New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-06-19
TIE HEALTH OF TIE CITY.

Fift,-levon fatal cases of cholera are reported in
the bill Of mortality for this City occurring within
the past week. To-day the Board Of Health hold a
meeting TO consider what should be done to prevent
the spread Of the pestience. These deaths are ia
most instances tie natural result of the filth by which
tie victims were surrounded aud in which thousands
are now living. We do not allude especially to the
streets They are bad enough, and likely to remain
%. if tie Street Department ana the Anti-Rciorm
members of the Common Council can keep the peo'
ple from cleaning them. The cutters are very foul
and the rmements dsgracefuly overloaded with
garbage yet there is plenty OF Croton water refresh
inc breezes and frequent showers-sanitary agencies
forWlicl We Lave no Alderman TO thank and which no
Street Superintendent can pocket The plague. spotsln
which the seeds Of cholera so rapidly ana fatally ruc-
tify are tie enaDth0uscs, the old rOokees and bind
alleys into which the poorer classes crowd and are
crowded with the most reckless disregard Of health,
comfort or deccncy. The sayetraders of Brazil
might lean new methods for the closer packing be
tween-dccks OF their chatels ii they would examine
some of these "apertments;" and nj ght point with
triumph to the superior humanity and health Of their
system Of arrangement Tor the "middle passage
Tie Superintendent Of Sanitary Inspection has re-
Gently invaded some Of these horrible places with
view TO such cleansing as his duties and powers de-
mind IN one place he found, in densely populated
locality the storc-housc of bone-collectors, and
having broken into several sheds. which the occu-
pants refused TO open he got out cart load of bones
which had been gathered from the streets and
markets ana were in a state of putreiacon, sending
forth stencil which fairly drove the Inspector into
the street to breathe. The alleys and cellars OF the
building were covered with garbage and excrement
to such an extent that nightscavongers carts were
necessarily employed to convey it away. In one OF
tie cellars was family of six persons, of whom five
were unable TO sit up Two or three were children
emaciated skeletons, covered with vermn, and look
ing more like corpses than living beings. In this one
building there are nearly hundred and fifty
souls, the greater portion of whom seemed quite
contented with the filth around them, and some even
attempted violent opposition to ito removal.
One cellar broken open by order OF the Inspector,
was packed full Of the heads of beef e the eluvia
from which was so overpOwering that two OF the
Health Wardens were for some days sich from its
effects Another instance was even more revolving;
little child so emaciated that her legs were not
thicker .lan mans thumb, her face covered with
fi,s bch she had not strength to brush off, and her
whole body so foul with dirt that ii was for the mo-
ment impossible to tell whether she was black or
white. Even in this horrible hole. woman was SO
much opposed to the expense and trouble Of cleaning,
that she fell upon the Inspector with clubs and brick
bats and was only Quoted bya lookup at the Sta
ton- House.
These are but few OF the cases that could DE men-
toned but we presume they are quite sufficient not
only to warrant but TO demand that the Board OF
Health shall at once make survey and cleansing OF
all such places.
1t was in one of these that the Cholera first ap-
reared in ls49, aud in such barracks 1t now exists
There il Nc time TO lose. Delay has already proved
fatal twill Dot suffice TO talk OF diseased emigrants
or point to The Quarantine for protection That in
stitntion has done we'll If half the care were taken
to prevent the generation of Cholera in the City that
there is TO hinder its Importation there would be lit
tie cause for anxiety. We trust that the Board of
Health will to-day decide 10 act promptly and vgor-
ously in the premises.