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The place had once been a bathing establishment, and an old fountain still gurgled in the centre of the court; but its drains had been choked long ago, and the waters had overflowed, to find exit as they best might, rendering the floor a damp and uncomfortable residence for scorpions, centipedes, and other repulsive insects.
The colon is the main drain of the human body, and if it be necessary, for sanitary reasons, to keep the house drains clean, how vitally important is it to keep the main outlet of the physical system free from obstructions.
From its mouth up to its head for gulches, like rivers, have an anatomy of their own the distance does not exceed two miles, and the width at bottom is at only one place more than a dozen yards; for most of the distance on either side of the little brook which drains it in winter, and goes dry in the early spring, there is no level ground at all; the steep slopes of the hills, covered with an almost impenetrable growth of manzanita and chemisal, are parted by nothing but the width of the water course.
The weather remained hot and fine, except for two very heavy showers in the middle of one day, when most of the officers could be seen making furious efforts to dig drains round their bivouacs from inside, while the other ranks stood stark naked round the field and enjoyed the pleasures of a cold shower-bath.
It was Austen who made a note of the gratings over the drains, and of the acres of orderly forest in a mysterious and seemingly enchanted realm. Intimacy with domains was new to him, and he began to experience an involuntary feeling of restraint which was new to him likewise, and made him chafe in spite of himself. The estate seemed to be the visible semblance of a power which troubled him.
I found the following statements on page 787: "'When the first settlers came to McLean County they found the areas occupied by the Miami black clay loam wet and swampy, and before these areas could be brought under cultivation it was necessary to remove the excess of moisture. With the exception of a few large ditches for outlets, tile drains have taken the place of open ditches.
Every house, no matter to whom it belongs, or who holds the lease, who lets or sub-lets, every inhabited house must be licensed by the local authorities for a certain number of inmates, so many and no more; a maximum, but no minimum. Local authorities even now have great powers concerning construction, drains, etc.
As atrophy progresses, the dose of the purgative must be increased in order to accomplish the desired result and this, in its turn, hastens the degenerative changes in the system. Such enforced, artificial purging may flush the drains and sewers, but does not cleanse the chambers of the house. The cells in the interior tissues remain encumbered with morbid matter.
Much of the material passes at once into solution in this water, and drains away through the multitudinous springs which border the river. As this matter is completely dissolved, as is sugar in water, it goes straight away to the sea without ever again entering the alluvium.
The breezes on the uplands are bracing but never searching. The Mendips have been considered a suitable site for a consumptive sanatorium. The central flats are damp. They lie so low that in places the coast has to be protected by sea walls, and the prevalence of large "rhines" or drains makes for humidity.
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