H. P. The gas engine also drives a small air compressor which supplies compressed air to a storage tank. The compressed air is used to start the gas engine. A Knowles 12 x 6 x 12 duplex double acting steam pump has also been provided. This pump is not now in use and has been cut out of the system for some time. It is capable of delivering 200 gallons per minute on 100 pounds of steam, has a 6 inch suction and a 9 foot lift. The suction on each of these pumps is snown in illustration No. 16. Steam for the Knowles pump is supplied by two Atlas boilers, one of the locomotive type, rated at 50 H. P., and one a horizontal tubular boiler of 80 H. P. These boilers at one time also supplied steam for an engine formerly used in the lighting system. Electricity is now purchased from another plant. The vertical pumping lift is 270 feet when the tank is empty.

Reservoir. At the present time the reservoir consists of a small wooden tank, holding about 3,000 gallons. This tank is provided with

a float which automatically makes or breaks an electric connection with a switch in the pump house so that when the water level falls or rises beyond a certain point the Platt Iron Works triplex pump will be automatically started or stopped. Formerly water was pumped to a 300,000 gallon reservoir. This reservoir is built entirely in excavation and has sloping sides, the sides and bottom being lined with concrete. It was abandoned two years ago, however, because of the very heavy growths of chlorophyle bearing plants. The water from the spring at Berkeley Springs develops very heavy plant growths shortly after it is allowed to stand in the sun light, and the guests at the hotel, passing by this reservoir with the green scum or slime floating on the surface of the water, made so many complaints that it was finally decided to discontinue the use of an open tank, and the present tank of 3,000 gallons capacity was installed.

Distributing System. There is approximately 5 miles of pipe line in the distributing system at Berkeley Springs. Of this amount 12 miles are 6 inches in diameter, 2 miles of 4 inch, and the remainder is composed of 2 inch, 11⁄2 inch and 1 inch galvanized iron pipe.

Consumption. There are 162 consumers at the present time. Seventyfour of these supplies are metered, and a meter charge of 30 cents per 1,000 gallons is made. For the other connections a flat rate of 50 cents per month for each connection is charged. The engineer at the pumping plant estimated that there is an average consumption of 60 gallons per minute for twenty-four hours throughout the year. At times as high a figure as 100 gallons per minute for twenty-four hours will be maintained for several days.

Pollutions. There is no protection against surface drainage entering the channel from the spring to the suction lines of the pumps, nor is there any protection against the dirt which may be scuffed off the feet of people who congregate under the pavillion entering directly into the spring or into the channel connecting with the basin back of the pump house. The bottom of this basin, at the time of my visit, was littered with coco-cola bottles, envelopes, tin ice cream spoons, paper plates, etc., showing that it was a general catch-all for rubbish. There is a walk paralleling this channel between it and the private baths, which are shown on the extreme right of the illustration. This channel also receives the drainage from the so-called Berkeley Castle, located above the spring. This castle was never completed, though two or three rooms have been finished and are occupied by the widow of the man who started to build it. I am told that no flush closet has been provided, and that there is only an outside privy, the drainage from which would be directly to the county road and across it to the channel and basin above the pump house. There is added danger in that people desiring water dip their glasses directly into the spring or channel, and then rinse them out before giving them to some one else. At the time of my visit on December 3rd, there was a common drinking cup attached by a chain to the tile hood over the spring which supplies the town with drinking water. Even though this was in mid-winter when there were practically no visitors in town, within twenty minutes

time I saw eleven people dip this cup directly into the spring and drink from it. I feel that this practice constitutes an added menace to the purity of the water.

Conclusions. I believe that there is no doubt that at times during the summer, when large numbers of visitors congregate at Berkeley Springs, the water supply may be, and probably is, badly, if not dangerously, polluted. This is due largely to the practice of throwing refuse, such as coco-cola bottles, ice cream plates, spoons, etc., into the basin back of the pump house. It is claimed by some that the water in the vicinity of Berkeley Springs is a possible cause of the high prevalence of goitre in that district. I do not know that it has been definitely attributed to the water of the spring from which the town derives its supply of water.

Recommendations.

