The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1866-04-07

1 vi lJEs Hts Ihs fftePIG, tO Ifl0s
Montgomery County Medical So
cicty, on the Sanitary Condition
of the City.
| GENTLEMEN: In prosecuting my exam
| nations Into the sanitary condition of the
district assigned to me, | set out with this
belief: that dH dlth is unhealthy; that all
| cllluyia arising from unclean things.
whether animal or vegetable Is unhealthy !;
aud that inasmuch rs decomposition takes
place In these unclean things, by so much
do they become noxious.
| With these Ideas It Is not difficult to de-
eide what would be considered healthGll
and what not. Without entering therefore,
into the question whether cholera Is con-
tagious. and whether filth is promoter of
IL, the more general subject Is brought into
view, by considering what we have In this
city that Is anti-hyglenic. Then prudence
and common sense will teach us that what
ever Is injurious TO health upon ordinary
| OCCASIONS Is not safe now, when the sword
ofa terrible epidemic Is suspended by very
slender thread over our heads. With these
ideas before u.s. your committee consider
the sanitary condition of this district not
good.
IN comparative point of view. It Is
probably better tnan many cities of the
same size throughout the country. The
streets and alleys not clean now. are be-
Dub buIbllHn bNilL IIOctSS, anu VIII no
doubt be In u fair condition during the
summer, but further than this / can not
speak favorably. Those hot-beds for gem
eratiug disease which people keep IN their
enclosures, aud in their houses, and covered
up In their back yards. their sinks, their
drains, their pens, etc, II has not been my
province to examine, IN detail. and 1t might
be said that nine out of every ten are. or
will be in as good condition rs we should
q Of I'm
neglect of this tenth condned alorc to those
who do not practice cleanliness. nor believe
in its necessity, we could afford to Jet them
test it. but it is very clear that this tenth
will set alloat enough cilluvia to poison the
remaining nine; hence self-defepse re-
quires that the tenth should yield his preju-
dices and his filth for the public good.
To any one authorized TO act, can point
out over-runniug privies, hog-pens, tan
nerles, low-grounds, the basins of stagnant
water that are acknowledged and often
complained of as nusInces. aud all of
which should be Immediately abated. But
1t is not in my line of duty TO particular
ize here. The Board of Health can find
abundant room for immediate aud efficient
action. ! desire TO direct your attention to
two general points which consider essen
tial to bring about the proper publication
of the city.
The FIRST is 10 make people believe that dtth
is aaheaithy.
SccOndig that the aoater from the city ,cel,s,
aohich is in part The iRfltrdti0a Of priUies, is
also unhedihy.
1t is almost impossible to understand how
men maintain that filth Is healthy. vet such
is the fact; many belieCe IL. An old citizen,
to whom was pointing out a reeking nu
sance. within three minutes walk of the
Court House, maintained strenuously that
II you were TO cover his premises over two
feet with filth, 1t would afford no Invitation
to the cholera. And there are many good cit
izens whom you can not convince that their
hog pens, whose stencil Is unsuppOrtable by
their neighbors. are anything else but good
for health, while very many contend that n
tannery,ln neighborhood, that putrifies the
scrapings from hides, and sends its terribly
offensive drainage into vacant lots, or the
canal, or adjacent cesspools, Is guardian
to the neighborhood from the shafts of
death. and like lightning rod on steeplc
conducts away danger from all who are un-
der its influence.
The strong arm Of tie lao mast search Out
and educate these people, and IN my hppible
opinion, 10 is this that creates the necessity
Tor a Board Of Hedith
The other point dIinking toeH iodter, may
be mooted question here, but having had
occasion to see the effect of drainage, or
filtration, or percOlation. through even
clay soil, (Which Is far more difficult than
our OWN, am convinced beyond doubt,
that our wells and privies in this city cou-
tain, TO great extent, the same ingredients,
with this qualification only, that the odor
and taste In the one, are SO modified and
diluted that we do not, in all instances,
detect IL. If so, is 1t not necessary TO health
that we abandon our wells, and use filtered
cistern water, which passes through so many
more processes of publication for our
benefit? Respectfully submitted,
ii. h. STEELg,