The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-03-07
HEALTH
The table of stiIl.births show the remark.

Total. :. 1852 |l7l4sos7 1891 1887
The table of stiil.births show the remark
able fact that the proportion to the aggregate
births To- one inniae smoDg the colored, one
in eighteen among the whites. 1t will be
observed, toe.- that the eolored deaths are
largely out of proportion to the white deaths.
If the estimate of population made by the
Board of Health-te wit, whites A,490,
blacks 81, ,146 be correct, the death rate Is
1897 to each 1000 of white population, and
1896 to each 1000 of black, or nearly twice
as great The hardness of the times is ex.
hibited in the decline in marriages, the num-
Der being less than for any year since the or
ganization of the Board Of Health.
The alarming mortality among infants
shows no abatement. Out of 1857 deaths
in 1876, ia, or forty-fve per cent. Of the
whole, were under three years of age! As
reform in sewerage. in ventilation, in the
arrangement and purifcation of the inner
drainage OF. dwellings, and like appliances for
health, progresses, it is reasonable to suppose
that this large mortality IN class which, by
reason of its !. feebler constitution has the
least power.of resisting disease, will sbate.
/ concur in recommending the adoption: OF
an ordinance rigidiy excluding from the city
such manufacturing enterprises as are nes
rcessarily prejudicial to the health or comfort
of the community. The noxious gases
evolved by the processes of fertiliziDg mill
sometimes prove nuisance to whole neigh
borhood. More than once We have been com.
pelled, on this account, to dismiss the pupils
OF the Bethel school, on Twentieth street;
and there are other parts Of the city equally
disturbed. II the nuisance is inteIerable to
those who have to pass but few hours within
lis range, It must be far worse TO those
who are compelled to live constantly therein.
And while it is true that the remedy, by pre-.
sentiment, is open to the sufferers, It's rarely
that an individual Is willing to undertake
the trouble and encounter the opposition of
such course. An ordinance making it the
duty of the Board Of Health to present such
cases to the grand jury would, have ne
doubt, effect the reform, and either Danish
these establishments from the corporate
limits, or force them to deodorize thoroughly
their materials.
The "policlng'' of the streets .is now
partly under the control of the City Engi.
neer and partly under the Board of Health.
1t should be under one management, and, Doth
because of the nature and purpose of the
work and because Of the large demands on
the engineers department., / think the
Board of health should control it. In my
last message called attention to the trihing
and ineffective appliances for excluding the
sewer gases from dwelling houses an evil
the more grieyous as we Increase the use OF
interior water arrangements. This appliance
is simply q column Of few inches in height
in bent tube, and its total inadeqHacy is
known to every housekeeper. Evils like this
the Board proposes to cure by an inspector
OF buildings, to whom all plans for erections
and improvements should be submitted, and
I do not doubt that the appointment oil
such an officer, whose compensation should
be exclusively furnished by fees from the
rarties having the work done, would prove
OF great service to the city.
-The freed ON of the city from epidemics
was noteworthy. A melancholy exception
was furnished at the close of the year IN the
apnearance Of smallpox, imported from an
interior county of the State, and OF which
EIGHT persons became the victims. Ofthese
six recovered, aud owing to prompt disin'
lection the further spread Of the disease was
effectually prevented. The discrepancy be.
tween the return of the Board of Health and
that of the Superintendent OF the hospltal as
tn the number of victims is accounted Tor oy
the fscsttat the health report concludes With
December 61st, while the report OF the su-
nerintendent closes with January 3lst, and
there were four new cases in January.
It would be well if all the public reports
closed with the Escal year.
CHARITY AND PRISONS.
The Alnshouse.-The report OF the super
intendent is accompanied by the numerous
and interesting tables which are annually
furnished from that Office, containing great
variety of valuable and instructive matter
The inmates cared for during the year were
]. OLA ir mum ber- an increase OF 2O2 over Int
preceding year. This increase Is chiefly due
to the large Number of transient inmates, OF
tramps, who have been cared for, amount
ing to 1853. -
The gross expenses of the year were S34,
245 "a, of which S5. 111.43 were paid for con
struction and repairs. The daily average o.
inmates was 240. so that the annual cost o
each inmate was S12l.39. The Subsistence
account proper shows the cost Of each In
mate to have been s47.22 per annum, or
fraction under thirteen cents per day.
have been much struck within thS great
disparity between the death.rate of the CO.
lors at the -almshnuse. During the year the
white inmates outnumbered the blsck:
thirty.iye, yet while the white deaths we're
thirty Sour the black deaths were 125.
satisfied myself, so far as inspection and the
questioning of the sick could satisfy me, tha
this was not occasioned by any difference o.
food or, any inattention to or neglect OF tht
coiored inmates, and on inviting the atten
tion of the physician 10 charge to the exces
siye mortality, learned ,hat he ascribed it:
l. To the excess of very young and very
old inmates In the colored almshonse.
Q. To the shockingiy neglected condition
in which the colored paupeis are generally
brought In. .--
I think the following table, which | have
complied from the official returns, will show
that the first cause caa have little operation
on the result: - -