The New York herald., 1873-11-13
THE SANITARY CONFERENCE.
A NOW Public Health Association and q
New Constitution-Intercs Papers
on Yellow Fever, Disinfcction, Sewer

new C0nstitution-Interost Papers
on yellow Fever, Disin lection, sewer
age, Proper Food and Other Topics.
The American Public Health Association reas-
semtied yesterday morning. ut half-past nine
O'CLOCK, In the ball OF the Union League Club. DR..
Stephen Smith presided.
The nrst paper read was ''The Sanitary Care
and Utilization OF the Refuse OF Cities, by DR.. G.
A. Leas. OF Baltimore. and DR.. J. H. Ranch, or
Chicago.
Dr. LEAS gave detailed descriptions or the
dumping grounds IN Baltimore. There coal ashes
was invariably added to night soil, which IL de-
odorized, and this manure was sold by the city or
Baltimore for from $l5 to $40 per ton and was used
by many gardeners and farmers. The broken coal
was used for burning and repairing roads. Old
boots were burned to ashes and used for manufac-
turing iron Old pots and pans, however, could
not be utilized When this system of utilizing re-
iuse was perfected, DR.. Leas believed that the re-
fuse would pay for the whole cost OF scavengering.
DR.. j. N. RANCH. OF Chicago, described the pro-
cess OF disinfectng vaults In the Garden City, The
disinfectants chloride OF iron and chloride OF
lime. The results were highly satisfactory.
DR.. @. O. Cox, President or the Board OF Health OF
Washington. d. c., was in favor OF giving the Sani'
tary Commissioners greater power to make them
"heath despots.u as 1t were. He infinitely de-
scribed the different methods OF removing night
soil which had been tried at Washington, and the
problem had at last been solved to the satisfaction
OF the Board OF Health.
DR.. 9. 9. RUSSELL submitted an extended re-
port upon "Yellow Fever As 1t Prevailed in
New Orleans During the Present Year" He
gave history OF each case. or the thirteen
offlcers who attended to the work OF dlsinfec-
ton not one took the disease. Did not
the constant use OF dsinfectants protect them
from the fever2 II the use OF proper disnectants,
the sprinkling OF the Streets &c. did not entirely
prevent the fever it certainly checked its spread
to very great extent. Quarantine measures
were not so effective. Some OF the physicians
were unwilling to report cases OF the fever, fearing
that the people in the vicinity would not like to
use disinfectants. Never before did the disease
spread so slowly as it did this year in New Orleans
and this was merely owing to the effective use Of
disinfectants.
DR.. CHANDLER, President OF the Board OF Health
of this city, desired to say word about carbolic
acid Bituminous coal when subjected to q high
state OF temperature yielded coal tar, and this was
the material from which carbolic acid was OBJ
tanned. The light oil, or naphtha, carried with 1t
carbonic acid. For privy disinfection the ''dead
oiln was used in this city, and for street disinfec
tion kind OF carbolic acid seventy per cent?, Q
cheap metallic solution, was used which cost about
ten cents per pound. The ordinary sprinkler OF
the cart was removed and hand sprinklers
were used with which $50 miles OF cutters
were disiniected in one week. A mixture OF hall a
gallon OF dead oil and nalf gallon OF zinc s0lu-
ton was employed in the dsinfection OF prves.
The Conference then resolved itself into busl-
ness meeting. quorum OF twenty-five members
was requested to elect new members, and II was
found that only twenty-one delegates were pres
sent.
DR.. WOODWARD. OF the United states Army, pro.
posed that the association adjourn sine die and
was done, and Dr. Woodward moved that the
members OF the delunct society now resolve
themselves mo "a new "pnblic Health As
pred and the new one saw the light
OF day simultaneously. and all because there was
no quorum present. A new constitution was then
drafted. DR.. Woodward, chairman OF the commit
tee appointed for the purpose, recommended tnat
the old constitution be adopted. with two excep-
tons; in the first place, that the President should
be elected every year and the Secretary for three
years. and in the second place, that nine members
should constitute quorum. The constitution was
then read section by section, and adopted as
ahov Mv Tue Ths 1we occned yerv ons tme
giving rise, as 1t did, to considerable discussion in
Dr. vANDERPoEL proposed that the new associa-
tion assume all the debts OF the old one. Laugh
The PREsIDEST-our treasury is very full; we
have not paid out any thing.
| All the members OF the defunct society were
then declared to be members Of the new Public
Health Association.
Mr.. JACKSON SCHULTZ, who was present at the
Europe in regard to sanitary matters. In the city
OF Paris, he said, not single privy was connected
night soil there was double that OF New YORK
Boston. The city OF Paris could not and would not
polute its streets. Most OF the cities in Southern
Europe were situated on the banks OF small
streams and all had this difficulty to contend with.
He had gone into the parts OF Paris hidden under
fthiest city he ever saw. The streets were clean
enough, but the back var s OF houses were in the
Paris carefully; they were so clean that lady
could pass through them without soiling her dress
water coming from the sewers was defed at all.
All the cities In France and Germany which
ns o ne the refuse sna he m conS no
agree with the gentlemen who claimed that they
could make the utilization OF refuse pay Since
health could not be better promoted than by let
ting the liquid refuse how into the sea, 1t was for
the advocates OF utilization to prove that they
could make los cents on the dollar by any such
process.
General EDWARD vIELE direred with Mr.. Schultz
and thought that the refuse ought not to be thrown
into the river. The city OF Paterson emptied its
sewers into the Passaic, and the population OF
cities were, as rule. far in advance Of European
cities In regard to sanitary matters and, partic-
ularly in regard to their respective systems OF
DIR. JARVIS, OF Dorchester Mass, desired to know
what the sewers OF Paris were for II they retained
all the filth, instead OF carrying away all bad
smellsS
Here the discussion dropped, and General Fran
els A. Walker, Superintendent United States Gen.
sus read paper upon "Relatons OF Race and Ma
tionaity to Mortality In the United States" The
statistics ID the census hn IN regard to mortay
Often death broke up family, and fre-
quenty deaths occurred in hotels, boarding
houses and other places where the family
ties very slight About thirty per cent OF the
number OF deaths in 1870 were omitted, for these
reasons, from the mortality returns in the
He showed on diagram that the mortality amongst
the Irish was in excess OF their share OF the popu
lation. The mortality amongst the Germans was
less than their share OF the population, and the
English and Welsh made even a better showing.
There were l5s deaths in thousand from Brghts
disease OF the kidneys amongst the Irish as COM
pared with 93 In thousand among the Germans,
Comparative statistics relative to all other diseases
were also given by General Walker.
The of1cers OF the 'oldn society were reelected.
The old Executive Committee was also announced.
1t is composed OF Drs Moreau Morris, J. J, Wood
ward. s. A. vanderpoel, j. NJ. Toner, A. N. Bell and
Edward Jarvis, ana the officers who are er ofcio
members. The association then took recess for
hall an