Importance of Proper Plumbing

1892-1893 Greenfield Annual Report includes names of teachers, and books purchased for the library. The following comes from the Board of Health:

There were 84 deaths in the Town in 1892. We have suffered from no epidemic except a slight increase in the number of cases of scarlet fever, and an increase of about 60 percent of cases of diphtheria. Many of the cases of diphtheria have occurred in houses in which there was old and imperfect plumbing, or where there was no plumbing at all, save a cold water pipe in kitchen. The sooner that all householders recognize the importance of putting a trap between each and every sink or basin, or water-closet and the soil pipe, and then ventilating each trap with a separate pipe running to the roof (thereby preventing siphoning of traps) the better will the general health become. An unventilated trap is worse than no trap, because it gives a false show of protection.