The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-26 00:00:00

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of Health, dated September 20, 1853, in no wise super-
sede these powers.

On the Other hand, they direct their active enforce-
ment.

Boards of guardians are directed to see to the execu-
tion of the regulations of the General Board of Health,
but it is for the Local Board of Health to execute them.

All persons in the district who have complaint to
make in respect to the matters above stated, should
make complaint to the inspector of nuisances to the
Local Board.

Under the directions and regulations of the General
Board of Health, the Board of Guardians of the Union
have acquired new powers, namely, of—.
Medical inspection by their officers of unhealthy
localities.

Certifying unwholesome houses or nuisances.
Directing what is to be done where they find epidemic
disease or the premonitory symptoms of it.
Providing, where necessary, for house to house visita-
tion.

Providing for the accommodation of necessitous cases.
Providing for the removal of the sick, or of other oc-
cupants of the same premises.
These duties, which are here stated to belong to
Boards of Guardians, are not within the province of
the Local Board of Health ; but the Local Board and
the Board of Guardians will co-operate in doing all
that can and ought to be done under their joint powers.
But, however desirous the Local Board of Health and
the Board of Guardians may be to carry out their duties,
now that a formidable epidemic has appeared in the
country, they must have the active aid of people of all
classes, in bringing to the notice of the Boards matters
requiring their attention ; in avoiding the creation of
nuisances ; in removing those already existing ; and in
giving warning, instruction, and help to the best of their
power.

PLAIN ADVICE TO ALL DURING THE VISI-
TATION OF THE CHOLERA.
I. Conform to and assist every measure of prevention
or remedy put in operation by the local authorities ; for
such measures are fOunded upon knowledge and experi-
ence, and are enforced by direction of Government for
the public good. If you sustain inconvenience, or ap-
prehend danger, from any public nuisance, immediately
complain, either to your local board of health, your town
council, or your board of guardians, as the case may be,
either of whom are fully empowered to enforce a remedy.
2. Apply yourself, as far as lies in your power, to
render the chief duties of parochial and other public
officers unnecessary, inasmuch as regards your own
home, by the instant removal of every nuisance about it
and in it.
3. It is the special duty of the authorities at all times,
but imperatively so now, to have all streets, alleys, and
courts daily cleansed. sut is your duty to throw no
refuse into the streets, nor to collect any in your back
premises. Have no dung heaps, no ash heaps. Keep
no pigs in close places. Make the scavenger and the
dustman take away whatever is annoying. Have no
sloppy holes in your areas or back yards, but get them
paved or levelled. Insist upon your landlord making
your house water-tight. See that your windows will
open and shut, so as to admit air and exclude moisture.
Every epidemic, whether fever or cholera, rages amid
dirt and damp, and where there are stinking kennels and
open ditches, foul with dead animals and decayed vege-
tables. Avoid all such places to dwell in ; and make
your children, when they go out, avoid all bad-smelling
places.
4. Look to the inside of your dwelling, as well as out-
side, to get rid of nuisances. Are the walls and ceilings
dirty or mouldy ? At the cost of a shilling or two they
may be limewhited. This has been found one of the
most effectual preventatives of cholera. Avoid, if pos-
sible, crowding your sleeping-rooms. If there is a
chimney in a bed-room, keep it open, and have no
chimney-board, or chest of drawers, to stop it up. It
would be good to make a hole, three or four inches
square, near the ceiling, into the chimney—a very easy
ventilator. Get pure air into your rooms by every pos-
sible means, and get rid of the foul air in the most effec-
tual manner. If there is a constant offensive smell
within your dwelling, which other people as well as
yourself notice, be sure that there is danger at hand ;
and never rest till you have ascertained the cause, and
have got it removed, as far as possible. Complain to
the landlord ; if he neglects you, complain to those who
have to enforce "The Nuisances Removal Act." If
you cannot get the nuisance removed, you ought to pre-
pare to remove from the nuisance. If you go to other
lodgings or houses, go to those where there has been no
fever. There are houses, with no fault of construction,
that are always disagreeable to the senses. They are
the abodes of sluttishness—the forerunner of disease.
The person is seldom clean when a dwelling is dirty.
Personal cleanliness and house cleanliness are both
health-givers, and are of vital importance when the ele-
ments of disease and death are around us.
5. This advice, with regard to your dwelling, assumes
that you live in a populous town ; but the principles on
which the advice is founded hold good, whether you
dwell in a village, or even in a lone cottage. All places,
it is to be feared, have their nuisances. If there is a
dungheap at your threshold, remove it to a distance. If
fi foul ditch, or cesspool, stir yourself to have a change.
If the pigsty is offensive, cleanse and wash it daily.
Have no poultry or rabbits within doors. In a word,
'get dirt and damp away from your house and out of
your house, and get pure into it. Be clean yourself,
and have everything clean about you.
6. Having looked to your dwelling within and with-
out, consider what is best for your welfare as to food
and clothing. Whenever cholera is present in a locality,
there is a general tendency to irritation of bowels, and
'warm clothing and wholesome food are more than ever
necessary. These happily are within the reach of the
great body of the people. The extreme poor must be
righteously cared for in these respects out of the abun-
' dance of the more fortunate ; but all have in their power
to avoid what is hurtful. Avoid cold ; but make your-
self strong by exercise in the open air, if your employ-
ment is within doors. The same duty of exercise applies
to all your family, male and female. If there is any
food or drink injurious at ordinary times, it is doubly
injurious when there is pestilence in the atmosphere.
Be very careful not to drink impure water ; and take
heed that wells are not polluted, and that water-butts
and cisterns are kept cleansed. Spend less money on
beer and other drinks, and spend more on flannel and
coals.

