New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-12-19
WnterinG Place Sanitary Science.

| WnterinG Place Sanitary Science.
| The following essey was read at the Ma
tional Medical Convention by DR.. Henry
Hartshorne, M d.
Upon the subject of those natural local
advantages for which multtudes resort to
our great watering places, viz: original
salubrlty of atmosphere, medicinal waters,
change of mental and bodily impressions
and Wholesale enjoyment of the beauty of
| varied scenery, the common stock of knowl-
edge, and special treatses Of climatologists
and authors upon mineral springs, may suf-
| lice. 1t is the inten ton of this paper to point
out particularly what further knowledge is
important yet to be obtained in order not only
| to estimate rightly the actual usefulness of
| these resorts, but to afford measures for the
| entire realization OF their benefits BY the
prevention or removal of existing draw.
| backs thereto, that il, Of incidental I'M
sanitary conditions. These drawbacks are
apt to be conn ected especially with the
| occurrence of times of great periodical in.
crease of population, at places where every
thing is Temporary, as it were, and migra
tory, not permanent. watering place ia a
kind of developed camp. The same principles
| OF sanitary science ami practice essentially
are capable of illustration in camps aud in
| places of summer resort. One general fact is
| fundamental here-that there is in nature,
| apart from human invasion or interference,
| balance of formation and destruction of life
and death, food and waste, making a per
| feet natural economy every where. Prlmeyal
| forests are clean, though Astounding in lux
uriant life, every one of whose forms runs
| rapidly intO decay, as every particle, as
soon as it dice, is taken up by some of those
myriad organisms, vegetable or animal,
minute or large, which are every where
seeking for food in the great struggle for
existence. Man comes in with his artificial
al
of this balanced economy of nature.
Under his tread the green earth
grows bare. His habtatons, tran
silent or permanent, exclude null
ttudes of the lower and lesser d, zens of
the same region, whose natural functions
as scavengers, or, as it wele heaven-ap-
pointed sanitary officers, are thus impaired
or annulled. Hence comes matter out of
place" foulness of the earth, water end air, |
stencil, miasma, pestltn nee. Nature seems
to wage incessant guerrilla warfare with |
her invader. Yet mans conquest over
nature is legitimate. What is wanting |
Simply that our reason should be used in |
counting the true cost of civilization. meet |
ing all its conditions as they exist wisely.
In applying this large general principle, |
the evils to be guarded against in the camp, |
the new settlement, or the temporary water |
ing place, are found belonging chiefly to the |
deterioration of water and atmosphere, uu-
der the influence of excretory matter.
Every human being gives out constantly,
from his lungs, skin and otherwise about |
as much ss is from day to day received BY |
him as food, drink, and air of respiration.
We take inorganic atmosphere and water
and disorganized, though recently living,
grains. fruits, roota flesh, etc, into our
system. We organize and consume them,
and then throw them out again to be
rapidly decomposed. The higher the life
they have attained in us, the deadlier poi
sons they become in their etfete molecular
death. Thus crowd poison breeds typhus
and typhoid fever, and promotes diph iberia,
cholera infantum, aud malignant cholera;
nay, gives special aid and comfort to all
zymotic disease causes, such as small.pox
scarlet fever, and the rest, and contributes
greatly to the mortality of phthisis, pneu-
monla, and nervous affections, especially
those attended by cenvulsions in children.
In watering places, as already said, the san
itary requirements least apt to be early and
fully considered are those concerning drain
age and conservancy-i e., prompt and
perfect disposal OF human and animal ex.
creta, and the removal OF otfal of all kinds
aud providing and preserving in purity
good drinking water. Local advantages,
with the usual appropriation of large or
considerable spaces for the accommodation
OF those who Geek health resorts, and the
absence of most of the population from
those localities through number of months
of the year, have prevented such def
cienciss from very frequently making them
tality. Yet marked epidemies, or rather
have repeatedly occurred as
warnings that should be needed; and
scattered cases of sickness thus produced, !
sometimes fatal, have no doubt been more |
numerous. Mount Desert and Lake Maho.
pac are especially we'll known to have,
within few seasons, had their times of spe-
cial reversal Of that relation to health for
which they have been visited from year to
year. Newport suffered with cholera in |
1854; Atlantic City, few years ago, had a |
number OF cases of typhoid fever, ana Sara
togs has had, during the present year, a
greater mOrt'lity from darrheal disorders ,
than rightly Iolepgs to It's population.
Now, what is to be done to anticipate or
remove, to IL ke impossible, such uusani.
-ary condition First, for practical illus
ration, let u see what is the worst pos
,ible method to be pursneai We will sup
pose a place upon the seashore to be 1
'elected for new summer resort One or
,wo hotels are erected, half dozen board {
ng-houses are built, and from fifty to 100 {
cottages: the latter, say. upon lots about
ifty by 100 fee each. Each hotel, board
ng house. and cottage must have its supply
If water tor d riDking, cooking and wash {
ng its kitche drain, and it's privy. Con-
suggests, and the limits of each q
property dictate, that each of these, or at
east the first and last, shall be as near the
rouse as pOssitl e, and, therefore, very close ,
o each other. Within eight or ten feet of
he kitchen door, q driven well, fifteen or
wenty feet desp, may bring up q supply of
water for domestic purposes. Ten or fifteen |
eet further OFT q we'll is dug for necessary Y
Use, and perhaps another or the same re-
eives the termination OF the kitchen drain.
n other words, two or three holes are bored
" dug IN the Land into one or two of which
deposit Of semi-liquid filth is made, while
rom the other water is drawn up to drink. 4
hardly ia this in any respect an imagin-
'ry or Overdrawn picture. Summer before
ast visited Q place almost precisely thus
aisprovided. Every one there, younger and
lder, had to 60 through Q seasoning diar.
hea; children, at least, doing 90 at the risk j
Il their lives. The wonder only was that q
o many survived and recovered, showing
ow fair filter for while, sand lie, and
What endurance in q good natural at
nosphere, the human system possesses. |
easOn by season, unless improved in I
q conditions and management, such
lace must become more unhealthy, | q
mil some marked mortality compels | n
ither its desertion or it's renovation. 8
he chief problem is to obtain drink II
ng water untainted by excrement or Fl
ouse drainage. Shall We avoid the ground &
9 source of water supply, or shall we en- Fl
eavor to protect the ground from contami. g.
atiOnf The first is q simple measure, | b
Then arrangements are made for collecting Il
ain water. At Atlantic City, two years O.
60, as have been informed BY q gentle. n
ian familiar with that re0Ort among quite | d