The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-11-14

error-that
That which before us lies il daily life
l. the prime wisdom,
and, on such an authority we may safely de-
clare that the sort of knowledge put before
the people in the proceedings Of the Public
Health Association, whose sessions at Balti-
more are just closed, is not easily to be ex-
ceeded in its usefulness to the mass of men.
knowledge is Of relative value and while it
is good as a rule for the people to get all they
can, it is much to be desired that they should
get first that which is Of the greatest conse-
quence, and that they should be taught the
relative value 70 them of different sorts of in
formation. No person of judgment can have
any love for the mere Gradgrind system Of
devotion to facts but it is undeniable that
the cultivation OF popular hostility to the
study Of facts, the undue effort Of some pop
ular authors to encourage the intellectual
tone that contemplates actualities with con-
tempt and deals with dreams and moonshine
as the great realities is all labor in the in
terest of ignorance and evil, and results in a
direct and very great injury to society
Starlight is very we'll, but people must
attend to the sewers. 1t is a fine point IN
your culture to know the knack OF Albert
Durers hand, and your eye may take in
finite delight in a window frame copied from
| a quaint corner in some old Nuremburg
street 1t feeds your soul, perhaps; it is a
little cinder out of the celestial fire; but,
then, the boy or girl in the carved crib
dying-its little life overwhelmed with the
fever poison that rises in your house from a
neglected drain-can all the fummery Of
"hamstiiebe" and celestial fire" and pretty
trash of that sort compensate for the loss
you will have there? Would it not have been
well TO study the sewers instead OF the
scrolls, and to give to the drains at least as
much thought as was given to the frescoes !?
| This is the problem that presents itself in
contemplation of the sort of facts lately
enunciated at Baltimore and in the considera-
| ton of the relative value Of different kinds
Of knowledge And the study Of facts Of
this nature is not pititul, is not trivial,
is not mean, but reaches to results
that in the absence Of the experience none
would venture to imagine. Ii enables the
most commonplace creature to control those
elements Of his existence that caused the
DINNER sighted ages to think, as the
superstitious races still believe, that
we are entirely in the hands Of Qm-
impotence. Progress in this wonderful
direction is the constant result Of
the study Of contemplate facts" Once
every mother lived in alarm at the thought
of smallpox. but now it is in the power of
every mother to guarantee that her little ones
shall not die from that fell disorder. And
all that has come from the study Of q few
sores-very miserable facts, indeed. Can
there be the same guarantee as to other dis
eases? Not absolutely, perhaps, but great
degree Of immunity may be assured against
the occurrence Of disease; that is to say,
there is no absolute guarantee in human
power; but against the larger proportion of
those circumstances which lead to fatal dis
ease every intelligent person may protect
himself and those in whom he takes an in
tcrest intermittent fever, rheumatism, ty-
phoid fever may be classified as diseases that
need never occur; that individual vigilance,
in the present state Of knowledge, is sufficient
to prevent, whse scarlet fever, measles,
smallpox. cerebro spinal meningitis and
even tubercles, may be numbered as a
few of the many maladies that can be
absolutely stamped out and cease 10 exist in
any period at which society will consent to
subject itself 70 the necessary discipline
To the local application Of those principles
Of public health discussed at Baltimore We
give part Of our space to-day. In another
part Of the paper will be found a communi-
cation from very capable physician, who
has practised in this city for many years and
who is an authority upon the subject Of
which he writes-the local conditions that
relate to the health Of the people. There is
an opinion that such facts as he sets forth
should be suppressed out Of regard to many
public interests but we know Of no public
interest comparable to that Of the physical
and mental welfare Of the people, and we be-
lieve that this interest will be better served
by a contrary course. SrluS popuA Supread
est Left it was not line in the law Of the
Twelve Tables is the common spirit Of every
republican system. This is not city that
need huckster its attractions. 1t is not Of
overwhelming consequence whether the
price Of house here and there is higher or
lower, or whether some thousands Of people,
influenced ny information Of the sanitary
conditions stay away from the city or leave
it. But il is of the greatest conceivable i'm
portance that all should be done that can be
done 70 make this healthy city-that every
proper measure should be taken 70 secure
protection from the prcvontible causes Of
diseases and 70 this end it is necessary that
the public mind should b. directed very ear
nestly to the subject.
Our Board Of Health has dwindled 10 a
mere machine for the report Of vital statistics.