One of the springs at Berkeley Springs should be used exclusively for the town drinking water supply. This spring should be protected with a solid concrete basin, provided with a locked cover and elevated in such a way that no drainage may reach the water. From this basin a large water main of from 10 to 20 inches in diameter should be laid to a pump well to be constructed in the rear of the pump house. This pump well should be constructed of concrete and should have a capacity of approximately 1,000 gallons. A roof should be constructed over the pump well that there may be no danger of any of the numerous visitors throwing refuse matter into the water. This cover should be provided with a door, kept shut by a hasp and pad-lock.

SIR JOHNS RUN-MORGAN COUNTY.

Typhoid Fever.

On December 3, 1915, at the request of Dr. A. L. Grubb, county health officer of Morgan county, I investigated the cause of an outbreak of typhoid fever at sir Johns Run.

General. Sir Johns Run is a small unincorporated town located on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad above five miles west of Hancock, and has a population, according to the United States census of 1910, of 175. The town takes its name from Captain John St. Clair, who was chief quartermaster of Braddock's army, which passed through this region in 1755 on the expedition against Fort Duquesne. The town owes its existence almost entirely to the railroad which has a coaling yard and storage tracks at this point, and practically all the men of the town find employment with the railroad.

Water Supply. The Baltimore & Ohio railroad built a dam across Sir Johns Run at a point about a mile above the village, and laid an 8 inch line from this point to their water tanks to supply water to the locomotive boilers. Taps were provided at various points along this line, and a pipe was laid to the main portion of the village that the inhabitants might be provided with water. No charge, I am told, is made for the service. Sir Johns Run has a watershed of 67 square

miles above the Baltimore & Ohio dam, and it is estimated that there are 210 inhabitants in this area.

Dr. Grubb felt that in all probability the outbreak of typhoid fever was due to the use of this water, although he did not know of any cases of typhoid located on the watershed above the dam. An investigation of the outbreak, which consisted of six cases, showed that but four of them used the water from the Baltimore & Ohio system. Two of the six cases, which were in one family, used water from a spring on the bank of Sir Johns Run. It was found, however, that all the cases were, or had been, purchasing milk from the family which had the two cases. The wife in the family had not been well for nearly a year and a half, and twice had been taken to bed with a sickness similar in every way to typhoid fever, but not pronounced as such. In June, 1915, however, she developed a genuine, though mild, case. On the first day of November her daughter also developed typhoid fever. Sanitary conditions at this house are not extremely bad, but I noticed that no particular precautions were taken with the milk receptacles, and that the udders and flanks of the two cows were in a filthy condition and looked as though they had never been washed.

The population of Sir Johns Run, as noted above, was 175 in 1910, and has probably increased to 200 at the present time. Nearly 95 per cent of the entire population obtain their drinking water from taps furnished by the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. It is apparent that if this supply were the cause of the outbreak more cases probably would have developed. It should be noted that all of the cases occurred among children under six years of age and that all were users of milk supplied by the one family. So far as I could learn milk was supplied from this source to but one other family beside those in which cases of typhoid fever occurred. This family consisted of a man and his wife whose ages were, I am told, fifty-six and sixty, and this is beyond the period at which one is most liable to take typhoid fever.

Conclusions. It appears from a study of the outbreak that there can be but little doubt that the cases were due to infected milk. I directed the farmer to thoroughly clean the udders and flanks of the cows before milking again, and I also strictly ordered that his wife, who was still ill, should not have anything to do with the milk or with the utensils. I further required that the milk receptacles be kept on a shelf instead of lying on the ground outside the kitchen door.

While the water supply furnished by the Baltimore & Ohio railroad is probably not pure, it is doubtless better than any water that could be obtained from the dug wells in the vicinity. The water supply should, however, be disinfected before being used for drinking purposes, but as the Baltimore & Ohio railroad is furnishing it free of charge, it is out of the question to require this railroad to install a disinfecting apparatus, for they would then discontinue the taps which they have now provided, and the inhabitants of Sir Johns Run would be obliged to use water from badly polluted wells.

The town is not large enough to be required to install a treating apparatus and, moreover, such a procedure is out of the question, as