The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-11-13
QUEENS COUNTY pooRHoUsE.

Some mention has already been made of the report
OF committee Of the Queens County Medical Society
regarding the sanitary condition Of Hog Island TOR Bar
NUN Island, as 1t is now called and the buildings on
the island used hospital, pest house and aims
house. From the character OF this report the impress
sion is gaining ground among the people OF Queens
county that the location of the county poor farm the
island a serious mistake At all events IL is pretty
clear that the accommodations thus far provided
insufficient and unit for the purposes for which they
designed but IL is question whether any further
outlay for Improvement this regard is udicious in
view OF the possibility that some other location may
before long be fixed upon The present hospital 1t APP
out the least regard to ventilation; the man
ner Of heating the building is imperfect and there
is kitchen where food for the sick be prepared
The well for supplying the buildings with water is in
the cellar; analysis Of the water reveals twenty five
grams OF inorganic matter to the gallon beside vegeta
Bile growths, and the character OF the water is nlu-
enced by the rise and fall of the tide The pest house
is building with only one room, where smallpox pa
tients are huddled together without regard TO
age. The conclusions OF the committee that, FIRST
hospital for the sick and asylum for the insane
should be distinct and separate from the poor house,
second the location should be central and easy Of
cess third, the supply Of water should be well estab
lshed both as regards quality Spd quantity. DR. Ed
win Webb, Of Hampstead supplements the report with
a paper embodying his personal views, which
still more emphatic as TO the unhtness Of
Barnum Island as the location for the county
eleemosynary establishments. He concludes:-"If the
island was susceptible OF any important use it would
not have been sold for such small consideration to
county, but long since would have been converted
into place of public resort during short period OF
the The only assigned for It's selection
worthy Of notice Is It's isolation and purity Of arr but
such isolation is necessary-ndeed. II is quite the
reverse and the air may be injurious TO large class OF
that occupy hospital, such rheumatism con-
sumption, &c The supply Of water cannot be depended
upon, for in most instances when boring has been
resorted to such low lands adjacent 70 the il
has proved failure"
The Board OF Supervisors now making effort to
remedy the evil of bad water. They have employed
Mr. Theodor A. Carman OF Hampstead, who is engaged
in boring for supply tho apparatus being similar to
that used in sinking artesian wells de has already
reached depth Of between sixty and seventy feet
without The strata through which he has
passed have very much varied, and he is saving spec
for the Long Island Historical Society. fine vein
Of yellow sand such as is known building sand,
passed through few days ago and rapidly brought
up by the sand pump. On reaching depth Of about
sixty feet however he struck layer of coarse gravel
of the stones being nearly the size Of hens egg,
and all having the appearance Of the coarse pebbles
frequently found along the shore Boring through
this is slow work. the average being about foot day.
As the attempt has been previously made to obtain
water by OF drive well, which put down to
the depth Of 200 feet without success, fears
tanned that the present attempt will also prove fail