Litchfield enquirer., 1870-09-01
WHOLE NO aae1

posture to cold, Measles, chicken-pox, and whooping- cough. very slight in themselves, leave behind a predisposition to most fa- tai complaint, the deposit of tubercles in every part of the body. In grown-up people, the brunt of the disease usually falls upon the lungs, and it is then called consumption; but in children the disease is spread more generally throughout the system, the brain and other organs suffer- ing quite as much as the lungs. This dis position to tubercles arises after three dis eases, without any previous hereditary taint or inclination whatever. The zymot- ic diseases, then, are not the harmless ail- ments which the public think to be, but even the mildest may leave behind the seeds of malady, which, sooner or later, will destroy life.
 The circumstances under which zymotic diseases are enabled to spread, are the fol- lowing: First of all, the zymotic principle itself (,obdtever dbat is must be present; next, condition of the atmosphere or of the surroundings, favorable to the spread of the disease. Thirdly. personal contact, inoc ulation with, or inhalation of the em- anations of the sick man. Lastly, an in- dividual in state of predisposed suscep. tivity, through previous modes of life or constitutional tendency.
 Knowing that these four conditions are necessary for the spread of these diseases, the means at our disposal for their proven tion will be shortly alluded to. With re- gard to the zymotic substance, the agent which most effectually destroys it, is heat. In Egypt, the spread of the plague is al- ways arrested after St. Johns day, from the intense heat which then arises. A temperature of 12Oo Fah. will prove a most perfect disinfectant in all cases. Several chemical agents are also said to be excellent disinfectants. Amongst these are especially to be mentioned carbolic acid, chlorine, and nitrous acid. The state of the surroundings is very inn portant, but unfortunately little is known of the meteorological changes which ac- company an epidemic. A temperature of 32o Fah. seems to check the spread of some diseases, but the whole of our infor- nation on this point is most meagre. One of the surrounding conditions is known to be extremely important-fresh air-this is, without doubt, the most important agent that we possess in checking the progress of disease. Free, efficient ventilation of @ house will often protect it's inmates from infection from without. The media for the conveyance of disease have been spoken of previously. A predisposition on the part of the individual who is exposed, for not every one exposed is infected. Some persons seem quite incapable of receiving the zymotic diseases during the whole of their life while, on the other hand, cer- tain conditions of the system predispose to them mental anxiety, worry, and trouble of any kind render person peculiarly lia
 ble. So do fear of taking the complaint, a poor state of health at the time, great bod fly fatisua and axhausting labor above all the fasting state. A person who has moi eaten for hours will be far more likely, other conditions being equal, to be infect. ed on exposure than one who has just taken 8 meal. We cannot always control our frame of mind; but at the worst, most of us can afford dinner. ts 2 Amongst the poor, the want of good food and clothing, the indifferent light which does not allow them to see the dirt about them, and which they therefore do not re
 move, the overcrowding and bad ventila' tion, all render them exceedingly predis- posed to the acute specific diseases. Ac- cordingly we find that an outbreak of zym- otic disease always makes head among the poor first {; amongst them it gathers it's strength and multiplies.
 After consideration of the preceding remarks, the question, "How may epidem. ic diseases be prevented p may be more easily answered. Individual action can dc little it is to the State that we must look for efficient interference for the suppression of these complaints. Laws compelling the drainage and water supply to be at least effective, and forbidding the frightful over crowding of dwellings which now prevails in every large town,. ought to be made every case of epidemic disease ought to be watched by officers of health, since that one case may become the centre of extension to the whole town.
 Individuals may, however, do something in preventing these complaints, especially in their own households, but their exer. tions can scarcely reach beyond this. In the first place let the water that is used fo1 drinking be most carefully seen to at al times. No one should use water, the purity , of whose source of supply is at all question ed, for water that looks, smells, and tastes perfectly good may convey the deadly poi son of cholera or typhoid fever. One of the most important means of pre- vention is within the reach of individuals it is quite simple, needing no apparatus or chemicals, and is the free and complete ventilation of all rooms and passages by means of windows opening on the external air, assisted, where there are opportunities, by fires in open grates. This method yields to none in efficiency; it is of far more use than any chemical means of disinfection, useful though these may be; the only ef- fectual plan is complete and thorough ven- tilation. Z
 The lives of cattle must be protected be- cause they are valuable property the lives of men are apparently of little or no ac- count. So long as the poor remain in their present wretched and unhealthy condition "a very poor population may yet be heal thy-and so long as the death rate exhibits little or no decline in each succeeding year, so long are we on the moral level of barba- rians in disregard for human life. This deep stain on moral civilization, the entire neglect of the sanitary condition of the poor, can only be wiped away by great effort on the part of society in general, by the framing of laws which shall effectually and at once remove this evil from amongst us-Good Healtb to, S,pt
 For thirty.five consecutive days, from July 10th to August 14th, the mean tenn perature at 2 o'clock, p. m. was S5 degrees. | ComparinO this with the records kent since