7. The following personal precautions against cholera
proceed from the General Board of Health :
" Cholera is not so suddenly fatal as is supposed ; it
comes on with looseness or bowel complaint, which goes
on for some hours, or even for a day or two. There is
often no pain ; but no one must be put off his guard by
this circumstance, but must immediately, when purging
comes on, apply for proper medicine, by which the dis-
ease is usually stopped. Where cholera is prevalent in
a district, the neglect of this caution for a few hours may
be fatal.
" Cholera is often brought on by improper diet.
Tainted meat and fish, and damaged vegetables, should
be carefully avoided.
" Cholera is often brought on by excess even of whole.
some food. The greatest moderation should be practised
both in meats and drinks, always avoiding long fasting.
Ardent spirits should be taken only under medical ad-
vice ' • drunkards always suffer most.
"Cholera is often brought on by cold. Wet clothes
should be immediately changed ; the feet especially
should be kept warm and dry. The most violent at-
tacks often come on immediately after incautious ex-
posure to damp foggy night air."
8. If an attack, even the slightest, should come on in
your household, you must immediately apply for medical
assistance. Arrangements will be made in every locality
to render such assistance promptly and effectually ; there
is no disease which can be more readily met than cholera
in its first or premonitory stage. In cases of diarrhwa,
or looseness of bowels, the following medicine is recom-
mended by the Board of Health, but avoid, if you can,
exercising your own judgment in giving medicine at
all :
" 20 grains of opiate confection, mixed with two table
spoonfuls of peppermint-water, or with a little weak
brandy and water, and repeated every three or four
hours, or oftener if the attack is severe. Half the quan-
tity to persons under 15 ; smaller doses to children."
9. If the disease assume a violent form before help
can be obtained, put the sufferer into a warm bed, apply
bottles of hot water, or heated flannel, to the stomach
and feet, and along the spine. A dessert spoonful of
brandy may be given from time to time in hot water.
Constant friction with flannel dipped in hot vinegar is
recommended, as well as the application of a vinegar
and mustard poultice over the belly. A. prudent person
will have the necessary articles at hand ; but prompti-
tude in getting assistance is the first duty. By night or
by day send for the doctor ; and such is the zeal of the
medical profession that the humblest person will not
send in vain.
10. If any of the evil habits and neglects referred to
in this advice exist in yourself or your family, begin to
alter such habits and avoid such neglects without an
hour's delay. The desired change to enable you to meet
this epidemic disease is good for every other, and an im-
mediate preparation may save a vast amount of misery.
The condition of the human body cannot be altered at
once, but the practices which tend to an evil condition
may be instantly changed. In days you may effect a
change which you cannot effect in hours.
11. Whether the disease of cholera come into your
household or you be spared, keep up your spirits ; have
no vain fears ; relax no industry ; shrink not from as-
sisting your neighbours ; and put your trust in Him in
whose hands are the issues of life and death.

THE PUBLIC HEALTH OF BIRMINGHAM

AND THE DISTRICT.

It gives us much gratification to state that the health
of Birmingham and the numerous towns in the mining
districts around continues in a satisfactory condition.
In Birmingham' during the last week, there has been a
slight increase in the number of attacks of diarrhoea ;
but the disease is generally of a mild type, and the
fatality has diminished. In all diseases there is a great
diminution. Up to last Saturday the total number of
patients under the care of the parish medical officers
was 553, and the deaths, 4 ; in the corresponding week
last year the patients numbered 610, aid the.deaths
were 14.
There was some excitement caused on Wednesday by

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airy into a rumour that a fatal case of As' c cholera had cc-
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curred in Little Bow street. I uiry into the facts,
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; however shows that the report was entirely without
ilt',, 1 • -At
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.4?-t-e_ . , foundation. It is true that a man, 69 years of age,
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,12' 1 I i named Edward Breadleston, residing in a court in
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ii , /. ', Little Bow-street, did die on Tuesday, but the disease
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presented no symptoms of ,iatic cholera whatever.
The man had been ill for some days before, and was
attended by Mr. W. Richards. The disease was simply
English cholera, so common everywhere at this season
of the year. We mention the case, not because we con-
sider it by any means important, but to allay any unne-
cessary alarm which might be felt in consequence of the
rumour to which we have referred.

While the facts are so, the board of guardians are
adopting precautionarymeasures. They have giveninstruo-
tions to the medical staff and the relieving-officers to report
all nuisances in their respective districts, that effective
means may be taken for their abatement or removal.
Directions have been also given for the instant report of
the occurrence of any diseases having a choleraic ten-
dency, and authority has been given to call exigency
meetings of the Board. The corporation have also de-
termined to put in force the Nuisances Removal Act.
At Bilston, where the mortality was so fearful in
1832, there are fewer cases of diarrhoea than is usual at
this season of the year ; but the board of commissioners,
with a recollection of the unexampled severity with
which the pestilence afflicted the town on each occasion
when it has visited this country, are busily engaged in
preparing to cope with it as far as human agency can.
Sewers are being trapped, nuisances removed, and the
materials for whitewashing provided for gratuitous use.
This board has already done much in other respects to
improve the health of the town. At Wolverhampton,
Dudley, and Wednesbury, the local boards of health are
also earnestly engaged in similar preparations.
It may be interesting to note that the disease seems
to be developing itself at a later period than in 1849.
In that year the first case of cholera which occurred at
Bilston was on the 6th of August ; at Wolverhampton
about the same time ; and at Tipton on the 13th. These
were the first cases in the mining district. The disease
did not reach Birmingham—where, however, only about,
20 cases occurred, and these chiefly imported, not indi-
genous—until the 13th of September. From Birming-
ham it disappeared in about a fortnight ; in the district
it raged until the 20th of October.—Birminglians
Journal.